Sovereign Harbour

Sovereign Harbour
View across the North Harbour
District	Eastbourne
Shire county	East Sussex
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	EASTBOURNE
Postcode district	BN23
Dialling code	01323
Police	Sussex
Fire	East Sussex
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Eastbourne
List of places UK England East Sussex

Sovereign Harbour is a residential and commercial development of the shingle beachland and marsh between Eastbourne amd Pevensey Bay in the seaside town of Eastbourne, England. The concept for the area came as a gift of the land out of private ownership and ministry of defence use. After some change in legislation, planning was given to the no mans land that existed with no public access. The possibility of housing on the site came in early 1970s when it was considered that community design and an inclusive plan would enable the site to accommodate visitors business and homes. The commercial area for retail began trading in 1993 and today still expects some additional business and commercial entities to open. The shingle area was formerly known as The Crumbles and now Sovereign Harbour has a fishing quarter and boatyard, shops, restaurants and bars, alongside homes, a primary school and medical centre. The harbour is designed with five separate basins: North Harbour, South Harbour, West Harbour, Outer Harbour and Inner Harbour. The retail park has undergone a change in design since inception, and the housing projects being built in stages was allowed to benefit from differing designs, so not all blocks look the same and many different house types are included. The overall layout gives access to walk around all harbours all waterfront amd gives access to the beach. By design Sovereign Harbour is Northern Europe’s largest composite marina complex.^[1]

The marina was always overseen by government regulations and sea defence planning. A high-profile and early developer was Carillion, implementing the design and concept for housing until 2007. The Harbour and boating needed professional management and the opportunity aligned with other waterside living allowed around the country. Sovereign Harbour was included in several marinas bought by the Premier Marinas group. This tied Eastbourne to other leisure and commercial marinas along the South Coast including Brighton, Chichester and Port Solent.^[2]