Your Letters - February 22

Dog controls (1)

Re: Will the police enforce Rother's dog control order: Bexhill Observer, February 8

ROTHER is in a double bind, they have a duty and the legal clout to ban dogs from designated public areas, but clearly lack the funds to see it through comprehensively.

Rother cannot ban dogs without having a strategy in place to arrive at a mix of opportunities that caters fairly for all owners and non owners alike.

The absence of a strategy will discourage and marginalise pet ownership.

There are already increasing restrictions on pet ownership and declining tolerance, yet there is so much research to support the health benefits of pet ownership. Will Rother please publish their strategy.

If, as Sir Ronnie Flanagan, says the amount of paperwork police officers are having to carry out is actually hindering real police work, then Rother have to take note of what he is saying. With such an impressive track record of running police forces he obviously knows what he is talking about.

A large part of police work should involve officers being out on the streets preventing crime and making people feel safer in their community. They can't do that if they are enforcing by-laws all the time.

David Cameron recently called for the return of the park keeper, likewise parks should have attractions that draw people in like a cafe.

Women and children want reassurance that public areas are safe. This could be achieved by creating a force of uniformed patrol rangers, who can, inter alia, establish a good rapport with dog owners and who have powers to enforce by-laws and to make arrests.

E D COOK

Sandhurst Lane

Dog controls (2)

I AM sure many local dog owners will have joined me in rejoicing that Rother DC had heeded our vociferous protests of last year and produced two very sensible Dog Control Orders.

No-one could object to the requirement to clear up after one's dog and the second part of the new Order, restricting access by dogs to certain areas of the district, was far more acceptable than the previously proposed draconian restrictions.

Oh, how short-lived was the delight, for now I read that the Chief Constable will be deciding in 10 months' time whether or not his officers will be able to enforce the orders! Surely any sane local authority would discuss the matter of enforcement with the likely enforcers before spending the tax-payers money on making such orders.

Did I say "sane"? Perhaps that is my deliberate mistake!

ELIZABETH DOWNS (Mrs)

Barnhorn Road

Excellent exhibition

Re: The Martin exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion

HAVING been somewhat critical in the past of the variable quality of the art exhibited at the De La Warr Pavilion, I feel obliged to record my appreciation of the current exhibition of the work of Kenneth and Mary Martin.

My wife and I thought most of the pieces were original and visually very interesting, stimulating in the imaginative design and in the unusual techniques and workmanship employed in the construction.

I urge readers to go and appreciate!

J HODSON

Cooden Sea Road

LCB generosity

BEXHILL Lions Club congratulate the Little Common & Bexhill Players on the excellent and entertaining production of their Dick Turpin pantomime recently. In particular, the special preview performance of the show for the Lions Club enabled not only 40 Gateway Club members and friends to attend as Lions' guests, but also raised over 200 for the Lions Charity Fund.

So, thank you LCB Players '“ performers and back stage '“ and we look forward to seeing you again next January.

DAVID BURSTOW

Bexhill Lions Fund Raising Chairman

Beach mystery

COULD someone explain to us why it appears acceptable for travellers to use the beach area along Herbrand Walk as some sort of camping site?

There has been a woman, living in a very old caravan, with eight dogs, who has fenced off part of the beach as her own garden, for at least six months now!

She has now been joined by several more colleagues, all in old vans, some parked between the beach huts. Several of the huts have been vandalised and one is being used as their public convenience.

Us owners have a covenant restricting us from sleeping overnight in our huts, although we pay council tax, and yet these people appear above the law.

The land along here is owned privately and therefore Rother District Council are not keen to respond. Surely within six months someone should be able to do something to help us remove these people and their vehicles. The area is becoming disgusting and surely on health grounds alone, Rother must have some jurisdiction over the area.

We need a concerted effort by the local authority, the police, social services, our MP and the county council to work together to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

And before you ask, we understand that some have been offered accommodation, but refused.

