Vacant Hastings university campus is an 'eyesore'

The closure of the University of Brighton’s Hastings campus was announced in 2016 after it became “financially unsustainable”.

The site was sold to Hastings Borough Council for £9.4 million in 2019 and now lies empty.

At the time, students campaigned fiercely against the closure and Amber Rudd, then MP of Hastings, criticised the decision.

The Hastings campus opened in 2003 and received £12 million of public investment.

The Priory Square building was opened in 2013 and is made up of the original 1930s Post Office building fronting Cambridge Road and an extension overlooking Priory Square. It has a 160-seat auditorium, teaching facilities, laboratory space, terraces and two 13-person lifts.

The Priory Square building was opened in 2013 and is made up of the original 1930s Post Office building fronting Cambridge Road, and an extension overlooking Priory Square (Image: Duncan Hill) The building was sold by the council to Stonegate Homes in December 2023 with planning permission for change of use to 41 homes as well as a commercial space on the site.

The property went to auction on September 25 but did not fetch the desired price so was not sold. Stonegate is now looking to convert the building into apartments.

Duncan Hill, a voluntary litter picker from St Leonards who goes by the name of Mr Litter, chronicles his activities on YouTube and social media.

Social media users flocked to the comments to share their shock when he posted photos of litter around the vacant former campus.

Social media users were shocked by the level of litter around the former campus (Image: Duncan Hill) One said it was a “sad reflection on Hastings Borough Council to allow such negligence of a building: a real eyesore”. Another said: “How wrong it is that the building is left empty when so many single people can’t find somewhere to live. Also homeless people probably sleeping the streets nearby.”

Duncan said: “The area around the old University of Brighton campus in Hastings has always been a hotspot for littering and quickly fills up with litter. Not just the campus but Hastings and St Leonards.

“Mass littering I’ve seen so far is associated mainly with abandoned buildings. It will keep growing as more and more businesses close down and the homeless community grows but as a solo/volunteer litter picker, I can only do my best to try and keep up with it.”

Duncan Hill, who goes by Mr Litter, is a voluntary litter picker who chronicles his activities on YouTube (Image: Duncan Hill) A spokesman for Stonegate said: “We started some internal work back in March to strip the building out in readiness. We are now continuing with this as well as making the building more secure from the locals who like to vandalise.

 “Due to a new government set up called Gateway, this is going to be a longer process now, taking circa two years. Gateway involves a lot more stringent upfront design work and application which needs to be signed off before you can actually start construction, this came in for buildings over 18m in height after Grenfell.

 “In the next few weeks we will be looking to get the Gateway application up and running.”