Developers East Sussex minutes: 17 September 2025
Meeting details
Date: 17 September 2025
Time: 3:30pm
Location: Grand Hotel, Eastbourne
See the list of attendees and apologies for this meeting.
1. Welcome and introductions
1.1 JB welcomed the attendees and led roundtable introductions. He also listed the apologies received and ran through general housekeeping information for the venue.
2. Review of previous minutes, 8 July 2025
2.1 There were no actions from the previous meeting. The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
3. Market conditions / open forum
3.1 The group held its usual discussion on the current state of the market.
3.2 The commercial market continues to hold steady, demonstrating reasonable levels of interest and demand, and with the cost of materials remaining stable. However, DG reported an increase in labour agencies seeking job vacancies, suggesting the overall market may be slowing down. Commercial lettings are also in demand, with high levels of interest in new premises, and even in sites yet to be built – in particular from businesses in older buildings looking to downsize to more modern buildings. Commercial rents are also holding steady.
3.3 The group discussed the commercial market in more detail and made the following additional points:
- Businesses wishing to expand or move need to do so quickly – they are not looking “five years ahead” in the way planners or builders do, their need is extremely short term. We therefore need a steady supply of commercial premises to meet that immediate demand.
- Planners may struggle to allocate land/sites for commercial development due to the high demand for housing and the encroachment of housing developments. Housebuilding continues to be a government priority, so this incongruity is unlikely to change.
- We’ve seen the Housing Delivery Test introduced as national policy, but never a ‘Commercial’ Delivery Test. Perhaps this is something to lobby for, or to consider introducing/testing locally amongst our collective planning authorities. But note that any such test is likely to receive a lot of challenge, from politicians and the public, on what the data is showing and how it’s interpreted.
- It’s the contentious and controversial sites that get challenged, but let’s not forget the successful and popular ones, i.e. that retain our businesses, create jobs and contribute to economic growth. And note that commercial development includes repurposing sites, not just building new, in a continuous churn to satisfy need. We should be better at telling all of these stories to help politicians and the public better understand.
3.4 The affordable market is looking far more optimistic since the government’s Spending Review in June 2025, at which a new £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme was announced, but colleagues agreed that they are still largely in the ‘waiting’ stage until the full programme details are released. The prospectus for the ten-year programme is expected to be published in the autumn, with a full version including the bidding and engagement processes to be published by the end of the calendar year.
3.5 The residential sales market seems to be continuing its slow-and-steady pattern. The market has been quite erratic so far this year, with a fluctuating sales rate, and while sales are progressing at a faster rate than they were a couple of years ago, it’s still not ideal. BHr queried whether the government’s Mortgage Guarantee Scheme is starting to have any impact on the market, and suggested colleagues keep an eye on it for future discussion.
4. Developers Sussex (DeS): pan-Sussex expansion
4.1 JB reiterated DES’s aim to expand its remit over the year ahead to cover the whole of Sussex, to eventually reposition itself as Developers Sussex (DeS), and asked the group to reach out to any developer colleagues across West Sussex and Brighton and Hove to help spread the word about DES and put them in touch.
5. DES priorities for the year ahead
5.1 JB asked the group to consider whether there are any topics, themes or guest presenters we ought to bring to DES meetings over the year ahead. Immediate responses from the group included discussing sewerage issues; utilities in general (particularly Southern Water); Devolution (the powers and funding opportunities that may switch to Mayoral level); Local Government Reorganisation (changes to local planning authorities, any new freedoms and flexibilities that may apply to councils, revised requirements in housebuilding quotas); East Sussex Highways and National Highways; and affordable housing solutions.
5.2 JB encouraged DES colleagues to send any other suggestions via email over the coming weeks.
6. East Sussex Housing Strategy
6.1 MC delivered a short presentation on the draft East Sussex Housing Partnership Strategy, giving an update on the development of the strategy and providing an overview of the feedback received from the recent public engagement through July and August. The current draft strategy is sectioned into several ‘key priorities’ – Homelessness Prevention; Housing, Health and Care; Housing Standards; Development and Enablement; Tackling Climate Change; and Private Rented Sector – each with their own key outcomes.
6.2 BHk commented on the aim to ‘repurpose surplus commercial stock’, suggesting that the word ‘surplus’ implies we have too much, which is not the case. He suggested changing it to something more appropriate, e.g. ‘unsuitable’.
6.3 MC thanked the group for providing their comments so far and asked DES colleagues to please continue offering feedback. Further planned updates/refinements over the coming weeks will reflect the latest announcements and any policy changes, and then a final version will be produced late-autumn for adoption by the six East Sussex authorities.