Stephen Atkinson-Jones

Address supplied

rr Rother District Council leader Cllr Carl Maynard says in reply to a similar point made by a questioner on his Ask The Leader slot on the www.rother.gov.uk website that the owner of the land has told the council that he will be starting legal proceedings to regain possession of the site.

Marsh madness

MAY I through your newspaper say how shocked I was on Friday, February 15 to see the amount of litter strewn across the Marsh Road, there were plastic bags hanging in trees and paper covering the grass verge. I travel along this road at least once a week and have never seen it so untidy.

This is something that people who have to do Community Service could do. Although I would hope it would be carried out a little better than the Community Service that was being carried out two weeks ago in Bottle Alley in Hastings.

When all in their fluorescent jackets one man was doing all the work rubbing down paintwork while two girls were just mucking about and texting on their mobiles. A boy was throwing stones about, it was not a one off either because they were still doing it two hours later when I walked back. Where was the person to supervise these people and ensure they are doing the work they are supposed to be doing?

J BURTON (Mrs)

Bexhill

Unfair burden

I HAVE lived in Bexhill for over 20 years, living in a variety of purchased two bedroom flats, extremely large, one on the sea front. All had garages.

Unfortunately due to ill health I had to downsize to a managed block to a very small one bedroom flat which was very distressing as I had to part with a lot of personal possessions. The above mentioned flat has no central heating only expensive night storage heating - personally I only have a shower room no bath, no sea views and no garage. There is no covered provision for parking disabled scooters. The highest council tax band I have ever been in is B. Before purchase we were verbally told we would probably be band A for one bed, band B two bed.

Our council obviously sees the elderly as an easy target as they have already put the one bed into band C and the two bedroom into band D. We have lodged objections so far to no avail.

Our pensions rise by approx 3% if we are lucky. We do not have a bottomless pit of cash.

People move into sheltered accommodation because they have to not because they want to. A caring council would understand this and see this as an ideal opportunity to help their older citizens not add to their problems.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Mill upkeep

BEING an old Bexhillian I read the Bexhill Observer every week on the internet with interest.

I have just read the item on Hoad's Mill, and I am not surprised at the negative attitude of this council, it is still the same as was the council's in 1964/65 when Mr Hoad and his family asked for 1600.00 towards the restoration of the mill, and they were refused.

If the council are so keen to keep the heritage of Bexhill intact they should be prepared to help fund the upkeep of these buildings, and not expect a few individuals to do it for them.

For the record I moved to Gunters Lane in 1946 when it was still a country lane back then, I lived there for 33 years, and saw a lot of changes.

I could look out of my lounge window and see the old mill, so it was a very sad day when the mill collapsed.

For more information look in the Bygones section of the Bexhill Observer website.

GEOFF MERCER

Jacklin Drive

Queensland

Australia

Yob mentality

I AGREE with Ian Blake's letter in last week's Observer (February 15) in that it would be a good idea if 'the mindless yobs' could be transported to the war zones where there are plenty of opportunities for them to exercise their fighting skills - against those who are well able to handle it.

A little more difficult than frightening old ladies or daubing walls.

But not in the Army.

The British Army is formed of proud regiments, there are no Mindless Yob Regiments.

The yobs would only bring disgrace; anyway it is extremely doubtful that they would have the intelligence to master the methods and weapons of modern warfare.

R WHITLOCK (Dr)

Knole Road

Hearty need

JUST wondering why this new device (British Heart Foundation defribillator donation, Observer, February 15) that has been kindly donated to Rother is jetting off to Camber every summer and not staying all year round at Bexhill with its ageing community and heart problems.

Would that not seem sensible?

I am sure you do not get too many OAPs at Camber running around the sands and getting heart attacks, but from memory at the beach when I was there we did have six heart attacks from the public that I know of.

Would it not seem prudent to have one at Bexhill beach instead or also?

And also why are the tide clocks along the front without the clock hands so now you have to read from a tide book instead?

