Archives for News - Page 5
Reform UK Tops the Poll in East Sussex
Reform UK has won the East Sussex County Council (ESCC) by-election held in Ashdown and Conquest on Thursday 20 November. Aidan Fisher was elected with 32% (797) of the vote,…
Volunteers Praised in Plastic Pollution Cleanup
KENT BARKER and JAMES PRENTICE The scores of volunteers who helped tackle ‘catastrophic’ pollution at Camber Sands have been praised by a government minister. The clean-up operation got underway after…
Deprivation Ranking
As the 14th most deprived local authority in the country Hastings has dropped two positions since the last survey five years ago; data analyst JAMES PRENTICE explains what lies behind…
‘We’re still owed a seven-figure sum’
Sea Change wrangles with Council over Queensway issues HUGH SULLIVAN Relations between East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and Sea Change Sussex, their former partners in delivering the Queensway Gateway link Rd,…
Studio Flats in Former Vive Hotel Stay Barred
HUGH SULLIVAN A stand-off between insolvency administrators and leasehold owners has resulted in most of the 97 studio flats in the former Vive Hotel block at 44 Havelock Rd standing unoccupied…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Graphically Inaccurate Dear HIP Splashing a huge graph supplied by Electoral Calculus for the Ashdown & Conquest and Hastings by-election (By-Election Battle Looms in HIP 288) is pretty reckless.…
Devolution Update
The Government’s devolution plans are continuing at a frenetic pace, with ministers giving the green light to the establishment of a new Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA) for the whole…
Free Hana campaign in Old Town
Friends and supporters of Hana Al Bidaq, a Palestinian woman imprisoned by Israel, ran an all-day pop-up exhibition and ‘Free Hana’ campaign stall in Butlers Gap last Saturday. Hana helped…
NEWS IN BRIEF
Lottery Grant for Trinity Holy Trinity Church, the building in the centre of the Trinity Triangle off Robertson St, has been awarded a grant of £ million from the National…
Bio-Bead Clean Up Could Take Years
Pollution from millions of plastic ‘bio-beads’ released by Southern Water’s Eastbourne treatment plant could take years to clean up, a public meeting in Rye heard this week. MP Helena Dollimore…
Friends of Pier Set Up Potential Bid
KENT BARKER A seasonal mist seems to have settled over the future of Hastings Pier following the news that its owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar wants to ‘dispose’ of it (Pier…
Deprivation Town Again
HUGH SULLIVAN One neighbourhood of Hastings – East Baird, centred around Malvern Way – was identified in a government survey released last week as being amongst the ten “most deprived”…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Poor Souls Dear HIP It seems that we are going backwards… there are empty properties, unused office buildings and yet people are in their sleeping bags lying on the…
By-Election Battle Looms
Paul McLaughlin A by-election for the East Sussex County Council seat of Ashdown and Conquest will be held on 20 November, following the sudden death of Conservative Councillor Peter Pragnell.…
Moves on St Mary
Within weeks of the collapse of the roof of Pelham Arcade, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has announced new moves to try to save the adjacent St Mary in the Castle.…
Shock and Dismayat Nuns’ Exhumation
KENT BARKER A Hastings Borough councillor told a senior council officer he was “shocked and dismayed” when he heard that the graves of 46 nuns at Holmhurst St Mary had…
Gaza Campaigner Pleads Not Guilty
Hastings Gaza campaigner Gabriel Carlyle has pleaded not guilty to an alleged terrorist offence in Parliament Square on 5 July. He was arrested for holding up a placard which read:…
Boutique Collapse
KENT BARKER Hastings Borough Council is seeking urgent information on the apparent collapse of their council housing partner Boutique Design. The modular homes manufacturer and builder has filed to enter…
Promises Should Not be Broken
DAME JOANNA LUMLEY, writing exclusively for HIP, recalls the nuns who taught her at Holmhurst St Mary convent in St Leonards and describes how shocked she was by the desecration of their…
Ashford International to be Reopened
TOBY BULA-EDGE The government has promised that the Eurostar service from Ashford International will be reinstated, following the intervention of Hastings MP Helena Dollimore. Meanwhile, Italian train operator Ferrovie dello…
