Your letters - May 14, 2010

Bexercycle success

The Bexhill Caring Community would like to thank everyone who took part in Bexercycle 2010 last Saturday in Devonshire Square. We were very well supported by local businesses, organisations and particularly by the people of Bexhill who, through their sponsorship, have helped us to raise more than 2,000. As we are still receiving sponsorship money from participants we will not know the final amount for a couple of weeks. Please could I urge everyone who sponsored a rider to pay the money to them as quickly as possible.

We would like to thank the people who gave a huge amount of voluntary time in the organisation of this event. Steve Gaines who thought up the idea, Philip Elms who did the publicity, Lawrence Wharton for his computer skills, Carol Dunn for the marketing, Brian Storkey for his radio broadcast, Sue at Bexhill Photographic, Tim and Mike from Prime Care Trust. Also to Rother District Council who helped in many ways, Bexhill Lions Club, Hospital Radio, St Mary Magdalene's School and Bexhill League of Friends.

Many businesses supported us with generous sponsorship. Natwest Bank, S & S Taxis, Cooden Beach Hotel, La Trattoria, di Paolo's, Marino's, Pebsham Brewery, The Devonshire, Woosters and Tesco's at Collington as well as all the businesses who provided raffle prizes.

In order to continue to help the residents of Bexhill we need to run fund-raising events throughout the year and if anyone would like to join the committee to help with these please let us know.

Our next event is a street collection on June 12 and if you can spare an hour to help please call into the office or telephone 01424 215116.

Margaret von Speyr

Manager, Bexhill Caring Community

Democratic process?

With reference to your piece in last week's paper, I am compelled to comment on headmaster Mr Conn's comments regarding Bexhill High School's mock general election.

In it Mr Conn was quoted as saying it was important teenagers understood the election process and how the system worked. He also stated it was important for them, and indeed the whole town to listen to young people and what they want and expect from an MP.

It is refreshing to say the least that this unelected headmaster at last preaches about the benefits of the democratic process, even if he refuses to practice them himself.

In the heated debate last year angry parents that had been denied a voice repeatedly requested of Mr Conn and his subordinates that the parents had a ballot on the proposed changes to school finishing times, a subject many had strong feelings on. We knew such a vote would show the true extent of opposition to his scheme yet Mr Conn continually and steadfastly refused to put his theory to the test with a true democratic vote.

It is to his eternal shame that he did not have the courage to embrace true democracy and downright hypocritical of him to now come out and preach to those children something he opposes - democracy and listening to others.

It is also a mystery how this headmaster is still in his post when he has had to resort to the ignominy of asking for a team of outside consultants to come in and run the school for him. Why are the taxpayers's paying for two lots of chiefs at presumably twice the cost? We are, after all, footing the bill for his inadequacies.

Hopefully Mr Hutt will turn things around.

S Taylor

London Rd

Bexhill

Not what I found

Sue Bassett writes that in France the smallest town has an information bureau with up to date knowledge.

I must inform her that this is far from my own experience in 2008. I visited Chartres, which is a large city with a long history and a very famous cathedral. My purpose was to find the Rue du Bourg which has a fine view of the cathedral and compare it with an etching or print of it as it was in mid-19th century.

In addition to her name the artist had written on it La Rue du Bourg.

The Information Bureau at the Railway Station declined all knowledge of this place, bus drivers had never heard of it nor the River Eure which the bridge shown in the picture spans.

On my way to the area which I knew must contain my objective I asked passers-by, in vain until I met one who directed me to the river and he was of African origin! My photograph shows little change in over 150 years and about 15 metres from where I took it there is a prominent wall plaque which reads "RUE DU BOURG - Site d'un village etabli au pied du chateau".

J Lyon

Collington Lane West

Bexhill

Questions for MP

EVERYBODY must have hoped that the election would draw a line under the so-called 'MPs expenses scandal' but in Bexhill &andBattle '“ one of the safest Conservative seats in the country - the swing to the Lib Dems and Greg Barker's disappointing performance make it clear that many Conservative voters continue to be deeply uneasy about his candidacy.

This unease springs from the fact that Greg Barker's name featured widely in the press reports of the expenses scandal and, if these reports are to be believed, manoeuvred between a series of addresses to maximise the taxpayer funded benefits of his second home allowance and to avoid liability for Capital Gains Tax.

It was reported that he had a flat in Chelsea on which he claimed from the taxpayer for mortgage interest and maintenance. It was reported he then bought another flat in Pimlico and 'flipped' his second home designation to this flat to claim back stamp duty, mortgage interest and decorating costs. Two years later he 'flipped' again - firstly back to the Chelsea flat and then a few months later back to the Pimlico flat before selling it, having first nominated it as his principal residence for the purposes of Capital Gains Tax Relief. Although the purchase and maintenance of the Pimlico flat had been financed by the taxpayer as his designated second home, he chose to nominate it as his main home for the purposes of Capital Gains Tax Relief and thus paid no tax on the profit.

