News in brief
TERRORISM SUSPECTS WELCOME COURT RULING
The High Court ruling over the legality of banning Palestine Action has been welcomed by local protestors. Gabriel Carlyle, arrested in Parliament Square in July last year said the judgement was “clearly a good sign” even though it was too early to say what it would mean for the 21 people from the Hastings area similarly arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
On 13 February the High Court held that the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 was unlawful. However, despite the ruling, Palestine Action remains on the proscribed list as a terrorist organisation and the government says it plans to appeal the judgement.
Mr Carlyle described the ruling as a “vital affirmation of the right to protest at a time when it has been under sustained and deliberate attack.” He said that politicians who voted for the “absurd authoritarian ban” and who supported the UK’s ongoing arms sales to Israel for use in the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza should “hang their heads in shame.’”
Meanwhile, before the High Court judgement, Sarah Evans, a 76-year-old woman from St Leonards, pleaded not guilty to two charges under the Terrorism Act for allegedly holding a banner in Parliament Square last September saying, ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action.’ Hastings teacher Jenny Sutton, arrested in similar circumstances, said she would also be pleading not guilty.
It is not yet known whether prosecutions against them and some 2,000 other protestors arrested for holding similar signs will go ahead.
LOCAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS REINSTATED
East Sussex County Council has criticised the Government’s decision to restore elections to the local authority which were postponed last year.
All 50 seats of the hung council are now expected to be contested in May at a cost to the taxpayer of some £1.5 million.
A spokesperson for ESCC told the Hastings Independent: “Councils undertaking local government reorganisation and devolution already face huge additional work which will only intensify with the added demand of organising elections this year.”
The county council is due to be abolished in a few years’ time to be replaced by as yet unspecified unitary authorities and a regional mayor who is due to be elected in 2028.
Currently the 22 Conservatives on ESCC form the largest group, but are in a minority when 12 Liberal Democrats, 5 Labour, 5 Greens, 2 Independent Democrats, 3 Independents and one 1 Reform UK councillor are counted.
One East Sussex group to welcome the elections is CPRE – the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Their Director Paul Steedman said: “It is vital that these elections go ahead – and that the countryside is at their heart.”
Hastings Borough Council (HBC) also now faces elections in May for 50% of its seats. It would only say officially that it “is now working to put arrangements in place to deliver both the borough council and East Sussex County Council elections on 7 May 2026.” A spokesperson declined to say how much the elections would cost, though the poll in May 2022 to elect half the council cost £96,000.
Julia Hilton, deputy leader of HBC, called the decision to reinstate the elections an “utter shambles”. She told the BBC: “this was imposed on us, we really just want to get on with the job of delivering for people in Hastings.” Her seat is not up for re-election this time – May’s poll will be for the seats last contested in 2022 in each of the 16 wards in the borough.
COUNCIL DRAFT BUDGET AGREED
Hastings Borough Council’s Cabinet has approved draft budget plans, including a 2.99% council tax increase for residents from April – the maximum allowed without triggering a local referendum. The increase will bring the total annual bill for an average Band D property in Hastings to over £2,600.
Presenting the 2026/27 Budget at the start of the month, Finance Officer Kit Wheeler reported the council’s position had “improved significantly” compared to recent years. He acknowledged that austerity measures imposed on the council three years ago by the previous government to avoid a Section 114 ‘bankruptcy’ notice had affected the delivery of local services. Now the council’s reserves are expected to increase from just £4m to “about the £7m mark.”
Cabinet members were warned just last month of a predicted overspend of some £700,000 in the next financial year to provide temporary housing. Now, however, Head of Housing Chris Hancock reported a much-improved position, with 28 households moving out of private temporary accommodation into their own homes following the council’s property acquisition policy.
Mr Hancock also highlighted the council’s work on homelessness prevention, telling the Cabinet they were on track to spend around £193,000 less than budgeted by the end of the current financial year.
The agreed budget includes funding for two additional enforcement wardens, extra barrow hands and street cleaning, and work on St Mary in the Castle and the West Hill lift. There is also funding for a play officer, an anti-poverty officer and additional staff for planning enforcement, as well as investment in local sports provision including improved changing facilities.
Only about 13% of the local council tax bill is retained by Hastings Borough Council. Around 11% goes to the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner while the bulk, more than 73%, goes to East Sussex County Council. Their members have agreed to take out a £70m loan to continue essential day-to-day services like adult social care and provision for children. Council leaders said increasing demand and rising costs have led to a £56m predicted budget shortfall for the coming 2026-27 financial year.
PELHAM ARCADE AND ST MARY
New details have been unveiled for the future of Pelham Arcade in front of St Mary in the Castle. Numbers 9-11 in the arcade, which have been in the private ownership of Ankit Rana since 2019, have been subject to various planning applications to turn them into one or more food outlets. However the plans received a major setback last September when a section of the roof of the listed building collapsed.
Now a new application clarifies the proposals, which will involve a food hall with six individual ‘pods’ as well as a bar.
Documentation supporting the application claims that restoration work on the roof is underway, though a structural engineer’s report warned that loading on the roof should not exceed its ‘static self weight’. In other words, new supports will be required to carry the load of materials needed for its repair.
The building, which is of considerable architectural importance, was originally a semi-subterranean arcade of shops, developed by Joseph Kay for Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester between 1823-5.
The Arcade sits immediately in front of the iconic building of St Mary in the Castle, which is owned by Hastings Borough Council. The council announced it has commissioned a comprehensive building condition survey and lifecycle cost assessment “to provide a clear picture of the repairs and investment required to safeguard the building’s future.”
Last year the council called for ‘expressions of interest’ for the future use of St Mary. It says it has received a “strong and wide-ranging response” but that further work is required to clarify the level of investment needed in the building, alongside the “development of more detailed and robust business plans, to support a sustainable long-term future.”
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