East Sussex council area

Selling Land in Hastings

Checked on 29 September 2026

Hastings is a seaside town with the English Channel on one side and the High Weald National Landscape on the other, a plan adopted in February 2014 and a pre-submission plan that finds room for about a quarter of the homes the government says it needs. It built 44% of the homes the delivery test required and counts 1.65 years of housing land, so a well placed site on the town's edge carries an evidenced need.

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In short

We buy land in Hastings and welcome land of every kind there: fields and paddocks, inherited land, old yards and larger holdings.

Hastings built only 44% of the homes it needed in the government's latest count, and below 75% national policy treats the need for more homes as shown. It can also show only 1.65 years of the five years of housing land national policy expects. So a well placed field next to a town or village can make its case now, not only through the local plan, though each site is judged on its merits. Land in the Green Belt faces stricter national tests. Its local plan dates from February 2014, more than five years ago.

We look for 2 acres or more next to, or well related to, a town or village, with a road frontage or a way to get one.

The next step is a free, confidential desktop review. We tell you which route, if any, suits your land, with no obligation.

Hastings in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
44%
Below 75%: treated as having evidenced unmet housing need under national policy S5.
Five-year housing land supply
1.65 years
Short of five years: national policy treats this as evidence of unmet housing need. Stated by Hastings Borough Council, in its Local Plan Monitoring Report 2023 to 2024, with sites assessed at October 2024.
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Homes built against homes needed
646
of 1,457 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
February 2014
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Latest step
Draft plan consultation held 19 February to 7 April 2026; the report to full council of 23 September 2026 recommended six weeks of representations on the pre-submission plan and a further report in December 2026 seeking agreement to submit, with 31 December 2026 as the submission deadline; the council's timetable of July 2026 puts adoption in June 2028
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See how Hastings compares with the other 147 councils we cover

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

The Land We Look for in Hastings

Fields and paddocks that adjoin the built-up edge along The Ridge, at Hollington, Ore or West St Leonards, outside the SSSIs and the High Weald boundary.
Former yards, depots, garages, care homes, schools and institutional buildings anywhere in the borough.
Large gardens and backland inside Hastings and St Leonards that could take a small group of homes.
Land near Breadsell or elsewhere on the boundary with Rother that could form part of a cross-boundary scheme.
Sites with a lapsed permission where the council counted homes it will not now get.

We do the planning work ourselves and at our own cost, from ecology and landscape evidence near the designated sites to the viability case the plan's affordable rates demand, under an option agreement whose price is fixed on day one, above what the land is worth today. The land stays in your use throughout, and should permission never be secured it remains yours with nothing to pay. Our how it works page sets out each step.

The planning detail in full

A Town of 91,000 Between the Channel and the High Weald

Hastings Borough Council covers Hastings, St Leonards-on-Sea, Ore, Hollington, Silverhill, Bulverhythe and West St Leonards. The 2021 census counted 91,497 people in about 31 square kilometres, and Rother District surrounds the borough on every landward side, so the boundary and the town's edge are often the same line.

Four stations. Hastings, St Leonards Warrior Square, West St Leonards and Ore.
Held in by designations. The adopted Planning Strategy calls the town a tightly constrained urban area surrounded by areas of high environmental and landscape importance, and names the High Weald to the north and east of the built-up area among the assets that restrain major outward growth.
Three national wildlife sites. The strategy counts three Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Combe Haven Valley, Marline Valley and Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach, plus eight Local Nature Reserves and 25 Local Wildlife Sites; the Hastings Cliffs Special Area of Conservation covers 182 hectares of actively eroding soft cliff.
Fewer than half the homes needed. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 counted 646 homes built against 1,457 required, a result of 44%, so unmet need is treated as evidenced.
A plan in two parts, both old. The Planning Strategy of February 2014 and the Development Management Plan of 2015 cover 2011 to 2028, and the new plan will supersede both once adopted.

The constraints the adopted strategy relies on are the High Weald, the coast and the designated sites, so the routes that matter are those for land inside the town and at its edge.

1,406 Homes Counted Against 4,260 Needed

Hastings publishes its supply inside its monitoring report. The Local Plan Monitoring Report 2023 to 2024, published in February 2025, sets the position out in its Table 9:

Source: Hastings Borough Council, Local Plan Monitoring Report 2023 to 2024, Table 9 (February 2025).
Part of the calculation	Council's figure
Housing need by the standard method	710 homes a year
Five years of need	3,550 homes
Buffer	20%, which the report applies because of significant under delivery in the previous three years
Five-year requirement with buffer	4,260 homes
Deliverable supply	1,406 homes, 33% of the requirement
Result	1.65 years

The 1,406 has four parts: 832 on the large sites of five homes or more listed in Table 10; 353 from outline permissions, allocations and identified opportunities; 46 expected from communal accommodation; and 175 from a windfall allowance of 35 a year on small sites. Much of it is already being built: Holmhurst St Mary (150 homes), the former Harrow Lane playing fields (140), Ashdown House on Sedlescombe Road North (121) and part of Hastings Station Yard (103) are all recorded as under construction.

