Time to get involved ...

Sometimes the sheer scale of a proposition can mask its importance. It takes an effort of will to grasp what the district could look like in two decades time.

Rother officers have been working for a long time on preparing the council's Local Development Core Strategy.

In lay terms, this in its final agreed form will become the foundation on which the whole future of the development of the district will be planned.

Rother cabinet agreed on Monday to embark on a 12-week process of public consultation to explain the core strategy and its implications.

The consultation will include a series of public exhibitions across the district.

The consultation comes at a time when Bexhill is pre-occupied with the ongoing public debate over Rother's 5.1m seafront scheme.

The three-day exhibition for the Next Wave proposals '“ in practical terms a virtual fait accompli following the recent council meeting '“ opens at the De La Warr Pavilion on Thursday.

Provided they are not retrospective, such exhibitions are a vital part of the democratic process. In the not-too-distant past, consultation exhibitions of matters of such significance would have seen large numbers of people not only attending but offering constructive responses.

In the days when the town community and economy was represented by such bodies as the Association of Bexhill Citizens, the Hotels Association and the Independent Schools Association '“ all in their day civic groups of repute whose views were taken into account '“ no public issue, large or small, failed to receive a measured response.

Sadly, recent experience shows that while many individuals hold strong views and the more vocal and articulate write letters and conduct spirited campaigns, turn-out at public exhibitions illustrates an under-lying community apathy.

The consequence is that feed-back from consultation is often meagre and the results fail to reflect local feeling.

Both officers and members contributing to Monday's cabinet debate on the Local Development Framework Core Strategy were at pains to emphasise that it is at present "work in progress" and not a draft.

Bexhill must accommodate 5,600 new homes by 2026 to meet the minimum requirement under the South East Plan.

It will have a massive effect on the town. It will provide homes for the rising generation of Bexhillians and create much-needed new jobs.

But it will be entirely dependent on the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road being built.

If development is not accompanied by radical and significant improvement in existing roads and the public transport structure the result will be chaos.

Both forthcoming exhibitions are of immense significance to the town.

They merit the public's active involvement.