Foreshore Trust Pelham Playground Renewal Scheme

Update 24 July 2025:

The reopening of Pelham Beach Playground was celebrated on Thursday, 24 July, following a significant upgrade to its play equipment.

The occasion was marked with a special re-launch event, attended by Cllr Tony Collins, Chair of the Charity Committee, who cut the ribbon to formally declare the playground open. Other VIPs including senior councillors from Hastings Borough Council and local MP for Hastings and Rye were also present.

Children enjoyed a range of giveaways and entertainment including face painting, provided by Eibe Play, the contractor behind this exciting project, and 100 free Whippy Ice Cream vouchers were donated courtesy of Hastings Adventure Golf. 

Young visitors had fun exploring the new play features and upgraded equipment, while the newly added seating areas were already being well used by families and other visitors.

Read full details on the latest news page 

Update 18 July 2025:

Breaking news! The Pelham Beach Playground is now re-opened! Find out more about the official re-opening below.

Update July 2025:

Come along and help us mark the re-opening with a launch event on Thursday, 24 July at 10am.

There will be giveaways and entertainment provided by Eibe Play, the team behind this exciting project and 100 free Whippy Ice Creams, courtesy of Hastings Adventure Golf.

There has been an upgrade to the some of the old play equipment and the installation of loads of new play equipment, colourful and fun surfaces, and interactive play boards. ensuring the playground is welcoming, enjoyable, and accessible for children of all abilities.

More details can be found by visiting the latest news page.

Update May 2025: 

The Pelham Beach Playground will close on Monday, 12 May, for two months while upgrade works take place. It is due to re-open in July in time for the summer break.

Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust (FCT) appointed Eibe Play Ltd in January 2025 to undertake the design, supply, and installation of new play equipment at the existing Pelham Beach Children’s Playground site, to replace some of the items that require upgrading. The £250,000 upgrade scheme will include new fun modern play features and accessible equipment to enhance the playground’s inclusivity and accessibility offering, ensuring that it is welcoming and enjoyable for children of all abilities.

Following public consultation on the proposed designs in February this year, designs have now been finalised and the upgrade will be underway from Monday, 12 May. 

Cllr Tony Collins, Chair of the Charity Committee, said: "I am excited that the upgrade will soon be underway on this much loved and well used playground and look forward to seeing the new and upgraded equipment being enjoyed in time for the Summer break”. 

During the closure of the playground, there will be several car parking spaces at the Pelham Place car park unavailable during the construction period. These will be blocked off by the contractor and marked clearly with signs. 

You said, we did

Thank you to everyone who completed the public consultation survey, your feedback has been considered and there were a number of key outcomes that we have taken onboard:

We have listened to your views about wanting water play facilities, but we are currently unable to develop this at this time as it is outside the scope and budget for this project. We will review the possibility of this for future projects. Water play facilities are significantly expensive to install and maintain and can be detrimental to the environment (through wasting water), so we cannot guarantee this can be delivered in the future

We have listened to your feedback about investment in other play parks in the area, but this is a Foreshore Trust project and therefore the funding could not be allocated to non-Foreshore Trust locations 

We have listened to your views on the importance of the sand pit area of the current playground and we are retaining and improving this element, including improving the drainage, and changing the surrounding fence design to provide shade and protect from the wind

We have listened to your desire for more benches and have included some extra seating within the revised design. We will also look at adding more seating in the future if it is needed

We have listened to your feedback on the challenges of the playground being across different levels and are making access improvements. We will be removing a section of wall between the upper and lower playground and providing ramped access between the two levels

We have listened to your views on the lack of provision for toddler aged children, and the desire for more swings for younger children and have added more toddler play equipment including swings into the new design 

We understand the desire for ground level trampolines to be included, however we cannot accommodate this due to the available budget, there is already an existing provision at the  nearby adventure golf attraction. 

The consultation closed on 11 February 2025. 

Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust (FCT) has appointed Eibe Play Ltd to undertake the design, supply, and installation of new play equipment at the existing Pelham Beach Children’s Playground site. This playground is one of the town's most popular, and the focus of this project is on enhancing its inclusivity, ensuring that it is welcoming and enjoyable for children of all abilities.

Cllr Tony Collins, Chair of the Charity Committee, said: "I am delighted that work is going ahead on this new playground, I hope lots of people comment and look forward to seeing the final designs."

We are excited to reveal a new design proposal for the Pelham Beach Children’s Playground, which will provide an upgrade for this popular and well used playground, with fun modern play features and new accessible equipment. 

Here are some images of the proposed design:

This image shows an aerial view layout and design of the proposed new playground with multiple themed play elements throughout the play area, including swirling whirlpool designs, dolphin theming and a coral reef entrance area. 

This image shows an entrance view design of the proposed new playground, displaying new and inclusive play opportunities and themed designs as mentioned above. 

This image shows designs of new and inclusive play items, including a carousel and spinner. And also visuals of swirling whirlpools. 

This image shows designs of the middle section of the play area, including an accessible central ramp, inclusive shaded picnic area, multiple play panels and brand new ship stern. 

This image shows designs of the revamped brand new timber sandpit area with sand digger.

This image shows designs of some of the new play items including brand new ship stern, inclusive shaded picnic area and refurbished ship bow.

This image shows designs from the East entrance, including larger and more challenging climbing frame, inclusive play panels, double seat swing, revamped tunnels and hill and seating.

You can see a 3D experience of the proposed design here.

Have your say! 

The consultation closed on 11 February 2025. Thank you to everyone who responded. We will continue to communicate developments on this webpage. 

We want to hear from playground users before we confirm the final design. The consultation is now open, submit your feedback using this online form. 

Please submit your feedback by 11pm on Tuesday 11 February 2025.

We will also be hosting an event at the playground site, where members of the public can come and have a chat with the play company and ask any questions. The event will take place on Monday 27 January 2025 at the hut next to the Pelham Beach Children’s Playground on the seafront from 10am – 1pm. No need to book, just turn up.

Printed copies of the survey will be available during the public event on Monday 27 January.

As part of the community consultation, we will be visiting two local schools and a youth forum group. Further details on engagement events will be published here soon and shared across our social media channels.

If you have any questions, you can submit these via regeneration@hastings.gov.uk