Archives for News - Page 13
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Trinity Triangle: Jess Steele Responds Dear HIP In response to Alex Moojen’s letter in HIP 249 about the Trinity Triangle High Street Heritage Action Zone (TTHAZ) programme, we would…
IN WITH THE NEW
Green surge in council election shake-up HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings Borough Council will have 12 new councillors when it reconvenes later this month. Eight are Greens; four are ; Naz Montag…
Not a Drop to Drink
Southern Water Faces Fresh Barrage of Complaint HUGH SULLIVAN Around 32,500 households across the majority of Hastings, St Leonards and Westfield were left without water for most of the bank…
School Strike Threatened Over ‘Diversion’ of Funding
The University of Brighton Academies Trust (UBAT) has been accused of diverting excessive sums of money from two individual secondary schools which it governs, St Leonards Academy and the Hastings…
‘Stop the Genocide’ March Through Hastings
A large and noisy march took over Battle Road on Saturday 13 April, demanding an end to Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza. Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign Called by…
Rebels Protest Social Housing Auction
Last Friday, campaigners from Housing Rebellion spent some hours occupying a property that Southern Housing has put up for auction. Merlin Betts ; Merlin BettsNo. 3 Beaconsfield Road pictured last…
Candidates and Battlegrounds
Name in bold type denotes sitting councillor seeking re-election Ashdown 2021 Con Hold Daniel Hope (Green) Thee Kuga (Reform UK) Sorrell Marlow-Eastwood (Con) Stephen Milton (Lib Dem) Steve Thorpe (Lab) Ashdown has…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Future of Jack-in-the-Green Dear HIP HIP 249 ran an article headlined Jack-in-the-Green Future ‘At Risk’. Those of you who, like me, love this festival will be relieved to hear…
What theParties Say:
Conservatives Labour has controlled Hastings Borough Council for the past 14 years, building up huge debts and mismanaging the town's finances in the process. Recently, the local Labour Party split…
NO LIKELY WINNER
Will Town Elections Result In New Coalition? PAUL McLAUGHLIN & HUGH SULLIVAN This year’s local elections for Hastings Borough Council (HBC) will be held next Thursday 2 May. Polling booths…
Long Term Plan Fund: Meet the Board
HUGH SULLIVAN In addition to receipt of £20 million capital investments under DLUHC’s Levelling Up Partnership Scheme, Hastings has been selected as one of 75 towns to receive another £20m…
Scaled Down Castle Project Will Need Fresh Approvals
HUGH SULLIVAN On the Hastings Town Deal website, the project entitled Hastings Castle World Heritage Destination is still described as “our flagship signature project for the whole Hastings Town Investment…
Grumpy Cook Leaves Bale House
The café at the Bale House Visitor Centre in Hastings Country Park closed over the Easter weekend and will not reopen until a new operator is ; The centre is…
LEVELLING UP FUNDS RAIDED TO COMPLETE LINK ROAD
£ Cash Gap Plugged out of Awards to Hastings and Rother HUGH SULLIVAN On 25 March the Westminster government announced that Hastings borough and Rother district will receive targeted cash…
Jack-in-the-Green Future ‘At Risk’
PAUL McLAUGHLIN The future of the Hastings traditional Jack-in-the-Green festival has been put in doubt because of a lack of funding and commitment from Hastings Borough Council(HBC), according to founder and…
From Grief to Inspiration
ROD WEBB talks to celebrated actor and comedian Steve Furst about how he came to direct a film about mental health Last month, Steve Furst hosted an event at the…
Election Preparations Gather Pace
Of the eight Hastings Independents councillors on the borough council who defected en masse from the Labour party last December, six were elected in 2022 and are thus not up…
Old Roar Update
Hastings Borough Council’s insurers have agreed to fund the cost of an urgent geotechnical survey of the area of Old Roar Gill which suffered a severe landslip last month. The…
Dog Control Order Designates Summer Exclusion Zones
A year and a half after a public consultation over dog controls in Hastings and 12 months since councillors approved a changed regime, an updated dog control public space protection…
New Site For Hospice?