If these reports were accurate the result of this flurry of flipping would appear to be: Taxpayer nil '“ Greg Barker two.

Through all this Greg Barker has adopted an air of aggrieved innocence, insisting that no law was broken and that everything was, as the saying goes, 'within the rules'.

As Greg Barker must know, that is not the point. Being 'within the rules' does not necessarily make something right. What is required from him, in order that this matter be laid to rest, is a clear statement of fact that must include answers to the following questions:

Did he 'flip' as described above?

Did he nominate his taxpayer financed 'second' home as his 'main' home in order to avoid capital gains tax?

These are fair and simple questions to which Greg Barker should provide clear and simple answers. Now more than ever voters must have confidence in the moral authority and integrity of their MP. On the basis of his answers voters will be able to form a judgement as to whether he is fit to be a Conservative MP and worthy of their vote.

ANDREW LAWSON

Former Independent candidate

Thanks for my vote

THROUGH your letters page I would like to thank all of the people who in this constituency chose to vote Liberal Democrat '“ a vote for me.

A substantial increase in the number who voted in this way in 2005 is very heartening.

As I write this, the national picture is still unclear, but I do believe the result will be one which demonstrates that Liberal Democrats have principles and stick to them.

I would like to thank everyone who supported me in my campaign in every way. I could not have achieved this result without the tireless energy of my agent and those who delivered leaflets throughout the constituency of Bexhill and Battle which also includes Pevensey and Heathfield.

MARY VARRALL

Liberal Democrat candidate

First time we stood

I WOULD like to convey my thanks to all the people the who voted for me in the Bexhill and Battle Constituency at the recent General Election.

This is the first time the British National Party have stood in this constituency and it will not be the last. We will be back and we will be stronger.

Neil Jackson

British National Party candidate

Fantastic flower beds

WITH all this doom and gloom, not to mention the election, has anyone noticed how fantastic the flower beds all are along the seafront?

The team of gardeners have excelled themselves with this year's display of tulips and wallflowers.

We have been to some of the best gardens there are, but these displays match any of them.

Well done gardeners.

Pete and Sue Skinner

Sutton Place

Bexhill

Why no car park?

YOU would have thought developers intending to build over 50 flats in a block and applying to the council for planning permission would have put in an application for the car park at the same time.

Not the developers of St James Heights, next to what was the nun's residence, Nazareth House, off Hastings Road.

The car park could easily have been situated to the rear of the flat blocks, out of harm's way.

The reason this was not done is it would deprive the developers of perhaps a block of four small houses, so we have to put up with the risk of a mother or child getting hurt as the park will be very close to the entrance to the primary school.

What is likely to happen is the council will revoke a covenant won by the nuns that the communal grassed area be retained.

P Major

James Walk

Bexhill

Flying bad example

AS an occasional visitor to Bexhill I was saddened and surprised by your headline: "18 teachers stranded in wake of ash from volcano".

Not because 18 teachers were stranded, but because of the bad example of flying holidays they give to our children.

They should teach, in word and action, sustainable and regional holidays. Instead, they give a bad example, damaging the climate and therefore the children's future.

No amount of "called in" lessons compensate for perverse behaviour.

Let's have teachers teach earth and climate friendly holidays.

J P BROWNE

Poole

Dorset

We need to get rid of the First Past The Post voting system

Your editorial last week looked forward to what it rather optimistically called "the drama and fireworks of the count once the polls close."

In reality there was no such thing in the Bexhill and Battle constituency, and the supporters of one particular party were able to go to bed safe in the knowledge that an upset would be very unlikely. The same scenario took place in around 500 other constituencies nationwide, and the election was fought - and drawn - in 150 or so marginal seats.

Here in Bexhill, rather than an election we essentially have an opinion poll every four or five years. The First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system is an obscenity, and an affront to democracy. It effectively discards the votes of losing parties, and elsewhere in some three-way marginal seats, allows candidates to 'win' with 30 per cent of the popular vote or less.

In safe seats such as this, voters' opinions really do count for nothing, and there is no prospect of being able to effect change.

I am not writing this from a party-political perspective. FPTP disenfranchises voters of all parties. The Conservatives polled around 20 per cent of the vote in Scotland, which has 59 seats in the House of Commons, but only returned one MP. Hundreds of thousands of people voted Labour in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, yet there is no Labour MP east of Southampton. The Liberal Democrats lose out nationally, as do other smaller parties with sizeable support such as UKIP and the Greens.

There is also a gross iniquity in the size of constituencies. In England, many consituencies have 80,000 or more electors, while in Scotland, which has a devolved parliament even urban seats have 60,000 or less. There is also a history of manipulation of constituency boundaries. Northern Ireland saw blatant gerrymandering for sectarian advantage over many decades, notably in the city of Derry, and this was a key grievance that led to The Troubles. More locally and recently, the transfer of 3,000 electors in communities in the Brede Valley from the Bexhill and Battle constituency into the Hastings and Rye seat led directly to a change of MP in the latter constituency.

