Community Assembly on Housing And Green Spaces
CHARMIAN KENNER
Standing Up For Nature (SU4N) Hastings & Rother, a network of local nature groups, is holding a Community Assembly on How Can Hastings Housing Policy Protect the Environment? The event is free and open to all, on Saturday 1 December at Central Hall from 2 pm to 5 pm.
The Assembly follows on from SU4N’s October event Protect Our Green Spaces, which provided information on biodiversity surveys, opposing planning applications, and alternatives to new-build housing. Jane Ripley of SU4N said: “Julia Hilton, Leader of the Council, has asked us to suggest creative solutions to address Hastings’ desperate housing shortage whilst preserving green spaces. We decided to hold a Community Assembly where everyone can have their say.”
The Assembly will focus on the Hastings Local Plan currently being formulated, which sets out Council policies on building development and land use for the next 20 years. Among sites earmarked for new-build housing in the Plan is an area of ancient woodland at Sandrock Bends on the Ridge. Another site scheduled for development is Horntye Sports Fields, which, according to Sarah Ward of campaign group Save Horntye is a key wildlife corridor and part of Hastings green infrastructure. The area around Summerfields Leisure Centre is designated for a mixed-use residential development, but Jo Howell of SU4N commented: “Not only does this site include green space with many trees, but it would involve moving the ambulance station as well as the Leisure Centre.”
Hastings Housing Alliance and local housing campaigners have been invited to the Assembly to engage in joined-up thinking about alternative ways of providing more housing. Grace Lally of Housing Rebellion said: “New-build housing is presented as more energy-efficient, but that ignores the carbon emissions from construction. If the council is committed to a Local Plan that tackles climate change then it needs to prioritise refurbishing existing buildings to make them warm, dry and low-energy.”
One area for debate at the Assembly will be whether empty offices and retail space in the town centre can be repurposed for housing. This could revive Hastings whilst saving green spaces vital for nature, health and wellbeing.
Registration for the Assembly is on Eventbrite or email [email protected].
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