The Trustees of St Michael’s Hospice have announced that they are looking to expand their hospice service, including exploring alternative ; Dr Karen Clarke, the chief executive, said that while…
Motion for Gaza Ceasefire
Under the existing constitution of Hastings Borough Council (HBC), motions brought for debate “must be about matters for which the Council has statutory powers, duties or functions, or address the…
DISSENT, DISORDER, DIVISION
Uproar As Mayor Terminates Council Meeting PAUL McLAUGHLIN AND HUGH SULLIVAN The last full meeting of Hastings Borough Council before May’s local elections was suspended and then abandoned last Wednesday…
Sea Change Looks to Borough Council to Remedy Azur Disrepair
Sea Change Sussex, the publicly funded regeneration company which has held the head lease of the Azur Marina Pavilion since 2007, has appointed national leisure sector property agents Fleurets alongside…
Affordable Homes Dropped from ‘Greener’ Building Scheme
HUGH SULLIVAN A 200-unit housing development at Blackfriars, to the east of Battle Station, for which outline planning permission was granted in 2020, is to go ahead. But an original…
£5.4m Awarded for Hastings Council Housing
Hastings Borough Council has been offered £ by central government to tackle homelessness. A spokesperson for the council said last week that an unspecified part of this money will be…
Women on Top
It was International Women’s Day last Friday (8 March). To mark it, East Sussex College hosted a meeting of Hastings leaders. In case it hasn’t been noticed, the people who…
Beach Hut Owners Remain in Dispute with Council
At the cabinet meeting of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) on 29 January, a question was asked by a member of the public about the current condition of beach huts in…
Lib Dems Appoint Candidate
The Liberal Democrats have appointed their candidate for the next general election in the Hastings & Rye constituency. He is Guy Harris, a communications consultant for the UK and other…
Can you hear the election drums, Fernando?
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN In the latest of our series of interviews with the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) of the main political parties ahead of the next General Election, we feature Lucian…
BOORMAN’S BACK
Former council manager joins crisis response team at Old Roar PAUL McLAUGHLIN Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has set up a dedicated emergency response taskforce to coordinate efforts to help those…
Tipping Point
According to Government figures issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), there were 1,555 recorded incidents of illegal dumping across the town of Hastings in…
Fox Hunting Law and Practice
The Hunting Act 2004 outlaws hunting of wild mammals, including foxes, with dogs. Not only the hunters themselves, but the owner of land they hunt on and the supplier of…
Fire Station Reprieve
At a meeting of the East Sussex Fire Authority on 8 February, it was determined that the provision of full-time fire engines at The Ridge Community Fire Station will be…
Ice Creams but no Café
Hastings Borough Council have been inviting ‘Expressions of Interest’ to operate an ice cream concession from a fixed location outside the West Hill café for the 2024 season. Prospective operators must…
HOMES AT RISK!
PAUL McLAUGHLIN Residents living in Foxcote and Penhurst Close (below Little Ridge Ave) have been forced to abandon their homes as a major landslip threatens to push their properties into the stream…
New Year Assault on Hunt Sabs: Police Still Seeking Culprits
RICHARD PRICE In a shocking incident captured on video, a group of four masked assailants targeted a broken-down car, smashing its windows and threatening the terrified occupants. The attack unfolded…
Azur Closure
The Azur Marina Pavilion has been closed to all customers and hirers since 29 January following an agreed out-of-court settlement between the leaseholder company Azur Events Limited and its landlord…
Cabinet Approves Council Tax Hikes
A meeting of Hastings Borough Council’s cabinet on Monday evening (12 February) approved proposals to bring forward the period from two years to one year when an unoccupied and substantially…
New Management at White Rock
As promised, a virtually seamless transfer of management has taken place at the White Rock Theatre. Gone from the end of January were Trafalgar Theatres, who had presided over the…
Plan Ducks Priority Issues
CHARMIAN KENNER The ESCC Local Transport Plan contains a pretty comprehensive list of nice outcomes it would be hard to disagree with. But how is it going to be implemented?…