Author Archives: Hugh Sullivan - Page 5
Banned from the Stand
Council Alerts Police To Outlaw Planned Hastings Protest A protest meeting organised by a local Hastings group to demonstrate opposition to government restrictions imposed under coronavirus regulations was planned to…
Sea Change: More of the Same
North Queensway site set for another £ splash On 8th July SELEP (the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, which channels both public and private funds into economic development in Essex,…
GYMS: Two Gyms Emerge from Lockdown
Under guidance issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport earlier in the month, indoor gyms were permitted to reopen from Saturday 25th July. Members of the SSN…
Active Travel: County Council Scolded For “Lack Of Ambition”
The stated aim of the Department for Transport (DfT) in its Emergency Active Travel Fund, amounting nationally to £250m, is “to enable more people to walk and to cycle”. The…
Industrial Exports Versus Nature Reserve
Planning Collision at Rye Harbour Churchfields is a longstanding industrial site at Rye Harbour. Prior to a fire in 2008, the site buildings were occupied by a furniture manufacturer. Enter…
FOOTBALL: United Prepare But For What?
The majority of last year’s Hastings United squad have re-signed for the 2020/21 season together with some heralded new recruits, and embarked on a series of pre-season friendly games from…
Commercial Property
Storm Brewing For Council? Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, tough times were already anticipated for high street shopping as online competitors increased, year on year, their share of the market.…
Deal Us In!
West St Leonards community groups seek share in Town Deal to fund development alternatives Since October last year, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has been insisting that it is on the…
FOOTBALL: October Resumption At Pilot Field?
The government and the Football Association (FA) have together come up with different solutions for the resumption of elite football, on the one hand, and of grassroots play, on the…
Rent Your Driveway
One alternative which undercuts both local authority charges is growing fast – rental of private ; National website claimed earlier this month that seaside resorts in particular were experiencing a…
The Pier Goes Local
Clean Start For New Management Team Hastings Pier reopened its gates to the public last Monday with a new management team in place and, very obviously, a fresh outlook. Owner…
ATHLETICS Virtually Competitive
At the outset of the Covid-19 lockdown, imposed peremptorily on 23rd March, the whole UK population was required to stay indoors and only leave the house “if absolutely essential”. Within…
ATHLETICS: Wind-Assisted
Runners have long been able to fit themselves with digital apparatus that will not only measure GPS location, distance run and time taken but also provide a whole host of…
Climate Change Programme Board Won’t Meet In Public
In an article in HIP 150 (Climate Emergency: Ambitious Target, “Paused” Programme) in April this year, we reported on the adoption by Hastings Borough Council (HBC) of its Climate Emergency…
Women’s Football
‘U’s Look To Lewes Phenomenon Back in January, Hastings United announced that they were going to set up a new women’s team for the 2020/21 season. CEO Billy Wood said…
Active Travel In Hastings
Are Councils Failing Cyclists? From mid-March, when PM Boris Johnson closed schools and urged people to work from home and avoid non-essential travel, the volume of road traffic fell sharply across the…
No Dissent
Labour Council Leader Removes Tories From Cabinet On Monday 8th June Hastings Borough Council leader Kim Forward announced a reshuffle of cabinet portfolio holders. The new list is set out…
Cross-Channel Migration –The Fallacy
As those who campaign on behalf of asylum-seeking refugees point out, there is a fundamental fallacy at the heart of the Home Office policy spelt out by Immigration Minister Chris…
CRICKET: Back To The Middle
Amateur sport of any kind is still only allowed nationally under the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic if it involves a gathering of no more than six players and there…
Class Divide
The majority of schools in East Sussex have stayed open throughout the coronavirus pandemic for the benefit of some vulnerable children and the families of key workers. Over 2,000 have…
Life’s A Beach!
But Hastings Councillors Are Not Amused Lockdown regulations were further relaxed from yesterday (Monday 1st June) throughout England, with up to six people from different households permitted to meet together…
TENNIS: On the Rebound
Before 8am on the morning of 13th May, residents in homes around Amherst Gardens, Hastings may have woken to sounds they hadn’t heard for nearly two months – the crisp…
GOLF: Out Of The Rough
In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Lysander complains that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Roger Hyder, director of Beauport Park Golf Club since September 2018, could be…
Retail Reopening
Council Given Fund To Maintain Social Distancing Shops selling clothes, shoes, toys, furniture, books and electronics; plus tailors, auction houses, photography studios and indoor markets will all be permitted to…
Five Tests and “The Science”
The government has set out five tests that must continue to be met each time restrictions are eased. 1 Ensuring the NHS has adequate capacity;2 A ‘sustained and consistent’ fall…
Covid Conundrum
Why hasn’t Hastings gone viral? As of last Wednesday 13th May, according to Public Health England (PHE), 45 people resident in the borough of Hastings had tested positive for coronavirus…
War Of Words As Channel Crossings Continue
Another cross-Channel boat containing 25 “displaced persons” was brought into shore at Pett Level on Saturday, as the easing of rough sea conditions over the past week gave a fresh…
FOOTBALL: Hastings United Submit New Stadium Plans
The board of Hastings United has submitted formal plans to the borough council’s planning department for its proposed new stadium at Tilekiln. The 12-acre site off Queensway, the freehold of…
HIP Commentary: Fair Question, Raab-ish Response
Mr Raab’s description of the coronavirus as “significantly affecting the tourism industry” is platitudinous blather. It is obvious that for as long as the government maintains a strategy of forcibly…
Bring Back Sport – But For Whom?
France is preparing to ease its lockdown from next week, re-opening some schools, public transport and public libraries. Social gatherings up to a maximum of 10 people will be allowed,…
Council Deficit “Unsustainable”
Cllr Chowney Warns Of “Massive Impact” on Services Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has calculated that its additional costs of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak coupled with losses of income receipts from…
Making the Grade
On 18th March, the Secretary of State for Education announced that this summer’s GCSE, AS and A level exam series were summarily cancelled in order to combat the spread of…
All In This Together
Last Friday the Government launched a mass ad campaign under the slogan “All In, All Together”. Every national and daily regional newspaper carried a wrap-around cover with the message: “Stay…
Climate Emergency: Ambitious Target, ‘Paused’ Programme
The last cabinet meeting of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) took place just a few hours before PM Boris Johnson pronounced the full lockdown on 23rd March. No precise explanation of…
Bus Funds On Diversion
New subsidies, reduced timetables: are key workers being served? In February Boris Johnson announced in Parliament that his government was launching a new package of actions for public transport including…
FOOTBALL: No Fruits Of The Season?
Hastings United will challenge FA decision to expunge results The Premier League and English Football League have yet to decide how to resolve their unfinished schedules. Supporters of Liverpool (waiting…
Exercising At A Distance
Last Friday, Kevin Boorman, manager of 1066 Country Marketing at Hastings Borough Council, issued a press release telling “visitors” they are not welcome here during the Covid-19 ; “Don’t make…
GOLF: Maximising Your Distance
When, leafing through your golfing manual, you reach the chapter on driving off the tee, you may well find tips on “maximising your distance”. The phrase recognises the desire of…
What Next?
It was less than three months ago, on 31st December, that China alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to several cases of an unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, a port city…
FOOTBALL: TOP SPOT
Pope Penalty Double Puts ‘U’s Back In Front Hastings United 2, Whitstable Town 1 Ben Pope scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season, both from the penalty spot,…