Proponents of FPTP argue that it provides stable government and a clear, decisive outcome. That argument has well and truly been shot to pieces this time. At its worst, FPTP provides a monopoly on power, with wrong government rather than strong government, ramming through divisive or ill-conceived policies: Think of the Poll Tax, Rail Privatisation, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With Proportional Representation there remains the prospect that a political party can gain a majority, by the simple expedient of winning more than 50 per cent of the vote. The reality is that we live in a diverse society, and the notion that two parties, the Conservatives and Labour should be entitled to a duopoly on power is utterly wrong. Coalitions should represent a broad section both of society, and have wide electoral support.

The debate about voting systems is not going away. I would urge readers who feel passionately about this to sign an online petition at www.takebackparliament.com

RICHARD MADGE

College Road

Bexhill on Sea

Don't believe the "greenwash" says pressure group

THANK you for your coverage of the tar sands protest by World Development Movement members outside the Bexhill branch of Natwest Bank. It was interesting to read the RBS spokesman's statement. His pronouncements on the ethical stance of RBS were quite impressive. Perceptive readers, however, will not have been misled by this "greenwash". This response is what we have come to expect from RBS. The greater the public outcry the more they obfuscate, claiming to be an environmentally friendly and people friendly bank. Don't believe it. RBS is involved in financing one of the most environmentally and socially destructive energy sources of modern times. On the same day that their PR machine was assuring the public that RBS weren't involved in tar sands, RBS was opening an office in Calgary, Canada, the commercial centre of the tar sands industry. Not to mention the $7,5 billion they have helped arrange for companies linked with tar sands.

Failure to address the protesters' claims and seeking to divert attention from the facts does not negate their truth. The fact is that RBS, having been bailed out with taxpayers' money (now 84 per cent owned by us, the British public), is investing in finance worth 10 billion for projects and companies linked to human rights abuses and climate change. These include the devastating tar sands oil extraction projects in western Canada, labelled "blood oil" by the regions' indigenous communities. Open pit mines up to 75 metres deep devastate the landscape. The water has been contaminated with high levels of dangerous toxins, endangering the fishing and hunting stock on which they depend, and causing an increase in death and disease among the region's indigenous communities.

WDM, together with other campaigning bodies, are calling on the UK government to stop using our money to support such damaging projects. Instead they are demanding that the Treasury ensure RBS and other bailed-out banks operate according to the highest human rights and environmental standards when investing taxpayers' money. Please join us in telling the new Chancellor that our money should be invested in improving public services and developing clean energy sources '“ not in finance deals that cost the earth.

Christina Lucey

Maple Walk

Bexhill

Bexhill United thanks its supporters

ON behalf of Bexhill United Football Club I would like to thank Metin, who sponsored the club's end-of-season presentation and provided 100 players, committee and supporters with a traditional Turkish meal at his restaurant ADA in Devonshire Road.

The food was wonderful and we all enjoyed a congratulations cake he baked to celebrate the promotion.

Metin became interested in Bexhill when after watching the team on Saturdays at The Polegrove, he said he loves football and this is an opportunity to give something back to the people of Bexhill. Without support and commitment like this clubs would not exist. Thank you Metin and the team at ADA.

Also thanks to John O'Connor, which works tirelessly to provide one of the most beautiful grounds in the area, which is the focal point of Bexhill.

The firm is always professional, knowledgeable and have a passion for sports, which shows in the quality of their work and they way in which they have adapted the ground from football to cricket so quickly. Well done!

Dane Martin

Secretary Bexhill United

The Polegrove

Bexhill

A wish for more local art

I RECENTLY visited the exhibitions at the De La Warr Pavilion, showing Tony Bevan's work and Modern Times. The artwork displayed in Modern Times '“ responding to chaos - was quoted as being "amajor exhibition in which creatively involved people are invited to trace a personal path through the art of the 20th and 21st centuries". I have never seen so much rubbish; many of the pieces were nothing more than childlike scribbles on paper, another showed a black background with a hole torn out of the middle (aptly named Torn Hole), another was a stack of squares of paper with a wiggly line down the side and so on. There was not one picture that, to me, had any meaning that I could see. Am I missing something or are these works just one big con? Not surprisingly, many pieces were 'Untitled' which to me speaks volumes about the artists. I read in the Observer that there will be a small exhibition of Bexhill artists' work in the Museum every Sunday till September. If only we could see more of their work in one of the De La Warr's galleries.

Finally, I do look forward to seeing the Critical Mass exhibition, quite a scoop for Bexhill!

Brenda Morgan

Harewood Close

Bexhill-on-Sea