P P Meyer

London Road

999 assistance

MAY I through your columns thank the ladies who came to my wife's aid when she fell over in Sackville Road on Wednesday, February 6.

Special thanks for dialling 999 and the prompt response of the ambulance service and the courtesy and professionalism of the paramedic who attended.

No thanks to the council for the state of Bexhill pavements or to the motorists who park on them and contribute to their deterioration.

S WHITCOMBE

Ocklynge Close

Town council

SO, the Liberal Democrats, (who have very little to do in Rother outside their constituencies these days,) are pushing for a Town Council.

But why do this when other councils are looking at ways of amalgamating with each other in various areas to ensure that taxpayers' money is being used properly, e.g. combining the salaries for staff in one computer thereby saving the tax payers a fair amount of money.

Looking at the list that Cllr Forster gave to the paper, it would appear that this Town Council intends to take on more than 63% of the facilities of the area, but where is the money coming from, for the cost of setting up a Town Council will be enormous?

Mary Varrall, (who sits on the Standards Board for Rother and is the Lib. Dem. Parliamentary Candidate for Bexhill and Battle,) says that Government funding will be available, but how much and for how long ?

If the Liberal Democrats think that the Government will finance them for ever, they will have a sharp shock and then who will have to finance the project, but the people of Bexhill.

The Liberal Democrats in ESCC nearly cleared out the coffers in the 90s and it looks as if the same thing could happen in Rother/Bexhill if this went ahead.

Remember what Virgil said, 'Do not trust the horse Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts'

No. The Liberal Democrats should leave such things alone and concentrate on those which are useful and can be funded without bleeding the electorate, not make pies in the sky and promises which fail.

Brian Gadd

County councillor

Bexhill West Division

YOUR correspondent John M Taylor, writing in last week's Observer (February 15) about the Town Council petition does not present a clear picture for us to reflect upon.

As the few members of the public who attend meetings at Rother know, district councillors debate issues without arguing, and then the ruling group vote en bloc for the policy they want to pursue.

The Rother Cabinet is, necessarily, a mix of rural and town councillors with rather different perspectives and priorities.

Could this be described as a conflict of interests?

Certainly, it is not always in Bexhill's interests to have councillors from rural wards helping to make decisions affecting our town.

A Town Council would have its own precept or share of Council Tax, (764,860 this year) to carry out its responsibilities and Rother would not 'hold the purse strings'.

It can be argued that freed of some of the local responsibilities Rother could do a much better job concentrating on the issues which affect the area generally such as planning, environmental health, waste and recycling.

Bexhill-on-Sea has a population of over 40,000. How big do you have to be to get some democracy around here?

Battle, Rye and Seaford have town councils with much smaller populations.

They are able to advertise and promote tourism, encourage business and sensitively regenerate the communities they represent. Why, they even have brochures, toilets and tourist information centres!

There is light at the end of this particular tunnel, however. Each of the nine wards in Bexhill is to be asked to develop a local action plan, feeding into a Bexhill Local Plan.

This is the process which many parishes in Rother have already begun. Have your say; come to the local Forum and see how you can contribute to the local plan.

Having our own Bexhill Town Council would guarantee that we do not get 'swept in with Hastings' '“ or lumped with Battle, Rye or Northiam, so please do reflect and should you decide that it would be a good idea, please sign up!

Martyn Forster

Rother councillor, St Michael's Ward

County councillor, Bexhill East Division

I SEEM to missing the point of a Bexhill town council!

What will it achieve that cannot be achieved at present?

I just see another level of bureaucracy with all the associated costs being born by the people of Bexhill.

It seems that councillors like all government work hard to create jobs and wealth for themselves instead of doing what is best for their constituents.

Compared to Hastings with their council who never listen to the majority, Bexhill is already being run very nicely, why change it?

Dale Martin

Windsor Road

I think it's great that 1,200 people have voted to have a Town Council - the only problem I have is - where is all the money going to come from to pay for the staff, offices, etc?

The only way I can see this being done is by putting our Council Tax up by an extra 5 a week.

