Environment Agency Commits To Fully Protecting Eastbourne Bandstand
Conservative Councillor Robert Smart recently met with the Environment Agency’s Andrew Walker for an update on the flood defence plans that aim to protect Eastbourne’s coast for the next century.
As part of the scheme, Andrew Walker outlined how the Environment Agency will take all required measures to protect Eastbourne’s seafront assets, including the much loved Bandstand.
These measures will take place starting from 2027 and will see improvements to 11 of the Eastbourne seafront groynes, with 2 of these particularly designed to protect the Bandstand.
Cllr Smart recalls “It seems a long time ago that Eastbourne Council were trying to suggest that they may need to consider moving the Bandstand from its current site and that this risk was preventing the Council from undertaking the repairs our Bandstand needs.
I argued back in 2022 that fixing the Bandstand should be a priority for the Council as the Environment Agency would protect it as long as it was deemed sufficiently valuable.
Following the very effective “Save the Bandstand” campaign led by the inspirational Gaynor Sedgwick, the essential repairs the Council undertook in 2023 to partially reopen the structure were very welcome. But it is high time that a plan is set out to the people of Eastbourne as to when we can expect the next stage of the Bandstands restoration and re-opening to take place”
He adds that “it is interesting to reflect that only 2 years ago the Council predicted that the flood defence work could mean major consequences for the Bandstand. In reality, the protections that are required for the next few decades are relatively modest.”
