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Community Solar for Eastbourne

Community solar for Eastbourne

Programme launch, Thursday 30th April

Together with Brighton and Hove Energy Services Cooperative (BHESCo), we’re excited to launch a new community solar programme for Eastbourne, beginning in Langney.
 

This programme will help households struggling with energy bills to install solar panels and solar batteries for no upfront cost. This initiative places fairness, accessibility, and community benefit at its heart.

With energy bills expected to explode as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, this is an valuable opportunity for people in Eastbourne to instantly reduce their energy costs. Even better, households that have solar panels and batteries installed will stay protected from rising energy bills for the next 20 to 30 years.

BHESCo are established experts in community solar and we are delighted that they are partnering with us to  bring solar to Eastbourne. 

BHESCo logo - a symbol of a house surrounded in sunshine and the word BHESCo
a drawing of a solar panel with a large sun above and the sea in the background

Anyone living in the Langney area of Eastbourne who is interested in the offer should register their interest and come to our launch event to learn more. 

Check the BHESCo web page to find out more.

The launch event will be held at:

  • at St Barnabas United Church,  Kingfisher Drive, Eastbourne, BN23 7RA
  • on Thursday 30th April from 6.30pm to 8pm
Register for the launch event here

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End of an era for Trinity Place multi-storey car park

End of an era for Trinity Place multi-storey car park

by Robert McGowan

During 15 years of living in Eastbourne, I’ve never actually driven into Trinity Place multi-storey and parked there. But I have occasionally ventured in on foot, to admire both the magnificent views across town from the upper floors and the building’s dark brutalism. How could such a large, muscular structure have been shoehorned into an Edwardian seaside resort, between town centre and seafront, and be un-noticed? And, it would seem, largely unused.

The outside of a multi storey car park with the words NCP and Welcome to Trinity Place car park
A view from inside a concrete car park, looking out onto tall buildings

Following the collapse of its owner, NCP earlier this month, the administrators got to work trying to stem losses. Of the 340 car parks on the books, 20 were swiftly earmarked for closure – and Trinity Place was among them.

Why? I suspect it was due to a combination of low revenues ¬– I’ve only ever spotted cars parked on the lowest few floors of the 12-storey edifice – and a long (99-year) lease from Eastbourne Borough Council that began when it opened in 1971.

Presumably, the powers that be back then anticipated a future of droves of holidaymakers heading to Eastbourne in their Morrises and Triumphs and failed to predict the rise of out-of-town shopping centres, surrounded by tarmac seas of free parking. NCP themselves blame a post-Covid shift to flexible working and the steady rise of online shopping and home deliveries.

At Eastbourne Eco Action Network, we’re not in the business of mourning the passing of mighty concrete car parks. But we are wondering if their demise of could unveil silver linings. Might there be an opportunity to repurpose them – as urban farms like in Singapore and Birmingham.

Here in Eastbourne, I wonder if there is scope for a hybrid: the lower floors still used for parking, perhaps including the vehicles that currently line the busy seafront road. Those 80 spaces next to the sea wall could be better suited to a traffic-free cycleway – as seen in just about every other British seaside town.

The upper floors could be converted to an urban farm and perhaps a restaurant with the best views in town? Rooftop and wall-mounted solar panels could charge electric vehicles galore on the lower floors. What a story for a multi-storey in the UK’s sunniest town!

COncrete walls at the top of a cap park. Three seagulls are sitting on the wall. There are tall modern high rise buildings in front. In the background is a hill.

Latest posts

New Parking Solutions For Eastbourne

The existing approach to parking is no longer enough

The current uninspiring consultation, on parking in Eastbourne Town centre, shows how nothing radical is being considered. Primarily it  does not help to meet  the Borough Council’s 2030 carbon target.

https://consultation.eastsussex.gov.uk/economy-transport-environment/eastbourne-informal-2022/

Eastbourne

There are a large number of underused car parks in the town. Drivers needs to be encouraged to use them, to free up road space. The obvious way is by differential charging and making it cheaper to park there than in the street.

There will always need to be some parking especially places for the disabled and less mobile. But cars are becoming ever bigger and wider and this is limiting the road space. Deciding that  parking availability is a top priority, makes buses passing cars an issue. It has also stopped any cycle lanes being built in the town centre.

London

Other areas of the country are facing the issue of parking head on. So it is worth looking at other councils to see what could be done. Limits by pollution, size of vehicle and CO2 are all possible. As are the removal of some free and pay parking spaces

Take Newham or Lambeth as examples. The latter is the latest council in London to introduce emissions-based parking fees.

Similar charges are expected elsewhere in England. Though they could be less complex with perhaps 4 or 5 bands. Owners of the most polluting cars can expect to pay more than twice as much as cleaner cars. There are now 26 different charges to park for an hour in Lambeth ( see above). It depends on a car’s tax band as to what you pay. Plus a surcharge is added for diesels. These emissions-based charges were shown to change motorists’ behaviour. A spokesman said: “People make fewer journeys or they choose a cleaner vehicle.”

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/parking/emission-based-parking-charges/street-parking

So this may encourage families with 2 cars to drive into town in the smaller and greener one. Plus there will need to be more dedicated  spaces allocated to EV charging as well as  giving priority to ‘Car Clubs’

In summary, if we are really going to make a ‘modal shift’ in favour of active travel, we have to re-balance the use of road space, in favour of lower carbon options.

Paul Humphreys – EEAN Transport Group

Eastbourne ECO Action Network

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