A Broad Rental Market Area is an area within which a person could reasonably be expected to live having regard to facilities

and services for the

purposes of health, education, recreation, personal banking and shopping, taking account of the distance of travel, by public and private transport, to
and from those facilities and services.
A BRMA must contain residential premises of a variety of types, including such premises held on a variety of tenures, plus sufficient privately rented
residential premises, to ensure that, in the rent officers opinion, the LHA for the area is representative of the rents that a landlord might reasonably be
expected to obtain in that area.
[Legislation - Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Amendment (No.2) Order 2008]

SUSSEX EAST

Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA) implemented on 1st October 2010

Map of the BRMA

Overview of the BRMA

The above map shows the coastal towns of Hastings and Bexhill together with the towns of Rye and Battle within a boundary marked in red. Entirely
situated in the county of East Sussex, the area encompasses numerous villages and rural surroundings. As a result, the BRMA measures
approximately 12 miles from north to south and 18 miles from east to west.
Hastings, which lies between the East and West Hills, is the main centre of population and contains the Conquest Hospital, with its accident and
emergency department. The BRMA contains many places of interest; the most famous being the site of the Battle of HastIngs, fought in 1066 near the
market town of Battle. In addition, almost all of the BRMA lies within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The A259, running parallel with the coastline, provides direct links from Bexhill and Rye into the town of Hastings while the A21 and the A28 run into
the town from the north. Railway lines generally follow the same routes as the arterial roads, again providing links from the coastal towns and from
those to the north such as Robertsbridge and Battle.

Identification of Health, Education, Recreation, Banking and Shopping (HERBS)

The above map shows how the facilities and services (HERBS) are distributed. They mainly cluster in, and close to, the town of Hastings. Smaller
clusters can be seen in the towns of Bexhill, Rye and Battle.

Accessibility to facilities and services

(Information sourced from publicly available websites)

From

To

Distance By Car (based

on the quickest rather
than the shortest route)

Time by Car

Time By Bus

Battle
Bexhill
Bodiam
Brightling
Camber

Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings

6.8
5.4
12.6
12.7
16.8

11
8
27
28
31

26
29
43
53*
53

15
9-11

Hooe

Hastings

11.1

19

65*

47**

Iden

Hastings

14.9

22

52*

45**

Netherfield
Ninfield
Northiam
Peasmarsh
Robertstbridge
Rye
Sedlescombe

Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings
Hastings

9.2
8.4
11.8
16.2
10.8
12.5
6.3

21
15
21
24
15
17
9

45*
56*
45
56
41
36
27

Winchelsea

Hastings

9.5

13

27

Time By
Train

54*

Remarks (where applicable)

* Mon-Fri. Change at Battle

* Includes bus to Rye rail station
* Mon-Fri via Bexhill
**Includes bus to Bexhill rail station
* Via Rye
**Includes bus to Rye rail station
*Via Battle
*Via Battle

22
17
42*

*Rush hour only and includes

walking

The above table shows the approximate distances in miles and journey times in minutes to the town of Hastings from peripheral locations. Most
journeys are under an hour, demonstrating the reasonableness of accessibility to the main facilities and services in the area. By implication the table
also indicates that journeys to and from nearer destinations are also reasonable.

Variety of Property Types and Tenures

Variety of Property Types
All Household Spaces (Total)
In an Unshared Dwelling
House or Bungalow (Subtotal)
Detached
Semi Detached
Terrace or End Terrace
Flat, Maisonette or Apartment (Subtotal)
Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: In a Purpose-Built Block of Flats
Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: Part of a Converted or Shared House
Flat, Maisonette or Apartment: In a Commercial Building
Caravan or Other Mobile or Temporary Structure
In a Shared Dwelling
Variety of Tenure Types
All Households (Total)
Owned (Subtotal)
Owned: Owns outright
Owned: Owns with a mortgage or loan
Owned: Shared ownership
Social rented (Subtotal)
Social rented: Rented from Council (Local Authority)
Social rented: Other social rented
Private rented (Subtotal)

Total

77975
77620
55148
23901
16437
14810
22291
11730
9038
1523
181
355
73142
51552
26609
24588
354
9716
1463
8253
10544

The figures in bold in the above table show the number of houses and flats in the BRMA and how many of them are owned, socially rented and
privately rented. The other figures show sub categories. The table demonstrates that the BRMA contains a variety of types of residential premises and
that they are held on a variety of tenures. Note: The table was compiled by matching the Office of National Statistics 2001 Census data as closely as
possible to the BRMA map boundary.
Sufficient Privately Rented Premises
The table shows 10,544 privately rented premises in the BRMA.
We would expect to collect approximately 20% of the private rented sector market; this would be about 2,109 pieces of lettings information to include
on our list of rents. This is considered sufficient privately rented residential premises to ensure that, in the Rent Officers opinion, the Local Housing
Allowance for tenancies in the area is representative of the rents that a landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain in that area.