A 30-year-old promise: The development of Eastbourne Harbour

By Chris Williams

Chris is Associate Fellow at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), who are working towards an economy that works for everyone.

According to local history, in the 1880s Sussex fishermen were said to be of “strong and resolute stock” of Spanish, Norman French and Saxon roots. The “Willicks” or “Willickers”, as the Fishermen of Eastbourne were known, fished for migrating herring, sprat and mackerel. Their boats were known as “Bourners”, and along with the fishing fleets of Hastings and Brighton, the Eastbourne fishermen would follow the mackerel down the English Channel to Devon and Cornwall and even to Southern Ireland; other fishing expeditions would take them as far north as Scarborough.

Today, 38 mostly under 10m, family-owned fishing boats operate out of Eastbourne’s Sovereign Harbour. In 2019 they landed over £3 million worth of seafood. Whelks are the most important species for the Eastbourne fleet and made up nearly three quarters of their total landings by weight. Other important species include crab, lobster, sole and bass.

Despite Eastbourne’s long fishing heritage and their continued strong landings, the future of the local fleet has been shrouded in uncertainty for several decades. To understand why, we need to go back to the Eastbourne Harbour Act of 1980.

Artist’s impression – Harbour view

Image courtesy of the NEF

The development site

Image courtesy of the NEF.

A developer proposed to transform a strip of beachfront into a large harbour. Plans included two breakwaters, 1,800 moorings, 2,400 dwellings, commercial buildings and community assets like a school, library and swimming pool.

Local fishermen were asked for their support and promised a fishing quay in return. The fishermen were keen, because having access to a fishing quay instead of landing on the beach as they had done for generations would make their lives much easier. The fishermen gave their support, permission was granted and the development progressed, but the fishing quay never emerged.

For decades the fishermen worked from a small area in the harbour with limited storage and fishing infrastructure while the harbour grew and new flats were built around them. Then, in August 2013 they received a letter telling them to move, as their landing site had been earmarked for housing development.

With no alternative sites in the harbour, the fishermen decided to stand their ground and hold the new landowners, Carillion, to the promises made in the past.

The fishermen set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) to try to purchase the site themselves and ran a campaign to reverse the planning decision. Fortunately they had built up a fighting fund over the previous 10 years to pay for outline plans for the fishing quay they had been promised. With support from the local community, Eastbourne council, East Sussex County Council and pressure from the fishermen, the planning department agreed to earmark the site as a permanent home for the fishing fleet. While a fantastic step towards their goal, the fishermen still didn’t have the legal title to the land, nor did they have the funding to make this dream a reality.

In 2014 they sought help from the New Economics Foundation (NEF). They worked together on a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) grant proposal and brought the local community into the discussions to help shape their plans. The project team also worked closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to ensure the grant support matched the priorities and the grant intervention rate for small-scale fisheries.

Graham Doswell

Image courtesy of the NEF

Graham Doswell, third-generation fisherman and director of the Eastbourne Fishermans CIC, explained:

We really had nowhere else to go and no future. So we needed to get organised and bring the fishing fleet and local residents together. With NEF’s help, we ensured that the local council was very supportive of the project and developed a successful funding bid to the EMFF

The proposal was organised in three major phases. The first involved securing a long-term (75 years) lease for the site and providing a place to store and process their catch, add value and sell direct to the public. The second and third phases aimed to link the working quay with the local community and businesses, while also providing a visitor centre to draw in customers and tourists to learn about the local seafood and fishing heritage.

In 2016 the EMFF application was successful, resulting in a £1.25 million grant. Getting this far had not been easy or quick. Grant funding meant a Community Economic Development plan with local people, businesses and local authorities was also needed, but thankfully, there was strong support for the project. Working with local people and businesses, as well as the Eastbourne Borough Council and East Sussex County Council, were crucial to making the fishermen’s situation visible and generating support for the project. Without helping the CIC connect and building support alongside a public profile, this would not have been possible. The support the fishermen have had has been fantastic.

Despite the success of securing funding and the best-made plans, it turned out that things weren’t going to be so simple. In 2018 the landowner (Carillion) went bust – the largest construction bankruptcy in British history.

The land, including the earmarked fishing quay, was sold from under the fishermen’s noses when Carillion went into liquidation.

Artist’s impression – Harbour view.

Image courtesy of the NEF

Agreeing to a long-term lease with the new owner then took a year of legal discussion, despite support from the company’s CEO, the Eastbourne Borough Council and the East Sussex County Council – as well as the local MPs at the time.

During that period of negotiation, the team worked tirelessly to gather more public support and funding from several other sources, including the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s (SELEP) Growing Places fund, the East Sussex County Council’s East Sussex Investment 4 scheme and the Seafarers’ Charity (formerly Seafarers UK).

By now the plan and project were looking very strong, well-supported, financed and ready to go. But there were still more hurdles to overcome. In 2019 the building contractor went into administration, meaning the tenders, grant support and loan applications, plans, finances and timelines all needed to be updated.

The Eastbourne fishermen had been in a decades-long battle for their survival and were not going to give up just before reaching the finish line, so they pushed through. Finally, 30 years since the idea of a fishing quay started, 7 years after forming the CIC and 6 years after seeking help from the NEF, the project is becoming a reality.

Construction is now underway

Image courtesy of the NEF.

In early 2020, as a sign of the times, the project had a virtual ground-breaking ceremony via Zoom, attended by the local MP and key people who made the project possible. Building work is on track to be completed by April 2021, and in a surprise announcement the SELEP committed an extra £1.08 million to help embed the quay in the local economy.

The Eastbourne fishermen have achieved so much. From being squeezed out of a harbour development to becoming a strong and ambitious partnership building new fishing and community infrastructure, their transformation has been amazing. They show us that by getting organised, working together and having clear goals, along with a good measure of gritty determination, the fishing industry can position itself as an asset to local communities and economies.

Clearly the Eastbourne fishermen of today are just as “strong and resolute” as their forebears of 1880!

Find out more

Eu10CIC: www.eastbournefishermen.co.uk

2017 Community Economics Development plan: www.eastbournefishermen.co.uk/images/ EastbourneFishermenCED_PLAN_FINAL_May2017.pdf

NEF video: www.neweconomics.org/2017/12/eastbourne-fishing-community

NEF: www.neweconomics.org