7. Other national and local policy changes
7.1 MC provided an update on Devolution, which is the process to establish a Sussex-wide Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) with an elected Mayor. Since the last DES meeting, the Devolution Bill has been introduced to Parliament and the government has published its consultation response to the Sussex and Brighton Devolution Consultation confirming its intention to establish a MSA for “Sussex and Brighton” (subject to the proposals meeting the required statutory tests). Once in place, the new Mayor is expected to have authority over seven key strategic areas – including Housing and Strategic Planning – and will also have access to a significant pot of government funding. Timelines are tight, but we’re currently still on track to elect the first Mayor of Sussex and Brighton in May 2026.
7.2 CB provided an update on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), a separate process to Devolution, where the government is pushing for all two-tier authorities in England (i.e. with county, borough and district councils, as in East Sussex) to be replaced with unitary authorities. All six councils in East Sussex have come together to work through this, and their combined final draft proposal, One East Sussex, will go through the various Cabinet and Scrutiny Committees across our councils over the next couple of weeks before being submitted to the government by 26 September 2025.
7.3 CB noted that while our proposal retains the current geographical footprint of East Sussex in one new unitary authority, we don’t yet know how many unitary authorities will be created, as that decision lies with the government. For example, the submission from Brighton and Hove proposes five unitary authorities across Sussex and includes a plan to incorporate a significant portion of Lewes into their geography. BHk added that the predominant thinking in West Sussex is to create two unitaries across their geography (each with a population of around 440k, but allowing for population growth, likely to reach 500k in the next few years).
7.4 CB also noted that the overall timelines for LGR are far longer than for Devolution, which makes long term decision-making more challenging, resulting in an increased level of uncertainty for all of us. The government will assess all LGR bids during October 2025 and will open a consultation on all “compliant” bids in November 2025, before announcing their decision in early 2026. We’ll then have around a year to make transition arrangements so that a new unitarity authority could run in ‘shadow’ form from May 2027, until being fully established in April 2028.
8. Local Planning Authority (LPA) updates
8.1 CB updated the group on sewerage issues and the recent discussions to move the matter forward. Meetings have been held with Southern Water, with conversations involving openly and honestly acknowledging the areas that don’t work in their network, and coming together to recast how they respond to the planning process. In this way we’re starting to see options emerge for solving the problems. For example, storing foul water onsite during a storm event, to be released into the sewer at a later time (as most of the water in the sewer is surface water rather than effluence). So progress is being made, and overall we’re in a much better place than when the issue was last raised, but discussions will continue.
9. Any other business (AOB)
9.1 None.
Summary of actions
None.
Attendees and apologies
Attendees
- AJ, Alex Jones, Stantec
- AW, Alistair Wickens, Team East Sussex (TES)
- BHk, Ben Hook, Crawley BC
- BHr, Brian Horton, South East Housing & Development Group
- CB, Chris Bending, Wealden DC
- DE, Dave Evans, East Sussex CC
- DG, Derek Godfrey, Westcotte Leach
- ERS, Elizabeth Ross-Smith, Greymoor
- HD, Huw Davies, Sea Change Sussex
- JB, Jonathan Buckwell, DHA Planning (DES Chair)
- JC, Janan Clatworthy, B.Yond Homes
- JD, Jade Dickens, South East Consortium
- JS, John Stebbings, n/a - independent
- JT, James Taylor, Greymoor
- MC, Michael Courts, East Sussex CC
- MP, Mark Presland, DHA Planning
- NF, Nick Fenton, Nick Fenton Associates
- NT, Neill Tickle, Counties and Capital Consulting
- RB, Rick Bhatia, Southern Housing
- RBW, Romey Buckley-Ward, Dandara
- RJ, Robert Jakusconek, Taylor Wimpey
Apologies
- AF, Amy Fearn, Rother DC
- AM, Anthony Mansfield, Persimmon Homes
- BB, Beverley Bayliss, East Sussex CC
- BL, Brandon Lewis, Horton Strategic
- CF, Charlotte Ferris, Thakeham
- CH, Chris Hancock, Hastings BC
- CM, Chris Moore, Bellway Homes
- DD, David Dodds, Vistry Homes
- DW, Danny Wood, Persimmon Homes
- ES, Edward Sheath, East Sussex CC
- JP, Joe Powell, Rother DC
- KB, Kerri Bland, Persimmon Homes
- LME, Lourdes Madigasekera-Elliott, East Sussex CC
- NG, Nick Gray, Environment Agency
- PP, Peter Phillips, National Highways
- RM, Rob Moore, Homes England
- RO, Robin Oliver, Homes England
- RT, Ryan Trodden, MHCLG
- TS, Tom Sherriff, Barratt David Wilson Homes