Town Hall Set to Lose Registry Functions
HUGH SULLIVAN
A decision taken by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to move the functions of the Hastings Register Office from the Town Hall on Queens Road to the Library at Claremont has been confirmed, and will not be debated further.
On 10 November the council’s Lead Member for Transport and the Environment Claire Dowling announced that she had made an executive decision to order this relocation. From next September the new registry will be on the second floor of the library building, not impinging on any of the current rooms used by the public but occupying space previously allocated to adult learning. Cllr Dowling said that the move would save the county council £100,000 per year (though the relocation process itself would cost in the order of £125,000) and “facilitate service delivery improvements”.
There would be a cost efficiency in sharing facilities and resources between the library and registration services, including the availability of librarian staff trained to give service assistance.
Last Thursday ESCC’s Place Scrutiny Committee considered a motion pressed by Cllr Julia Hilton, county councillor for Old Hastings and Tressell as well as cabinet member of Hastings Borough Council, to ‘call in’ the decision for full council debate. She referred to over 400 letters from members of the public protesting it, and said there had been no consultation with either the public or affected staff.
Insufficient regard had been given, she argued, to the smaller capacity offered by the Library. Citizenship ceremonies often needed to accommodate up to 50 attendees. Car parking in the Trinity Triangle area was very limited. She described the proposed move as “a loss of civic pride”.
In addition, given the imminent reorganisation, why was there no consideration of the impact on the Borough Council, which owns the building? “There needs to be much closer collaboration with affected related councils on any decisions that also impact them financially.
While this has been established as a principle, it doesn’t seem to be being carried out in practice,” she complained.
However, the committee, rejected the call-in motion by six votes to three, thus upholding Cllr Dowling’s decision.
Cllr Godfrey Daniel, councillor for the local ward of Braybrooke and Castle, had no vote on the committee but says he is pleased with the intended move, arguing that Town Hall’s facilities are “rather outdated, damp and deteriorating” in comparison with the Library, housed in the historic Brassey Institute and refurbished between 2016 and 2018.
“The prime function of a register office is for the registration of births and deaths, “ he says, “and there will be new purpose-built consultation rooms available within the library building. There is also no loss of library space.
“These days there are about 34 venues licensed for weddings in Hastings alone. Personally, I think the Hastings Museum is a better ceremonial venue than the Town Hall, but these things are down to personal choice. I was married at the Register Office in Summerfields in what were basically portacabins – how things have changed with the many options now available!”
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