Town Plan Stalled
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
Ambitious plans for the regeneration of the town centre in Hastings have been put on hold. Hastings BC and the Hastings Board were only notified last Friday (19 July) that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had suspended the submission date for funding bids until further notice. HBC was advised not to publish or submit the long-term plan for Hastings, which Council officers said was almost completed and would have been ready ahead of the 31 July deadline.
At last Monday’s meeting of the Cabinet, Council Leader Julia Hilton expressed her “disappointment” and “frustration” at the decision and thanked Council officers who, she said, had worked flat-out in recent weeks to get the plan ready for submission.
Under the original plans, which were announced in March, Hastings was one of 75 towns across the country selected by the Government to receive up to £20 million of Long-Term Plan funding to support regeneration in the town as part of its levelling-up agenda. The funding was to be delivered over ten years, with the aim of creating an endowment-style funding plan to support, invest and deliver change beyond the first ten years.
The plan envisaged the creation of a Hastings Board to set and coordinate the ten-year vision, with a three-year investment plan and to drive forward its delivery. Rebecca Conroy, the Chief Executive Officer and Principal for the East Sussex College Group, was appointed Chair and Scott Marshall was appointed by HBC on behalf of the Board to help develop the long-term plan and 3-year vision.
Some £200,000 of capacity funding was set aside to consult with local groups and communities who have not been engaged with before. HBC has already incurred costs in setting up the Hastings Conversation, and the council has still not received any money from the Government for this purpose
Cllr Hilton acknowledged that the new Labour Government had a responsibility to review the spending plans of the previous administration, but she hoped the uncertainty would be quickly resolved. To that end, the Cabinet agreed to push forward with preparations for the Long Term Plan and keep things under review.
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