I feel that this will be disgraceful - as a resident of Bexhill I pay high Council Tax as it is.

I know in your article you said that there will be no cost, but the money has to come from somewhere.

TRACEY ANN SMITH (Mrs)

Wilton Road

Post plunderers

TO all those fighting post office closures, including Bexhill MP Greg Barker, you are too late and for Mr B these are crocodile tears. He says Post Offices "are essential to our local community".

That's all very well, but it was his party in Government that plundered 1,000 million from Post Office profits over 10 years to help keep your taxes down, before it charged the business further millions of Corporation Tax thereby robbing the business of vital re-investment cash.

Even the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee didn't know the scale of this financial raiding.

I know, I heard the chairman admit it.

More recently the Blair Government took away benefit books forcing reluctant pensioners and claimants to have payments through bank accounts and allowed the BBC and DVLA to take their business away from post offices.

All this robbed the network of millions of transactions.

And this so-called Labour Government also appointed a postal regulator whose main aim was to tear apart both Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd by giving as much of its business to private companies as possible '“ a man whose top priority was to serve big business.

Again I know, because I heard him say so. He told me and other senior PO managers: "I am going to set a fire in your house. It's not my problem if you get burned."

What he didn't care about was the small business and the public customer who would get caught in the flames.

And last, you can thank all the people who would rather drive miles to a shopping centre than walk to their local shop and Post Office. Years ago my colleagues and I were warning people: "Use it or Lose it".

Well, I am sorry, you have all lost.

Alan Whitt

Ridgewood Gardens

(Former PO Chief Press Officer)

School ethos

WE felt that we must make comment following John Mulhern's excellent letter concerning 'discrimination policy' at St Richard's Catholic College.

We were fortunate in having our four children educated at St Richard's. We are not Catholic, we are Church of England.

The children greatly benefited from the strong community spirit and sense of 'belonging' which indeed encompassed the whole family. The religious education that they received allowed them to grow up respecting other points of view, and at no time were they excluded, pressurised or discriminated against. They have all gone out into the world as responsible, professional adults. Needles to say, we are extremely proud of them.

Many thanks go to Mr Campbell and his wonderful staff, but not forgetting his predecessors - Mr O'Keefe and Mr Keaveney who both helped to make St Richard's the splendid school that it is. Have a great retirement Mr C! We recommend it!

SANDRA AND RICHARD SANDERSON

Top Cross Road

Ambulance rights

Re: Observer front page, February 15, councillor injured avoiding ambulance)

THE councillor has my sympathy about his injury, but I feel he would be playing a different tune should he have been in the rear of the vehicle or waiting for its arrival.

In Europe should you hear a siren or see the lights it is law that a passage is quickly made for the emergency vehicle.

Perhaps our councillor could lobby his MP for us to be brought into line with them then he and his bicycle would not have been in the way of this particular ambulance.

For me having worked for years with the emergency services, if it will save a few precious seconds, as long as the vehicle is displaying its warning lights and has its two tones on then I feel the onus is on the rest of us to clear it a path, be it on one side of the road or the other.

Just remember you never know when it could be you in need.

LOFTY AILWOOD

Stevens Close

Parking chaos

WHEN will the powers that be come and look at the chaos caused by inconsiderate parking in Holliers Hill by Bexhill Hospital?

Last Wednesday morning we could have done with a policeman to direct the traffic - there was gridlock. Cars parked on both sides of the road, at the bus stop, on corners, everywhere!

Any emergency vehicle wouldn't have been able to get through.

We really need double yellow lines at the junction of Holliers Hill / Chantry Avenue, continuing to Churchvale Road corner.

What on earth is Chantry Avenue going to be like when the developers take over with their revised plans for new housing. Some days, cars are parked there, on both sides of the road, as far up as St Peter's Crescent.

It might make more sense to make an over-spill car park with a covered walkway spanning Holliers Hill to the hospital, rather than build new houses.

DOREEN MILLS

The Briary