Sand sports to be added to Hove Beach Park

Work will commence this week to create a sand sports area within the Hove Beach Park development on West Hove seafront.

The new facility will be a flexible space to accommodate a range of popular sand sports including beach volleyball, tennis, rugby and football. It will be managed by a tenant organisation on behalf of the council.

The area will be located between the croquet lawn and the sunken garden, opposite the entrance to Sackville Gardens. It will open next summer.

Part of the original vision for the park

Originally part of the vision for the new park that was given planning permission in 2022, in June 2023 it was announced that unprecedented cost inflation had created a funding gap for the project and feedback was sought from residents and community groups on which proposed facilities were seen as most important. Following that the difficult decision to omit the sand sports area from the plans was taken.

Work has since continued to seek additional funding streams for the project and a plan has now been approved to reinstate the sand sports area. The rental income paid by the tenant to the council will be used to meet loan repayments on borrowing we will take out to fund the construction of the facility.

We will be seeking expressions of interest from potential operators in the coming weeks.

Work progressing 

Work continues on site with the construction of the other areas of the park, including the new Outdoor Sports Hub, gardens, wheeled sports areas, tennis and padel tennis courts, and improvements to the facilities at Hove Lagoon and the existing croquet lawn. 

Latest videos showing the progress of the building work can be viewed at What's happening now at Hove Beach Park (brighton-hove.gov.uk).