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Hastings Country Park and Ecclesbourne Glen

Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve, the cliffs, glens and heath east of the Old Town, including Ecclesbourne Glen and Fairlight Glen.

Hastings Country Park and Ecclesbourne Glen
What’s near Hastings Country Park and Ecclesbourne Glen on the full map

In the council's papers

35 papers on the record mention Hastings Country Park and Ecclesbourne Glen. The newest 12 are listed. Where the mention is in the text, the sentence is quoted.

On the council's land and assets list

2 entries on the borough council's list use this page's words in their name or address. The list is the council's statement of what it holds; it is quoted, not checked. The whole list.

The coast and its plan

The Shoreline Management Plan for South Foreland to Beachy Head sets how each stretch of this coast is to be managed over three periods to 2105. Here is this stretch, in the Environment Agency’s SMP Explorer, with its erosion map’s figures.

4C23 Fairlight Cove (West) to Hastings

“Continue to allow natural coastal evolution in this An area of undefended cliffs of international environmental and geological importance, with high landscape value and no significant cliff top developments. This forms part of the Hastings Cliff to Pett Beach Site of Special Scientific Interest and Hastings Cliff Special Area of Conservation.”

Policy: No active intervention (Do not defend) in all three periods, 2005 to 2105: “Where no defences are present, and it would be technically, economically, or environmentally unsustainable to introduce defences due to their impact on other communities, or on sites protected for their environmental importance.”

The erosion map divides it into 12 frontages in Hastings. By 2105, with Shoreline Management Plans delivered: 34 to 71 m; with No Future Intervention: 34 to 71 m.

This unit in the SMP Explorer ↗

The figures are the width of the map’s erosion zone, inland from today’s shoreline, on the Higher Central allowance. In the Agency’s words: “Two periods: Medium Term (up to 2055) and Long Term (up to 2105).” “Two management scenarios: With Shoreline Management Plans delivered and No Future Intervention.” “Three climate scenarios: Present Day climate (2020), Higher Central allowance and Upper End allowance. The two allowances use sea level rise data from UKCP18 RCP8.5 70th and 95th percentiles respectively.” “All distances are cumulative over time and given in metres.”

The same map draws 3 ground instability zones on this coast: Hastings Country Park and Lover's Seat Landslide and Covehurst Wood.

Ground instability zones show areas of geologically complex cliffs where land has previously experienced ground movement. This zone uses the rear scarp position as the landward extent. A buffer zone identified as having the potential risk of future movement in the next 100 years is also included.

Ground instability is especially unpredictable. Within zones of ground instability, land can experience movement at any time over days, years or centuries into the future, or even not at all. For this reason, there is no time horizon specified.

Management approaches depend on funding and relevant approvals and permissions. Adaptation to coastal change may be needed. Even where defences are present, some risk from storm surges or ground instability may remain. Time periods (short (0 to 20 years), medium (20 to 50 years) and long (50 to 100)) are approximate and do not signify precise dates of management transitions. Where shown, coastal erosion projections are for guidance only. They show areas of land likely to be at risk but do not show the precise future position of the shoreline, nor specific information for individual properties.

The SMP Explorer’s note on every unit.

The data and associated information are intended for guidance only - it cannot provide details for individual properties.

The data shows areas of land likely to be at erosion risk but does not show the precise future position of the shoreline.

Erosion may happen faster or slower than what we show, and risk may change over time.

The Environment Agency’s warnings on its erosion map, from its description of the data ↗.

The coast on the map · The plan’s policy unit maps (PDF) ↗ · The plan (PDF) ↗ · The Environment Agency’s coastal erosion map ↗

Coastal erosion and the Shoreline Management Plan: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015. Open Government Licence v3.0. Fetched 2026-10-12.

Protected nature

Natural England’s designations at or within 200 m of the point this page’s map is centred on.

Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach SSSI: its units’ condition

UnitAreaConditionAssessed
Unit 3 (part in Hastings)38.77 haFavourable24 March 2021
Unit 4 (part in Hastings)41.76 haFavourable24 March 2021
Unit 5 (part in Hastings)102.64 haFavourable23 August 2016
Unit 6 (part in Hastings)4.09 haFavourable26 March 2024
Unit 95.57 haFavourable24 March 2021
Unit 1017.36 haUnfavourable recovering13 May 2010

The condition of each unit in the borough as Natural England records it, and the date of its assessment. Natural England’s unit condition report ↗

Protected sites: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Open Government Licence v3.0. Fetched 2026-10-12.

Money

A floor, not what Hastings Country Park and Ecclesbourne Glen cost. These are payments over £250 that Hastings Borough Council published, counted only where it booked them to a service area whose name matches this page's rule. The council's files on this record start in January 2018. Payments booked to other budgets, staff time, and money paid by other bodies (the county council, a private owner, a grant-giver) aren't here.

The borough council's payments

£673,068 in 447 payments from August 2017 to August 2026, booked to the council's service areas named below.

0£100k£200k£300k2017/18: £11k2017/182018/19: £66.2k2018/192019/20: £59.8k2019/202020/21: £130k2020/212021/22: £175k2021/22£175k2022/23: £67k2022/232023/24: £77.8k2023/242024/25: £29.4k2024/252025/26: £43.4k2025/262026/27: £13.6k so far2026/27
Every financial year as a figure
2017/18£11k
2018/19£66.2k
2019/20£59.8k
2020/21£130k
2021/22£175k
2022/23£67k
2023/24£77.8k
2024/25£29.4k
2025/26£43.4k
2026/27£13.6k

By service area

Who was paid

A payee the council's file names as a person is shown as “a named individual”.

How this page is built

A council paper, consultation or planning record is listed when its title or text uses any of these phrases as whole words, in any case: “Hastings Country Park”, “Ecclesbourne Glen”, “Fairlight Glen”, “Fire Hills”, “Firehills”. A match says the paper mentions the place, not that it is about it.

Payments are counted when the borough council booked them to a service area whose name matches any of these patterns: “Country Park”. Service areas matched: Country Park Interpretive Centre; ES32 Country Park -Interpretive Centre; Hastings Country Park; Hastings Country Park - Parking; Hastings Country Park Grant Funded Works; Hastings Country Park Visitor Centre.

The rules are in config/places.yaml, published with the site's code.

Every landmark. Payments data published by Hastings Borough Council under the Local Government Transparency Code.