Development land in East Sussex: 687 brownfield sites
The 6 planning authorities in East Sussex have published 687 sites on their brownfield land registers — land the councils themselves assessed as suitable for housing. Together: about 291 hectares and an estimated 18,696 dwellings of capacity.
Rank these sites with constraints netted off →
Which councils hold the land
Every authority publishes its register separately, so these totals exist nowhere else. Click a council for its full register.
| Authority | Sites | Hectares | Max dwellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton and Hove | 301 | 107 | 11,997 |
| Eastbourne | 133 | 26 | 1,812 |
| Wealden | 72 | 48 | 593 |
| Lewes | 71 | 41 | 1,681 |
| Rother | 65 | 33 | 975 |
| Hastings | 45 | 37 | 1,638 |
The five East Sussex districts plus the Brighton and Hove unitary.
Largest sites in East Sussex
| Site | Authority | Hectares | Max dwellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land at Brighton Marina (Inner Harbour) | Brighton and Hove | 11.5 | 1000 |
| The Grove School (Former St Leonards Academy, Darwell Campus, Darwell Close), St | Hastings | 9.4 | 240 |
| Former Hamsey Brickworks, South Road, South Common, Chailey Parish | Lewes | 9.1 | 49 |
| Newhaven Marina, Fort Road, Newhaven | Lewes | 6.8 | 337 |
| Land at Northeye (Former UAE Technical Training Project), Bexhill | Rother | 6.4 | 140 |
| Brighton General Hospital Elm Grove Brighton | Brighton and Hove | 5.8 | 200 |
| Land at Brighton Marina (Outer Harbour) | Brighton and Hove | 5.3 | 856 |
| Unit C, Danecroft Nursery, Station Road, Hellingly | Wealden | 5.2 | — |
| The Old Loom Mill, Ersham Road, Hailsham | Wealden | 4.7 | 24 |
| Freshfield Road Business Park and Gala Bingo Hall, Freshfield Way | Brighton and Hove | 4.3 | 110 |
| Former Railway Sidings Tutts Barn Lane | Eastbourne | 4.1 | 181 |
| Site of former West St Leonards Primary School, Bexhill Road, Hastings | Hastings | 3.9 | 80 |
Source: the councils’ own brownfield land registers, published via planning.data.gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0. 22 further entries repeat the area of a site already listed (councils often record a whole site's area against each phase), so that land is counted once. 130 of the 687 sites (19%) state no dwelling capacity, so the capacity figure covers the 557 that do — the real total is higher.
Before you get attached to one
A register entry is not planning permission and not an offer to sell. It records that the council thinks housing could work there. Whether the owner agrees is a separate conversation, and whether a scheme gets approved is a third.
- Net off the constraints first. Green belt, Flood Zone 3 and listed buildings kill more register sites than anything else.
- The dwelling figure is the council’s opinion. 18,696 across East Sussex is a planning-policy estimate, not a set of designs.
- Price it off recorded sales. HM Land Registry Price Paid tells you what actually sold; work the residual land value from there.
- England has no zoning. The Local Plan and the Use Classes Order decide what is achievable, application by application.
How to read a register entry properly → · Five ways to find UK development land →
GoSiteHunt is an advertising and analysis platform, not a real estate agent or planning consultancy. Everything here is indicative screening from public data — not a valuation, not planning advice, and never a substitute for the councils’ own records or your own professional advisers.