Archives for News - Page 15
THIN TUESDAY
Arts Council Refuses Funding for February Event HUGH SULLIVANThe Directors of Hastings Fat Tuesday CIC (HFT) announced this week that their flagship grassroots music festival, held annually on Shrove Tuesday…
White Rock Theatre Under New Management
The Guildhall Trust, a charitable foundation which has run the Portsmouth Guildhall since 2011, is set to take over management of the White Rock Theatre from the beginning of February…
Beef About Wellington
DEBORAH RIPLEY Since arriving in Wellington Square in late 2016, I’ve witnessed firstly a gradual and then, more recently, a rapid decline of Wellington Place opposite. I knew I was…
Snowflake Meltdown
From 2006 The Snowflake Trust has operated as a charity providing shelter and physical support to those in need in Hastings and St Leonards. Between 2011 and 2020 the Trust’s…
West Hill Road Landslide –Whose Responsibility?
HUGH SULLIVAN On Sunday 5 November, after days of heavy rain, there was a slide of rock, debris and mud down the slope below West Hill Road that affected one…
Northeye Purchase: £9m Private Profit Revealed
Jeff Newnham A private finance enterprise, Brockwell Group Bexhill LLP (BGB), has made an astonishing profit in its dealings over the former Northeye prison site on the western edge of…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Benefits injustice Your excellent article Huge Holes in Benefits Safety Net in HIP 238 described the terrible state we are in in this country, with people falling through the…
Hastings Helps Hastings
ROBIN GRAY explains. The ‘Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link’ has been working since 2003 to improve the lives of the residents of another Hastings over 3,000 miles away, in West…
BLOOM OR BUST?
“£100m” for garden town project, but council cuts still impending HUGH SULLIVAN The cabinet of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) met on 6 November to debate a very mixed financial agenda.…
Tales of Anguish and Anger
The Quaker meeting house in South Terrace, where the religious Society of Friends has met for worship since 1865, had suffered severe flooding in January. The damage took seven months…
East Hill Lift Reopens
The East Hill Lift, claimed to be the steepest funicular railway in the country, has reopened following the completion of refurbishment work. The lift closed in October 2022 following an…
Gaza Protests Ignored by Local Politicians
Rod Webb A wide range of local pressure groups – led by Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HRPSC) but joined by trades union groupings, Amnesty International, refugee support groups…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Bonfire Symbols Dear HIP, I went to the Bonfire night for the first time and was really impressed by the organisation and great family atmosphere of the event. However, I…
“Huge Holes” in Benefits Safety Net
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Josie Barnes PhotographyHARC Chief Executive Jacky Everard HARC, the Hastings Advice and Representation Centre, has published its 2023 Client Survey. In her forward to the findings, Chief Executive…
Exit The Source, Re-enter Source BMX
HUGH SULLIVAN On 29 August two companies which owned the Source Park skatepark on Hastings seafront - The Source (Hastings) Limited and The Source (Hastings) Holdings Limited - declared insolvency,…
Becca Horn: a seasoned Green campaigner
In the third of our series of interviews with the prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) of the main political parties ahead of the next general election, PAUL McLAUGHLIN talks to Becca…
WATER ,WATER, EVERYWHERE
PAUL McLAUGHLIN and HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings town centre, Alexandra Park and areas in between were again under water last weekend following another sustained period of heavy rainfall – around two…
Can Jews Criticise Israel from within the Labour Party?
A placard carried by Hastings Jewish activist Katy Colley to a Palestinian rally in London last Saturday – see adjacent picture – went viral, and she was interviewed about it…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
We would love to hear from you. Please be aware we may need to edit letters for reasons of space and we will only withhold names if this is necessary…
FORSAKEN CAFE TO BE OFFERED FOR CASTLE PROJECT
HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings Borough Council (HBC) announced on 3 October that it has “taken back possession” of the West Hill Café. It is understood that this was the outcome of…
Helena Dollimore: A force to be Reckoned With
The next General Election is likely to be called within the next 12 months. With the main political parties having now selected their candidates to contest the marginal parliamentary constituency…
Hastings Rally Proclaims Solidarity with People of Gaza
HUGH SULLIVAN Hastings & Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign Reactions to the news of the carnage being suffered in Israel and Gaza over the past fortnight have been divided, both nationally…
Fence Following Fall
High fencing has been placed around the perimeter wall at the top of The Courtyard food court, adjacent to Source Park, following a fatal fall. A Sussex Police spokesperson said,…
Sally-Ann Hart
Paul McLaughlin The marginal parliamentary constituency of Hastings and Rye is a bellwether seat, which tends to elect an MP from the party that goes on to form the government.…
Tory Councillor Jumps Ship
Paul McLaughlin John Rankin John Rankin has resigned from the Conservative Party group on Hastings Borough Council and will now sit as an independent. He will continue to represent the…
Care Costs Concern
Increasing costs for children in care is pressurising East Sussex County Council finances. A monitoring report, discussed by cabinet members on September 28, predicted a £ overspend by the end…
Another Knotty Problem for Hastings
Paul McLaughlin Hastings has become one of the worst affected areas in East Sussex for Japanese knotweed according to new data published by Environet, one of the most established Japanese…
Privatisation of Water Was a “Mistake” Says Local MP
Paul McLaughlin Local MP Sally-Ann Hart expressed her “deep frustration” at the poor performance of Southern Water and now believes water privatisation was a “mistake… in hindsight.” In a wide-ranging…
Ambulance Waiting Times Shock
Paul McLaughlin The wait for an ambulance in Hastings and Rye is the longest of any constituency in the whole of the South East, according to data obtained using a…
School and Council Workers in Strike Ballots
The GMB trade union warned last week that it is balloting school and council workers across South East England for potential strike action from November ; School workers such as…
Six Heroin Takers Treated in Conquest Hospital
Dave Young Sussex Police issued a warning earlier this month that a number of people have had to seek medical treatment in East Sussex – six of them at the…
Queensway Gateway: Is Council Awaiting LEP Abolition?
HUGH SULLIVAN The Accountability Board of SELEP (South East Local Enterprise Partnership), which channels government funds into local infrastructure projects, is due to meet again today (Friday) for its quarterly…
Normanhurst Plans for Holiday Lodges Dismissed
At a meeting on 7 September, the Planning Committee of Rother District Council refused outline permission for the development of a major holiday complex on the Normanhurst estate, north of…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
We would love to hear from you. Please be aware we may need to edit letters for reasons of space and we will only withhold names if this is necessary…
WHAT’S UP AT OWENS?
Mixed messages to staff and public after sudden closure HUGH SULLIVAN In the week beginning 4 September Owens, the entertainment centre operating in the former Debenhams store in Robertson Street,…
New United Boss Sends Olive Branch to Council
Documents filed last week at the Companies Registry on behalf of Hastings United Football Club Limited have shown that the majority financial interest in the club is now held by…
Lines of Duty
Following a Home Office pronouncement last week that police are to follow “all reasonable lines of enquiry” in their approach to tackling crime, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne…
Northeye: Back to Lock and Key
HUGH SULLIVAN As anticipated in HIP 232 (Changing of the Guard?), the Home Office are now proposing to use the former prison site at Northeye, Bexhill for detention of people…
New Head of Housing
Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has appointed a new Head of Housing whose previous career has straddled the charities and local government sectors. Chris Hancock started his job at HBC last…
A New GP Service: Private and Remote
HUGH SULLIVAN GPs have been the gatekeepers of the British medical system since the advent of the NHS 75 years ago. Access to medical help should come initially, save in…