Archives for News - Page 21
Plans submitted for new mental health hospital
The Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for mental health services across the county, has submitted a detailed planning application to Rother District Council to build a new…
Union rally
A rally held at East Sussex College last Thursday evening by Hastings & District Trades Union Council underthe slogan Hastings Demands Better attracted a cast of prominent local speakers, including…
News from the Country Park
The Bale House at Hastings Country Park will celebrate an official Grand Opening tomorrow (Saturday) financed by the Platinum Jubilee Fund. Friends of Hastings Park Nature Reserve, operators Groundwork South…
Observe the Observer!
Restored building set for viewings, leases offered from August After nearly three years of renovation works the Observer Building on Cambridge Road will begin to reopen in August this year. Hastings…
Land speculators move in on Combe Valley
A six-and-half acre plot of land on the western edge of Combe Valley Countryside Park, which used to be a part of Pebsham Farm, was sold off last year. Estate…
Pier engineers vindicated at tribunal – but how will £68,000 awards be collected?
After a tortuous legal process, the former pier engineers Peter Wheeler and Daisy Hill have succeeded in legal claims for constructive dismissal brought against Lions Hastings Pier Limited, the company…
Rough Ride Ahead For Park Cyclists
Proposals to lay a path through Alexandra Park for cyclists to share with pedestrians were endorsed by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) in March and are backed by immediately available…
Airbnb in Hastings: Scourge or Blessing?
Hastings has a huge need for more housing – that’s a theme common to politicians from all parties in this week’s local election. There is also a large groundswell of…
Will Labour Keep Control?
Sixteen out of 32 seats on Hastings Borough Council are up for re-election on 6 May – one each per ward. Most of Kim Forward’s acting Labour cabinet are among…
Candidates and Battlegrounds
Ashdown Mike EDWARDS (Con);Jane HARTLEY (Lab);Andrea Needham (Green); Nick PERRY (Lib Dem) Conservative stronghold: the party picked up over 61% of the vote in 2021. Mike Edwards, up for re-election,…
Campaign briefing out-takes
Labour “Hastings Labour is a street-level working-class party, and that is what fundamentally divides us from the other local parties. We are a group of councillors and candidates that reflect…
Spire hospital re-brand
The private wing of the Conquest Hospital, previously known as Spire Sussex Hospital, has been re-branded as Sussex Premier Health (SPH) and was officially opened to new and existing patients…
Optivo in merger talks
Optivo, the housing association which provides Hastings with the majority of its public sector homes, has announced that it is in merger talks with the Southern Housing Group, a similar…
Priti Patel Sidesteps Debate on Rwanda Refugee Programme
The provisions of the Nationality and Borders Bill promoted by Home Secretary Priti Patel were due to be debated further in the House of Lords this week. However, as far…
Family Hub programmes replaces Hastings Opportunity Area
East Sussex County Council has been selected as one 75 local authorities across the country that will share in a major new government funding scheme to support vulnerable children and…
“Have your say” on town centre development
As part of the £ Town Deal investment programme in and around Hastings town centre, the Borough Council (HBC) is currently working on develop-ment options for the site of the…
CitizenLab: council launches new consultation website
Consultation within the local community is arguably central to the way that democratic authorities should conduct themselves, not just every few years at the ballot box, but whenever major projects…
New Council Leader “Will work with anyone”
Labour councillors on Hastings Borough Council elected Paul Barnett as their new leader last week following the surprise resignation of Cllr Kim Forward. No account of the internal meeting of…
Land clearance at Barley Lane fails to prompt permission to build
Wildlife supporters were rejoicing last week when owners of a two-acre plot of land between Barley Lane and Boyne Road above Clive Vale were refused Permission in Principle (PiP) to…
Property Prices on the Rise
Kate Darbyshire, director of John Bray estate agency in Hastings and a member of the Guild of Property Professionals, reports on trends in the property market. In East Sussex, average…
Planning update
On 23 March the planning committee of Hastings Borough Council considered two applications promoted by its own development teams. Both projects had already received permissions in principle – an estate…
Castle in the air
Under the heading Hastings Castle World Heritage Destination, the borough council’s Town Deal website describes upgrading of the castle as “our flagship, signature project for the whole Hastings Town Investment…
Student studios combine with hotel provision
In October 2020 property developers Cochrane Design obtained planning permission from Hastings Borough Council to convert the former University of Brighton building at 44 Havelock Road into dual use residential…
Forward and Back
Cllr Kim Forward resigned as leader of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) last week after two years in the role dominated by reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. Her formal period of…
PAUL Barnett: opportunities for culture and sport
Cllr Paul Barnett, new leader of the Labour group on Hastings Borough Council and council leader elect, was born and educated in North London. He obtained a degree in music…
HASTINGS DISUNITED
Council Pulls Offer of Tilekiln for Football Stadium Hastings Borough Council (HBC) announced last Friday that it will not proceed with the projected sale of Tilekiln playing fields to Hastings…
Hastings Council Admits Defeat
On 10 March, eight days before its renouncement of the Tilekiln football stadium, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) issued a press release stating that it has decided to withdraw its planning…
Understanding Bulverhythe
David EP Dennis, founder of Friends of Combe Valley, applauds the council’s belated decision to withdraw its development proposal. Combe Valley is the vale of the Combe Haven River. Its…
Dental services criticised
Healthwatch East Sussex, a monitoring group funded by the NHS which gathers people’s views of health and social services, has released the outcome of their recent survey of the county’s…
OPINION
Support, don’t punish By Tania Charman The drug problem here runs through most people’s lives. In a town like Hastings, substances in all forms are endemic, and it’s set to…
COVID UPDATE
Numbers up again After consistently falling numbers of cases testing positive for Covid-19 across the East Sussex healthcare region during the month of February, the trend has reversed, at least…
Positive Results Claimed For Project Adder
The drugs-related programme known as Project ADDER (Addiction, Disruption, Diversion, Enforcement, Recovery), under which £5m of Home Office funds is being targeted on the town of Hastings over a period…
Change of Hart?
Local campaigners press Hastings MP on Nationality Bill amendments This Friday 11 March the campaign group Hastings Community of Sanctuary (HCoS) will hand to Hastings & Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart…
Seafront Rally
A rally organised at short notice on Hastings seafront last Sunday with the aim of demonstrating solidarity with the Ukrainian people under attack from Putin’s troops attracted over 200 people,…
Piano competitors bridge political divide
The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition (HIPCC), being held for the first time in three years after abandonment to Covid-19 restrictions in 2021, opened on 24 February, the same day…
Council planners get their way
At a meeting of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) planning committee on 23 February, the council approved its own application for permission to develop the car park at Cornwallis Street (above…
David Sansbury: Already Missed
There has been an outpouring of sadness on social media on hearing of the death from cancer of David Sansbury, Landlord of the Horse & Groom. The comments are in…
Council Begs Businesses: Take Your Money!
Last month Hastings Borough Council (HBC) announced that it had received a little over £ from central government in cash grants to compensate hospitality businesses for the loss of custom…
Eunice Exposes Electricity Reliance
Storm Eunice left an expected trail of destruction as it hit the East Sussex coast last Friday and lingered on through the weekend. Unlike the 1987 hurricane, when trees were…
People’s Assembly in action
The Hastings People’s Assembly (HPA) will be undertaking an official relaunch on Thursday 10 March (not 13th or 14th, as reported in HIP 194 two weeks ago). An online meeting…