Corbyn Rallies Hastings – Again
KENT BARKER Jeremy Corbyn seems to like Hastings. Last week (18 October) he chose the drab-looking Horntye Sports Centre off Bohemia Road to launch – or perhaps re-launch - the…
Pier For Sale Again
KENT BARKER The Friends of Hastings Pier are urgently seeking ways to bring the landmark attraction back under community control, following news that the pier’s owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar notified…
A Rapidly Fading Jewel
St Mary in the Castle is the architectural crown jewel of Hastings. Built in 1828 as an Anglican church, the building features a distinctive white Ionic portico and a unique…
Hastings Marks Cinque Ports Speaker’s Day
Hastings’ Mayor and Speaker of the Cinque Ports, Cllr Becca Horn, hosted a procession of Cinque Ports mayors and town clerks through the streets of Hastings last Saturday (27 Saturday)…
At Long Last
The final section of Queensway Gateway Road connecting the A21 Sedlescombe Road North and Queensway finally opened to traffic last Tuesday (30 September)… just nine years behind the original schedule!…
Chain of Thanks
Ukrainians living in Hastings and along the south coast organised an environmental clean-up of beaches stretching more than 350 miles of coastline from Plymouth to Whitstable last Saturday (27 September). This was part of…
News in Brief
Rock Fall in Country Park HM Coastguard Bexhill were called to an emergency incident in Hastings Country Park on Monday (29 September) to deal with a significant rock fall along…
Hastings Welcomes Your Party
Just days after the damaging bust-up between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, the newly formed ‘Your Party’ hosted a public meeting at St John’s Hall on Brittany Road last Tuesday…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Don’t Exaggerate Dear HIP, In response to James Prentice’s article New Party, Familiar Faces (HIP 283) which appears to be based on an interview with me, when in fact…
Shock at The Bridge Sell-Off
Paul McLaughlin The Parchment Trust has confirmed plans to sell The Bridge Community Centre at 361 Priory Road in Hastings. The building, which has been closed for over seven years,…
Pelham Arcade Roof Collapse
Safety Warnings were Ignored PAUL MCLAUGHLIN The arcades in Pelham Crescent at the front of St Mary in the Castle sustained significant damage on Saturday (27 September) after sections of…
Hastings BC Councillors’ Reaction
Hastings Borough Councillors reacted to the news about Wealden DC and Brighton and Hove at the meeting of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee last Thursday (18 September). The special…
Azur Continues to Remain Empty
Attempts to negotiate a commercial tenant for the Marina ‘Azur’ Pavilion in St Leonards have been further delayed pending the need for additional repairs. The economic development quango, Sea Change…
Chicken Out!
Objectors Unite Against More Fast Food on Queens Road HUGH SULLIVAN Plans to turn former shop premises at 120-122 Queens Road (opposite the Brewing Brothers’ pub, the Imperial) into a…
New Protest over Nuns’ Exhumations
KENT BARKER Alumni of the former convent of Holmhurst St Mary have called for a public apology over the handling of the exhumations of the bodies of 46 nuns who…
News in brief
Neighbourhood Health Boost Hastings and Rother has been selected as one of 43 areas nationwide to launch a new Neighbourhood Health programme. The initiative has been designed to tackle health…
Hastings takes on the Far Right
JENNY SUTTON, SECRETARY HASTINGS STAND UP TO RACISM Hastings Stand Up to Racism supporters went to London to join the counter-protest to Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration on Saturday…
Call to Restore International Services
MPs from across Kent and Sussex have launched a campaign to pressure the rail regulator to remove barriers preventing new international train services from stopping at Ashford International Station. The…
Chaos and Confusion
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN The political map of Sussex is set to be radically redrawn in the coming months, but the road ahead is becoming ever more fractious and fiercely disputed. With…
Analysis: Home Education – Or Just Not Going to School?
The writer of this piece wishes to remain anonymous Over the last 35 years I have worked with children of all ages from three to 19 in many professional guises:…