Two Dates and Two Need Figures

The report carries two dates: Table 9 is headed as the position at December 2024 and Table 10, the sites behind it, as at October 2024, most likely because sites were counted in the autumn and the requirement reworked once the December 2024 framework put the figure at 710. On either date the borough has a third of the land it needs. The pre-submission plan gives the need as 686 a year at August 2026, slightly below the 710 the report used, a change far too small to alter the picture.

What the Shortfall Means for a Site on the Edge of Town

A supply short of five years is evidence of unmet need that a decision maker weighs, not a finding made for them. Hastings adds the stronger signal: a delivery result below 75% means unmet need counts as evidenced for policy S5 of the August 2026 framework, which backs homes beyond a settlement's limits on land that relates well to it and is served by its infrastructure. The High Weald and the designated sites keep their own protection, so the argument works best on land between the built-up edge and those boundaries.

163 Homes a Year for Thirteen Years

Policy DS1 of the adopted plan set a target of at least 3,400 net new homes for 2011 to 2028, or 200 a year. The monitoring report records every year since: 244 in 2015/16, the best of the plan, then 119, 111, 163 and 116 in the four years from 2019/20, and 146 in 2023/24, of which 28 were affordable and 33 came from small windfall sites. Its average over thirteen years is 163.

The report to full council of 23 September 2026 says the government's figure is now more than three times the rate the old plan planned for. The monitoring report also shows the count moving for reasons unconnected with building: the 146 homes of 2023/24 fell to 127 after an adjustment equivalent to 18.89 dwellings for the loss of three rest and care homes.

A Plan for 2,970 Homes Against a Need of 12,348

The pre-submission Local Plan covers 2023 to 2041. It records the government's figure of 686 homes a year, 12,348 over the plan's life, and sets a target of at least 2,970, or 165 a year, which it calls a baseline position. Its Table 2 shows where the homes come from:

Source: Hastings Local Plan, Pre-Submission (Regulation 19), Table 2 (September 2026).
Source of homes to 2041	Plan's figure
Homes completed in the plan period to date, in a row the plan labels 2023/24 and 2025/26	1,050
Commitments: sites under construction or with permission	431
Sites allocated in the plan	1,131
Small site windfall allowance, 2026/27 to 2040/41	675, at 45 a year
Total	3,287

Two figures appear in the council's papers. The full council report speaks of capacity for a little under 3,300 homes over the 18 years, 27% of the need: that is the 3,287 in Table 2, everything identified including homes already built. The policy target is the lower 2,970, 24% of 12,348, and the text around Table 2 does not explain the 317-home gap between them. Either way the target is capacity-led: the report says all suitable, available and deliverable housing sites are being proposed for allocation.

What the Plan Asks of a Site

Brownfield first. Strategic policy SP1 says the council will prioritise sites for development which are brownfield and offer regeneration opportunities.
Affordable housing at two rates. Policy SP2 asks for 25% affordable housing on brownfield residential sites and 40% on greenfield ones, and expects it on site unless a viability review or an off-site contribution is agreed.

Our guide to Section 106 and the levy explains how the affordable share and infrastructure payments come off a scheme before the land value is reached.

Breadsell, an Area of Development Potential on the Rother Boundary

The full council report says the council examined again the potential to develop on the town's outer edges close to the borough boundary, and it identifies land at Breadsell, policy D1, as an area of Development Potential. Table 2 has no row for it, and the report says the policy was changed after the consultation. The adopted strategy explains why greenfield land at Breadsell Lane, in the north-west of the town, could not be allocated last time: it abuts the Marline Valley Woods SSSI, and delivery would be highly uncertain because the degree to which development might harm that nationally important site was unknown.

Rother surrounds the borough on its landward side and its own plan decides the land beyond the line; our East Sussex page sets the two councils side by side. Land that straddles the boundary near Breadsell would have to satisfy both councils, and the ecology evidence for Marline Valley would sit at the heart of either case.

