Your letters - October 10

No resort

All the antagonism and controversy regarding "development" of the sea front would disappear if the RDC would abandon the idea that Bexhill is a seaside resort. It is not and is never likely to be. Most people who live here are very happy with that. It is a town, a town without the necessary road and rail connections, which happens to be on the coast. Leave the resorts to Hastings and Eastbourne.

If councillors then concentrated their efforts on improving the fabric and revitalising the infrastructure as any other town would e.g. the toilets, the parking, the shabby buildings everywhere, we could perhaps make some progress. What is the objection to rebuilding the Sovereign Cafe?

Why do we need to redesign the seafront, which already gives so much pleasure to residents and visitors, when there are so many other far more important things to be done? I do not believe that constructing a couple of restaurants or whatever in artificial caves at the Colonnade is going to encourage newcomers to flock to or settle in Bexhill. Nor would another hotel.

The only attraction we have, namely the Pavilion, is seriously under exploited. Anyone who has visited Pitlochry in Scotland will understand what can be done. A welcoming atmosphere, a thriving theatre and comfortable restaurant, local activities, and buzzing with people. Stop worrying about the sea and concentrate on the town.

a) restore our Tourist office; b) restore the 'Pub' facility at the Pavilion, especially on summer evenings; c) emulate Eastbourne's seafront - fairy lights to enhance our unique and lovely promenade.

Bexhill is different from Hastings and Eastbourne and why not?

That is what we like about it and why we live here.

John Pickett

Bexhill

Sad state

I HEARTILY endorse E. Chaplin's comments (September 19) on the present sad state of Bexhill, and his recommendations for improvement.

To his/her list I would add:

S.O.S. would encourage you all to attend the exhibition and then to be sure to include your own comments if you find that the tick-box questions provided don't give you enough scope to express your opinion.

You may like the proposals, or you may prefer something completely different. You may even want no change at all apart from the renovation and renewal of the existing seafront.

You may already be aware of these proposals but for many of you this will be your first (and possibly only!) chance to examine the finer details and to say what you want.

The total (estimated) cost of these proposals is 5.1 million so it is really important that if this money is to be spent, it should be in line with what Rother council taxpayers want. It's your money that will finance these proposals and you can influence what your seafront will look like in the future.

S.O.S. are also interested to hear your views and would be very grateful if you could let us have them too. We can be contacted by post at 5 Copse Road, Bexhill TN39 3UA or by email to jeanrbishop@ti scali.co.uk

Jean Bishop

Chairman, S.O.S. Save Our Seafront

Copse Road

Cost questions

With reference to the decision to proceed with the Colonnade regeneration, I will certainly try and attend the exhibition as there are questions which still bug me.

Where is the figure-work which shows that the cost of this 'regeneration' will be recouped, or bettered? How can the council be confident that all the retail or caf units here will be successfully leased, when shop units within the town centre remain vacant for long periods (most notably the former Courts' property)? From what I've read it appears that the council is hoping to fill the units with more cafes and bars, so how exactly does this type of business 'regenerate' a town?

600k on consultants seems a waste as well; the residents of Bexhill (and greater Rother as it's their tax money, too!) could have been consulted at a fraction of the price and the advice they gave would have been free.

M J Christie

Reginald Road

Making waves

THE District Council will display their Next Wave proposals for the seafront at the De La Warr Pavilion from October 16 to 18.

Visitors will no doubt be asked to fill in a questionnaire so that public reaction can be assessed.

There are three questions which SHOULD be asked:

1. Do you consider the scheme would assist materially in the regeneration of Bexhill?

2. Do you consider the Colonnade proposals would be a financial success?

3. Do you consider the whole scheme is worth the 5.1m of mostly taxpayers' money that it would cost?

The answer to all three questions is a resounding "no."

Jack Seabrook

Richmond Avenue

Big hole

I WRITE as one of the many local residents totally banjaxed by the 'brave' proposals of Rother DC to dig a big hole under the De La Warr Pavilion.

But then I recently happened to find myself in the French pilgrimage town of Lourdes and spent some time observing what was going on around the subterranean Grotto of Saint Bernadette. In consequence of this I was immediately prompted to view Rother DC's proposals for the bowels of the Colonnade in a very different light.

In the wake of this observation in Lourdes, I therefore have to wonder if one or more of our council leaders has undergone a profound spiritual re-birth in the immediate vicinity of the Colonnade? If that were the case, it would at least provide a more logical explanation for the council's proposals than has hitherto been published as well as affording some hope of a financial return on the venture.

