Residents of West St Leonards are expecting a range of community groups from across Hastings to join them on the former bathing pool site at West Marina on Sunday 13 July to protest against developers’ plans.

West Marina St Leonards Limited (WMSLL) was granted a 250-year lease of the site by Hastings Borough Council (HBC) last year. Neither party has been willing to disclose any of the terms of that lease, but in April and May this year the company publicly exhibited draft designs showing an intention to build up to 151 new homes there. A petition signed by over 3,000 residents has called for the area to be retained as a community and leisure space.

Anna Sabin, a member of the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum which has been engaging with local residents to create a Neighbourhood Plan for HBC, said: “It’s no good having a plan if no attempt is made to stick to it. HBC have said, both in their own Local Plan and Cabinet declarations, that what they want from a developer of the Old Bathing Pool Site is ‘a viable and attractive proposition to transform the West Marina site into a destination point in line with the objectives of the seafront strategy, provide enhanced leisure opportunities and see much-needed investment in the area.’ This is just what local residents and the whole town would like to see there too. The company’s recently published plans fall far short.”

Billed as a ‘protestival’ pitting ‘Communities’ against ‘Developers’, the publicity for next weekend’s event describes people as coming together to “speak up for community, for nature, for democracy, for affordable homes and to reclaim public land”. Nineteen separate groups are advertised as intending to attend, with kids’ games, food, cabaret, music, community speakers, protest, and “everything in between”.


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https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/news.jpghttps://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/news.jpgHIPNewsAnna Sabin,Hastings Borough Council,Protestival,West Marina St Leonards Limited,West St Leonards Neighbourhood ForumResidents of West St Leonards are expecting a range of community groups from across Hastings to join them on the former bathing pool site at West Marina on Sunday 13 July to protest against developers’ plans. West Marina St Leonards Limited (WMSLL) was granted a 250-year lease of the site...The Hastings & St Leonards non-profit community newspaper