Facing the Financial Facts
PETER FINCH, Chairman of Horntye Park Management Company which acts as sole Trustee of Hastings and Rother Sports Trust, explains how sale of the cricket arena at Horntye will benefit sport in Hastings
The pavilion at Horntye Park is to be retained
The Directors of the Trust’s Management Board are very conscious that there is a great deal of misinformation and misconception circulating in respect of the proposed redevelopment of part of the Horntye Park sports complex site in Bohemia Road, in the event of the planning application submitted to Hastings Borough Council before Christmas being granted.
The Board wishes to explain the current position in respect of the Trust’s ambitions and aims which, should they reach fruition, will guarantee the stability and future of cricket, hockey and the numerous indoor sports, recreational, social and event activities that the Trust provides facilities for. This includes the international chess congress and all the local and government elections counts.
When the Central Cricket Ground in Hastings town centre was relocated to Horntye Park in 1998, there was much anticipated excitement about the future of the new facilities, which included a floodlit sand-dressed hockey pitch, a sports hall, numerous social and recreational indoor facilities, and a new purpose-built County Cricket Ground. Unfortunately, Sussex County Cricket Club did not embrace the new ground or agree to use it, despite providing verbal and written input in terms of what they considered were the requirements of the new facility.
The new ground did provide an excellent venue for Hastings and St Leonards Priory Cricket Club and South Saxons Hockey Club, but use by these clubs could not produce sufficient revenue to service the costs of a high standard cricket ground. This caused the Trust to continually lose money each year, despite acting on numerous occasions to reduce costs.
BULVERHYTHE
Several years ago, a plan was created for the Trust, acting together with Hastings United Football Club, to create a new football, cricket, hockey and indoor sports complex at Bulverhythe Recreation Ground. A developer was found and a multi-million pound sports facility planned. After considerable monies being spent to design the scheme, it was abandoned due to the housebuilder withdrawing support. The football club then planned to relocate without the Trust’s involvement.
The Trust resolved to retain the sports hall and pavilion while selling the outdoor area of Horntye Park for development, relocating the cricket and hockey facilities elsewhere, preferably together. The money from such a sale would provide new sports facilities and produce the funds required to carry out essential repairs and improvements to the retained building.
Numerous enquiries were made to locate suitable sites, which included local schools such as Ark Academy (two sites) and St Leonards Academy, but the intention of locating the cricket and hockey facilities together proved impossible to fulfil, due mainly to the amount of land required and the intrusion into the schools’ other various facilities.
CLAREMONT
Eventually, only Claremont School, off the A21 road at Ebdens Hill, was identified as having enough land and being prepared to accommodate the new facilities on a 50-year Community Use Agreement basis. Negotiations took place and agreement was reached for the Trust to invest sufficient money to build the new cricket and hockey facilities at the school. Planning permission was granted by Rother District Council in July 2021, and a reluctant approval given by Sport England, which had expressed concern that the facilities were to be moved (just) out of the Borough.
Now that won’t need to happen. At the newly proposed relocation sites, a new floodlit sand-dressed hockey pitch, a grass football pitch and a full size county league cricket ground can be built. Both facilities would be serviced by purpose-designed new changing pavilions. Across the three sites, including Horntye Park, an overall increase in sports facilities would be achieved for Hastings and St. Leonards.
Should the idea have overall approval, the Trust believes that it will secure the future of the town’s principal cricket and hockey clubs, provide a new floodlit full-size 3G pitch, and continue to provide high quality indoor facilities for the more than 40 groups, clubs and societies that currently use Horntye Park.
On the other hand, without the Trust’s plans coming to fruition, there is a distinct possibility that the whole of the Horntye Park sports complex will be forced to close.
The planning application currently under consideration has, since the decision not to proceed with Claremont School, been amended to reflect the new proposals of relocating the cricket and hockey facilities to sites within Hastings, making them more accessible to the residents.
The development plan for Horntye Park will also now provide for the retention of all woodland and ecological areas in order to protect and enhance the wildlife and fauna habitats and to ensure survival and regeneration.
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The moving of the sports facilities is one thing, and it sounds as though a suitable new site has been found. Fantastic. However, if a significant number of new houses are to be built on the Horntye site, what impact will that have on the local area at large? The roads are already congested and poorly maintained, schools are full, and dentists/ doctors are all over capacity. Does the Council / Trust have plans to invest in public services to accommodate the extra people living in the Horntye area?