JOANNA BARTLETT

Kewhurst Avenue

Your seafront

Next Thursday, Friday and Saturday (October 16. 17 and 18) Rother District Council will be displaying and consulting on the Next Wave proposals for the Colonnade and the western seafront (West Parade) in the studio at the De La Warr Pavilion at the following times: Thursday 6pm - 9pm, Friday and Saturday 10am - 4pm

This will be your opportunity to have the detail of the scheme explained, study the plans and then say whether this is what you want for your seafront.

SAMANTHA DENNIS

Willingdon Avenue

Road plan

I HAVE read with great interest the arguments about the traffic problems expected when the new High School is built.

I attended the exhibition recently at the High School and spoke to the person responsible for the diabolical suggestion of traffic lights. It was blatantly obvious that he did not have a clue as to the present volume of traffic at peak times at the Woodsgate Park/ Down Road/ Gunters Lane junction. When I suggested that the junction would become grid-locked he said that "they" - presumably ESCC - would have to devise a new scheme as he had not been made aware of the situation.

Apparently there had not been any traffic surveys or counts done, which is standard practice in any traffic scheme.

As a Bexhill resident for some 24 years and having seen the increase of traffic in Gunters Lane since the building of the first phase, I cannot see how the existing roads can cope at school times. However, there is a simple way forward that would solve the problem of increased traffic for the school. Our forefathers obviously many years ago realised that we would be faced with this problem and therefore planned accordingly.

If one looks at a map of Bexhill and then looks at the northern end of Knebworth Road, one can see that it was originally planned to go further north to meet up with Turkey Road. A visit to Knebworth Road would prove this point.

An extension of this road would meet the western side of the school playing fields and would make a perfect new road into the school. The only obstruction would be the allotments, however if the local authority were minded they could offer an alternative on the same location but further north.

Our county council and our local council have pledged to reduce the carbon emissions in line with government requirements. If this plan were adopted then vehicles would be able to travel easily to the school with few emissions.. By using Gunters Lane and stopping and starting at traffic lights the emissions would be considerably higher. One is always reading of our council not planning ahead but in this case they did many years ago and it is now up to our current councillors to implement their ideas.

If this were a major supermarket looking to build on this site they would be forced to build a new road as part of their planning approval as a local authority would never agree to the anticipated increase of traffic on the existing network. It seems to me that once again there is one rule for some and another for others.

M.G. Dean

Bexhill

Playing field

As a local resident who did not object to the plans for re-locating the school, I am nonetheless concerned at the loss of playing field that the development entails. I question if the principles that should apply have been followed.

Central Government guidance (PPG17) states:

"Existing open space, sports and recreational buildings and land should not be built on unless an assessment has been undertaken which has clearly shown the open space or the buildings and land to be surplus to requirements."

The assessment carried out on behalf of Rother DC states that there is a clear argument for the need for additional pitches in northeast Bexhill.

Turning to Rother DC's policy for developments on playing fields (CF2), it stipulates that:

"(iii) alternative provision is made elsewhere in the locality that is at least equivalent in terms of size, usefulness, attractiveness and quality or which would result in a net improvement in the quality of the facilities."

The initial requirement is for alternative provision to be made as stated. Only then does the issue arise as to whether that provision is an equivalent or results in the requisite improvement. Whereas the planning committee seem to regard the new facilities and/or the improvements to the adjacent fields as meeting this policy's requirements (subject to conditions), the development does not seem to satisfy the initial requirement.

When what has been lost is playing field, the alternative provision can only be of playing field, particularly when the policy goes on to refer to equivalence in terms of size etc.

The field lost can scarcely be the "alternative provision" as well, whatever facilities are constructed on it; it is certainly not "elsewhere in the locality". The adjacent fields cannot be "alternative provision"; they are already in existence and their provision occurred donkey's years ago (are they even "elsewhere in the locality"?). So the question arises: where exactly is this alternative playing field, elsewhere in the locality, which is equal to or better than that being lost?"

R A Saunders

Ellerslie Lane

School report

First of all may I thank you for publishing my letter in last Friday's Observer. Many of us in the teaching profession of my generation remember all too well how those large comprehensives of up to 2000 pupils failed miserably in the early and mid 1960's. I gave you the example of Kidbrooke in south east London. We must not allow our own county to repeat those mistakes. Another observation I would like to make at this time relates to comments made by the head of Bexhill High School in that same article. I refer to Mike Conn stating that he is very pleased about planning permision being given for a new large Comprehensive.

He is stated as saying that " he can hardly believe it". If I was Mike Conn I would be keeping a low profile. The reason I say this is because this gentleman is responsible for producing one of arguably the worst statistics ever produced by any head of any comprehensive school in England and Wales since their inception in the early 1960s.

