HIGs to Oppose Reform Proposals
The Hastings Independent Group is to call on the Leader of Hastings BC, Julia Hilton, at next week’s Annual Council meeting, to commit to leading a campaign against the government’s local government reform plans.
The group’s leader, Cllr Paul Barnett, said: “This campaign must listen to the people of Hastings and then act on their wishes. If she can’t commit to this, the Green Party leadership does not deserve another year.”
He added: “In the end, it comes down to leadership. Not policy paperwork. Not administrative process. Not consultation exercises performed for form’s sake. This debate – which will shape the future of Hastings for a generation – hinges on whether those who sit at the top of our borough council have the conviction, the vision and the courage to fight for the town they represent.”
He went on to say: “At stake is not just local pride, but democratic integrity. Hastings doesn’t need another officer in a fluorescent jacket managing engagement metrics. It needs leaders who will stand their ground in rooms filled with competing interests – leaders who can persuade, argue, and win the case for a governance model that doesn’t leave this town languishing in the margins. Because let’s be clear: unless action is taken, Hastings is on the verge of being swallowed into a reorganisation that suits bureaucrats but fails communities. The push toward a distant, Lewes-led unitary authority is not a compromise – it’s a capitulation. It threatens to strip Hastings of its voice, its agency, and its ability to determine its own future. To stand by and let that happen would not just be a mistake, it would be a dereliction of duty. The next eight months are crucial. Our council’s leadership must make the case – boldly, unapologetically – for a locally accountable system of government with Hastings at its heart. Not tacked onto a distant structure that doesn’t know us and won’t fight for us.”
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
If every Hastings councillor is a unitary councillor and they all meet half the time in front of the public in Hastings, as the Borough Council does now, and half the time in the new Authority’s centre – they’ll be embedded and accountable locally and able to represent all Hastings’ concerns to their Authority fellow councillors.