By Andy Batsford

Firstly, I want to echo David’s love of the Combe valley. At Hastings Council as a whole, we recognize the beautiful countryside and rich wildlife that lives there. 

My family lived in a council home, secure and affordable, opposite playing fields and woodland. The potential lower tier development really reminds me of that idyllic childhood space to play and explore. As a young boy from Sidley, me and my mates would walk from Sidley woods to the valley regularly, playing in the frozen streams, picking blackberries or collecting the clay pigeons that they missed at the shooting range.

And this is why I believe that adding new families to the lower tier who will have direct access to this amazing place to explore and play is the right thing to do. Why would we not want our local families to have access to playing fields, football pitches, playgrounds as well as the natural wonder of the Combe valley?

The whole idea of the Friends of the Combe Valley is, yes, to protect it – but, equally importantly, to promote it and encourage the people of Hastings and beyond to visit and enjoy. Embedding new families within the park surely offers a great opportunity for new people to fall in love with the valley and be the next generation of friends.

 The Homes England money can unlock this small piece of land to offer new beautifully-designed homes – low-carbon, affordable to heat and secure – for our local families and residents.

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Collectively as a town we have over 1,666 local families, children and residents on the Hastings council housing list, waiting in overcrowded, unsuitable or unstable housing. The average waiting time is over a year and a half, but many wait for much longer. Over 78 local families live in temporary accommodation with their lives on hold, children unsettled and lacking a stable family life. We are in the middle of the biggest housing crisis in generations. All of Hastings must shoulder the responsibility of making spaces for new homes. The lower tier is just one of those spaces.

The challenges of developing the lower tier site are well documented, in particular the flooding that impacts on the residents of Bexhill Road. So this Homes England money of up to £7m offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not only to address the flooding of the current homes but to bring this piece of land into play as well. 

 The data and technical designs to prevent flooding will be robustly tested, not just by the developing company but ultimately by the Environment Agency. Only when they are satisfied that the model is correct will flood remediation work begin that will make the land ready for development.

I want to personally thank David for showing me and others around, and for voicing his concerns and his love of the area. He has equipped me with a good level of knowledge to challenge and test the model, and the ideas that are brought forward. I would encourage all that are interested to come to the Stade on the 31st October as part of our ongoing commitment to being open and transparent when bringing forward new developments. Come and talk to the architects, flood experts, HBC officers and cabinet members. Look at the plans and listen to the ideas with an open mind. 


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HIPNewsBy Andy Batsford Firstly, I want to echo David’s love of the Combe valley. At Hastings Council as a whole, we recognize the beautiful countryside and rich wildlife that lives there.  My family lived in a council home, secure and affordable, opposite playing fields and woodland. The potential lower tier development...The Hastings & St Leonards non-profit community newspaper