It was about three or four years ago that the combined constabularies of Kent and Sussex stated the following fact. I quote: "Of all the schools in Kent and East Sussex, police officers are called out more times to attend ' incidents ' at The Bexhill High school than any other school."

Mike Conn had to appear before local area BBC TV cameras to explain this damning statistic. He gave a very poor and unconvincing performance.

R.H. Marshall

The Finches.

Amateur policy

Copy of letter to Mr Alan Haydon, De La Warr Pavilion

Firstly congratulations on the recent Book Festival particularly the Stephen Messenger event and Dalek appearance - very enjoyable I feel for the 'older' Dr Who fans in the audience.

On a less positive note I am still struggling with the publicity for the BATS events and am again going to ask why you feel the policy of the De La Warr management should be that you will only list (in your website for example) publicity for the events YOU generate. Apparently you feel you don't invite us or commission local groups such as ourselves to appear at the building and therefore you won't give us even a basic mention for the dates of the event. Visitors to the De La Warr - or searching the website - would therefore have no idea of any of our performances - or likewise those of the BLODS. Other local theatres - for example in Eastbourne do list and support community groups, why not here in Bexhill?

Much as I understand your dislike for such 'amateur' as you perceive groups and the difficulty - which I tend to agree with - in some of the shows offered may I once again remind you that local BATS and BLODS members and supporters are also Council Tax payers and contribute to the large subsidy which you receive. May I also remind you that the considerable charges you make to BATS for your staff, hire and other costs involved in each production are accepted without recourse to feeling you assisted in putting on the event anyway.

I would welcome your comments.

PHILIPA COUGHLAN

Gordon Place.

Badger site

I HAVE been watching with interest since the clearing of the site where the badgers are on The Down.

Mr Reed says that the public is concerned about badgers, well I am not surprised. What was the point in clearing the entire site - which they must have had permission from the council to do, as they own the land - if not to account for and seek out the badger setts?

To say that they had not interfered with them is a lie. On closer inspection of the setts, I found masonry and bricks blocking entrances. Also plastic bags filled with rubble, indeed over several days one entrance being dug out by the badgers was refilled! Surprising to think that the badgers haven't moved already (part of the plan, no doubt) with the noise of contractors ripping up shrubs and trees. How would Mr Reed and residents like their front doors nailed over, without a second thought and would they not make another entrance? Hopefully the badgers will have a quiet winter without being evicted!

M.F. LOUGHLIN

Ellerslie Lane

Speaking out

THIS is in response to a letter from Jean Weedon regarding Jacobs Acre.

I would like to agree with Jean - things on the estate have improved and, although Wendy Anderson has done more than anyone else from Orbit, the peace and quiet is down to one tenant moving out and other problem tenants being warned that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

I know many families on and off the estate have been too scared to get involved; problems on the estate have been on-going for over two years. It's such a shame Orbit have only just started listening to the odd few who do pluck up courage and ask for help in turning this once lovely estate back to how it once was.

NAME & ADDRESS Supplied

Compassionate society

FOLLOWING all the correspondence about the illegal campers a few months ago on Herbrand Walk, I feel the following points should be raised: As a society we are all compassionate about the tragedies that occur overseas, willingly helping out financially those caught up in man-made or natural disasters.

However, we seem incapable of coping with the small tragedies on our doorstep. One of the caravans parked up for several months on Herbrand Walk belonged to an elderly lady. I own a small caravan site and last summer she 'appeared' on the site one morning.

She was without a vehicle so I assume someone had found my land to be easiest to take her to. She was in very poor health, and appeared to have other issues.

However my concern was the seven dogs and five young puppies she had living in a very small caravan. The dogs were rarely let out '“ need I say more! I am embarrassed to say my overwhelming concern was for the reputation of my caravan site.

This lady and her van were not what my holidaying clients expected to contend with. After a particularly hot day when she was out much of the time having left the dogs locked in the caravan, with not even an open window, I called the RSPCA.

They came out a day or so later, when it was cooler and explained the dogs were not ill treated so there was little they could do. I tried to reason with the lady that if she loved her animals, as she clearly did, then finding proper homes for them was surely in their best interests. She became very hostile at this suggestion.

It got to the point where I had to threaten simply to remove her van to a local lay-by as I could no longer tolerate her presence on my site. Someone turned up and took her away. I later saw the van on Herbrand Walk. I do feel guilty that I, part of a so-called caring society, turned my back on someone obviously in need.

There seems no way we can help people who for whatever reason find themselves on the margins of society. I wonder how someone who was somebody's daughter, sister, and perhaps mother, has found herself in this situation and how we can, put aside our intolerance and see the human element in these sad situations. And more importantly what can be done to help?