Routes That Start at the Built-Up Area Boundary

The route depends on which side of the built-up area boundary a site sits:

Inside the built-up area: policy S4. Backland, large gardens, yards and redundant buildings inside the town fall under policy S4, which approves unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
Previously developed land. The plan's brownfield priority gives a former yard, depot or institution the clearest run, and the sites under construction in the supply list are just that kind of land: a former hospital, a former academy campus, a station yard. Our brownfield and yards page sets out what we look for.
At the town's edge: policy S5. Where a field or paddock adjoins the built-up area and its roads, drainage and services can cope, need is already treated as evidenced, so an application need not wait for the plan. The nearer the High Weald boundary, the more the landscape case has to carry.
Small sites. The supply counts 35 windfall homes a year from small sites and the plan assumes 45, so the council expects small plots to keep coming; it counted 33 in 2023/24.
Through the plan. The call for sites behind the land availability assessment ran from 28 August 2019 and closed on 9 October 2019, so the way in now is a representation on the pre-submission plan.

A Pre-Submission Plan Against a 31 December 2026 Deadline

The council's timetable of July 2026 placed the six-week publication stage in late September 2026, submission in December 2026 and adoption in June 2028. The report to full council of 23 September 2026 recommended publishing the plan for six weeks of representations on soundness and legal compliance, with a further report in December 2026 seeking agreement to submit. The reason for the pace is in the report: it gives 31 December 2026 as the deadline for submission to the Secretary of State, and says a plan that missed it would have to begin again under the new plan-making system.

Representations, and What They Showed Last Time

The Regulation 18 consultation report records 541 respondents and 2,292 representations on the February to April 2026 draft: 232 in support, 1,108 objections and 952 comments. The full council report records what changed as a result: the removal of some housing sites, three new ones and revised yields. The publication stage asks a narrower question, whether the plan is sound, so a site owner's case has to show why it is unsound without their land. What each stage of a plan can still change is set out in our guide to local plan stages.

A Result to Climb From, and a Supply Figure Due

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 was published on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. We do not forecast the next result, but from 44% the town would need a large rise to reach 75%, and the 20% buffer stays in its supply sums until a result reaches 85%. The council's monitoring page says the 2024/25 monitoring report will be published as soon as possible to include the 2025 delivery test results, and its monitoring reports are where the council sets out its five-year supply, so that is where the next figure should appear. Allocations gain their full weight only at adoption.

Reorganisation Paused

East Sussex is one of the 14 areas whose July 2026 reorganisation decisions the Secretary of State put under full review in a Commons statement of 7 September 2026, which asked for activity to pause and said the May 2027 elections would be held on existing boundaries.

Timing for a Landowner

Edge-of-town and brownfield land has its strongest footing now, while supply is short of five years and delivery is below 75%.
Land that belongs in the plan needs a representation during the publication period, with evidence: the inspector sees only what is put in front of them.

Questions About Land in Hastings

My paddock is on The Ridge with the High Weald behind it. Is it inside or outside the town for planning?

It depends which side of the built-up area boundary it sits on, which the policies map shows. Inside, policy S4 applies; just outside, policy S5 does, with need treated as evidenced. The High Weald boundary is the harder line, and the landscape case grows with every metre beyond the edge.

The council says it can only find land for a quarter of its need. Does that make a field more valuable or less?

More arguable, not automatically more valuable. Until adoption, supply is measured against the government's figure and the shortfall stays. After it, a plan under five years old is measured against its own figure, 165 a year as drafted, rather than 686, so the window for an edge-of-town application is before then.

I own a closed care home in St Leonards. Is that treated as brownfield?

Usually yes. It is previously developed land inside the town, judged under policy S4 with the plan's brownfield priority behind it, and the council counts lost communal accommodation against its delivery, so homes there run with the grain of the numbers.

Is there any point putting land forward now that the call for sites is closed?

Yes. The 2019 call fed the council's land availability assessment, but a representation on the pre-submission plan can still argue for a site, and an application under policy S5 needs no allocation at all.

My land straddles the Hastings and Rother boundary near Crowhurst. Which council decides?

Each council decides the land on its own side of the line under its own plan, so both plans have to be read together. A scheme there needs both councils in the room, work we would take on at our cost.

What price will you pay for my land?

We agree a fixed price with you at the start, before any planning work begins, and it is set above what your land is worth today. We cannot name a figure before we have looked at your land, because it depends on the site itself: its size, its access, how many homes it could take and the costs that come off land value, such as affordable housing, road works and drainage. After the free desktop review we can talk about a price, and once agreed it is written into the agreement.

When would I be paid?

You receive the agreed price on completion, once planning permission has been secured. The agreement sets out the milestones along the way, and it continues while any planning application or appeal is being decided. Until completion you carry on using your land as you do now, and we pay for all of the planning. If permission is not granted, you keep your land and owe nothing.

Tell Us About Your Land in Hastings

It takes about two minutes. We only need your postcode, your name and a phone number or email; the rest helps us look properly.

We reply within 2 working days, by phone or email, whichever you prefer.
The desktop review is free and confidential, with no obligation.
If we agree terms, we pay for all of the planning, which on a larger site can reach £300,000.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.