Plans to move register office set to be considered

A proposal to relocate Hastings Register Office in an attempt to make savings is set to be considered by a senior county councillor.

East Sussex County Council is proposing to move the office - currently situated in Hastings Town Hall, Queens Road - to Hastings Library in Claremont.

In a report seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, council officers said the relocation was expected to save about £100,000 per year, at a cost of £125,000.

The report said current ceremony rooms within the town hall were considered to be "underutilised".

The LDRS reported that if the recommendation is approved, it could result in the loss of several ceremony rooms in Hastings Town Hall, which the county council leases from Hastings Borough Council.

Currently, the town hall building has three ceremony rooms.

According to the service's website, the smallest of these three rooms has space for 15 people, while the largest has space for up to 60 people.

In the report to ESCC councillor Claire Dowling, lead member for transport and environment, officers said Hastings Library would only have one full-time ceremony room with capacity to hold up to 10 people.

However, the building's ground floor, which the report noted would only be available when the library is closed on Sundays and Wednesdsay afternoons, could hold up to 60 people.

The report said the town hall's three ceremony rooms could accommodate as many as 5,475 ceremonies each year, but the office had only conducted 273 ceremonies in 2022/23; 216 in 2023/2024 and 219 in 2024/2025.

Council officers said their proposal offered "value for money and would deliver an improved and enhanced library and registration office".

Dowling is set to consider the proposal at a meeting on 10 November.

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