THREE national stores will move to a retail park in a £9 million development just approved.

Hampden Retail Park in Eastbourne will be getting a drive-through Costa, Tapi carpet shop and Office Outlet stationery.

They will be taking over the former Maplin unit.

The parking area in the Lottbridge Drove park will be redesigned to improve access and a new road surface will be laid as part of the refurbishment.

Many of the existing shops will have a facelift to smarten up their interiors and the area will be landscaped.

Work is due to start in January and is expected to take about a year.

The retail park will operate as normal throughout the development.

The new stores will create 30 jobs.

Eastbourne Borough Council leader David Tutt said: “Three national retailers will be moving in, bringing employment opportunities and a vastly increased offer for consumers.

“This is great news for the whole town and a real boost for Hampden Park.”

Eastbourne Borough Council bought the retail park in 2016 as part of its commercial property investment to help offset Government funding cuts.

Eastbourne and District Chamber of Commerce said the improvements to the retail park would complement the transformation of the town centre by Legal and General.

Chief executive Christina Ewbank said: “Our town is undergoing its largest programme of improvements and investment for over a century, with nearly £230 million of developments either under way or in the planning stages.

“The town centre will look stunning and will attract thousands of new visitors to the town.

“And with the excellent changes now planned for the Hampden Retail Park, shoppers and visitors will be spoilt for choice.

“Eastbourne continues to grow in status on a near-monthly basis.”

Paul Cragg, who owns Slipstream Cycles off Brassey Parade in Hampden Park, said: “The current retail climate means that high streets and shops are closing around the country leaving town centres looking like ghost towns.

“But I have seen a dramatic upward change here that bucks the trend.

“Before we moved in 18 months ago, this shop was run down.

“It was a derelict area but now the vacant shops are filled and a former Tesco which was left empty is now a swimming pool and fitness centre.”

Councillor Jim Murray, who represents Hampden Park and chairs the planning committee, said: “We have been working with past and present owners for a number of years to improve the uptake of retail units in Brassey Parade.

“Eastbourne is an up and coming town, with it being the most desirable place to live in the country and also the sunniest.

“Along with all the other investment in the town with new conference centres, shopping malls, swimming complexes, reinvestment in other areas of Hampden Park and a willingness to talk to and listen to potential developers, why wouldn’t more businesses want to move to Eastbourne?”