GILLIAN STONE

Cooden Drive

Club donation

I WOULD like to say how much the donation of 1,000 from the Bexhill 100 Motoring Club will help the MS Society of Hastings and Rother. This is the second year that the Branch has benefited from all their hard work at The Bexhill Classic and Custom Car Show. The kind and generous donation is spent in our area, on members, support staff and subsidising therapies such as counselling, hydrotherapy and domiciliary yoga, all from qualified therapists.

We at the MS Society, Hastings & Rother, are very aware of the long hours spent on planning the Polegrove show by the Bexhill 100, let alone the hours and hours of polishing and maintaining these beautiful cars, by their owners, all to provide local charities with some much-needed financial assistance. Thank you Bexhill 100.

PETER NOWAK

(Committee Member MS Society Hastings & Rother)

Veterans' group

IT is proposed to start a Veterans' Association in Bexhill and surrounding areas. The Veterans' Association, it must be stressed, will be completely independent of the Royal British Legion and all other military associations, although their work is, and always will be, appreciated.

The aim of the proposed Veterans' Association is to provide a social group of like minded ex serving military personnel.

All members serving, or who have served in Her Majesty's Forces are invited to apply to join.

For further information, please contact Chris Gadsden on 734204 or e-mail him on [email protected].

CHRIS GADSDEN

Bexhill

What potential?

WHAT on (or under) earth does Rother Council think it is up to in proposing to sink huge amounts of our capital reserves into a speculative hole in the ground underneath the Pavilion?

And even if the council manages to mislead itself that such an adventure is within its proper legal powers, it must be clear to anyone with an ounce of business savvy that there is no commercial potential in the proposal, especially in times of unprecedented financial meltdown. Does no-one at the council realise what is going on in the wider world?

If the select business units on the ground floor of De La Warr Heights cannot be let, what trace of hope can there be for a fringe scheme in the putrid depths of Colonnade Sump?

J. T. CRUMLEY

Cooden Sea Road

Ethics bags

With reference to the article about Rother's new Contact Centre number and the Customer Services team in their high-tech coach who went out and spread the word about this facility, no mention was made of the give-away of the 'bags of ethics' to members of the public.

Environmentally friendly hessian type shopping bags were distributed widely and they will hopefully be used for purpose, but walking round the town this week I saw only a few. Anyway, a welcome initiative from Rother for once!

Brenda Little (Mrs)

Harewood Close

Cafe future

I WAS concerned at the council's refusal to grant planning permission for the addition of toilet facilities at the Sovereign Light Caf, especially as these improvements would be at no cost to the Council, which benefits from the rental of the property.

With its location away from the main shopping area, it is ideal for use by tourists using that area of the beach, as well as a popular meeting place for locals, who just want a cup of tea and a chat.

It is about time the council concentrated more of its time and efforts on the basic needs of the people of Bexhill and less on its grandiose schemes for the seafront.

I. A. STREETLY (Mrs)

Jevington Close

This matter is now closer to being resolved.- Ed.

Salute rowers

We fully endorse the comments made by the victorious Bideford Bowl championship winners in last week's paper.

Bexhill Rowing Club has had a very successful season, in spite of the adverse weather. The rowers train extremely hard all year round and they travel throughout Southern England, all in their own time and at their expense, promoting the name of Bexhill. Bexhill rowers have produced some really exceptional results,for a relatively small club.

Hopefully the council will look favourably on giving them new facilities as soon as possible.

Again many congratulations to the club for such fantastic results and good luck for next season.

Clive and Heather Garland

St James Close

Flapping menace

I and some friends visited Bexhill last week and decided to have a snack near the pavilion; it was a glorious sunny day so we sat outside. Our meal was spoilt by pigeons continually flapping around our table.

At the moment pigeons seem to be at a minimum in the Bexhill area but if this problem is left unattended it wouldn't be long before a health hazard develops.

Bexhill is an interesting, well looked after place to visit and it would be a shame if the pigeon problem is not addressed now before it becomes out of hand.

Robert Downs

Tunbridge Wells

Sailing coffee

I WOULD just like to thank everyone who joined me at the Sailing Club on Friday, September 26, and taking part in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning. You helped to raise a fantastic 380 for Macmillan Cancer Support. Thank you so much.

It was a lovely morning - the wonderful sunshine and venue certainly helped - and hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves too! I really appreciated all the support of friends and their families for Macmillan who provide much needed help to people, such as myself, affected by cancer.

PIPPA BARRIE

Collington Lane West