Archives for News - Page 8
Council Reform is coming – and we want YOUR ideas
JULIA HILTON – Leader of Hastings Borough Council We’ve just seen some very sobering local election results. Kent County Council is now run by Reform, as are nine others, and…
HIGs to Oppose Reform Proposals
The Hastings Independent Group is to call on the Leader of Hastings BC, Julia Hilton, at next week’s Annual Council meeting, to commit to leading a campaign against the government’s…
Torfield Among First to Get Free School Breakfasts
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Torfield School in Croft Road Hastings has been selected to take part in the launch of the Government’s free breakfast club initiative which will give all primary-aged children…
Flood Protection Boost
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN The Government has approved funding plans for the construction of new flood protection schemes as well as the repair and maintenance of existing ones, across Hastings, Rye, and…
Minister Visits Little Gate Farm
HUGH SULLIVAN Little Gate Farm is a social enterprise which supports adults with learning disabilities and autism into sustained employment. A fortnight ago, Sir Stephen Timms MP, the Minister for…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Homes and Green Spaces Dear HIP, We need nature and development to be in harmony for the benefit of both. Our MP in Hastings and Rye, Helena Dollimore, is…
Moves on ‘Abandoned’ Clifton Court
HUGH SULLIVAN Clifton Court, a block of 53 flats owned by housing association Orbit, remains vacant around three-and-a-half years after its tenants began to be decanted for prospective redevelopment. A…
Hastings Decides on Housing
KENT BARKER Residents of Hastings are being consulted on their views about at least three important areas over the next few weeks and months. The most contentious is likely to…
Underfunded Courts Leave Innocent Jailed
RICHARD BODY I’ve been a lawyer since 1987. I set up my firm, Richard Body Law Ltd, in 1999 almost exclusively doing criminal defence work covering Hastings and Eastbourne. In…
The Nightmare Scenario
You’re walking along the seafront in Hastings one evening and come across a serious assault. The assailant flees and you help the victim, who is bleeding copiously. The police arrive…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter CATASTROPHIC BENEFIT CUTS Dear HIP Well done for your front-page coverage in issue 274 of the government’s planned cuts to disability benefits and the likely impact of these on…
Your Day in Court
On a recent Friday, only one out of three magistrates’ courtrooms at the Bohemia Road Law Courts was in use. And there the staff were stretched – the usher had…
New Moves to Save St Mary
KENT BARKER A new steering group has been formed to seek fresh and sustainable uses for St Mary in the Castle. The iconic Hastings building and concert venue has been…
Graffiti – Signs of Disengagement
TONY COLLINS Some graffiti amounts to street art, takes hours to create, and is proudly shared on social media. More common, and more troublesome, are the tags, brief talent-free scribbles…
Crime and Punishment in Hastings
Few would disagree that Britain’s criminal justice system is in crisis. Prisons so overcrowded that inmates are released early, courts so backlogged that defendants wait up to two years for…
Council Lane Rental Scheme Ignores A21 Disruption
HUGH SULLIVAN East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has announced that it will impose a Lane Rental Scheme on contractors and utility companies undertaking future work on the busiest roads in…
West Marina Development Plans to be Unveiled
An exhibition of what developers West Marina St Leonards Limited (WMSLL) call their “initial proposals” for the regeneration of the former bathing pool site in West St Leonards will be…
Fat Tuesday Directors Announce Succession Plans
Co-founder of the Hastings Fat Tuesday (HFT) Festival, Adam Daly, has announced that he will be resigning as director later this year. So will his co-director for the last 11…
Ask Me Another
The Hastings Borough Council cabinet debate over the issue of sleeping in vehicles arose from the need to renew the council’s current Anti-Social Behaviour Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), which…
MP and Charities Collide Over Cuts
Hastings MP describes benefit changes as ‘new social contract’; local charities warn of ‘catastrophic impact’ – FERDUSARA ALI reports Hastings & Rye MP Helena Dollimore is on collision course with…
Vehicle Sleeping Ban Proposal Withdrawn
KENT BARKER Hastings Borough Council has staged an about-turn over plans to make sleeping in vehicles illegal in the town. The move follows swingeing criticism from the Independents group on…
Half Marathon to be run in October
HUGH SULLIVAN The 2025 Hastings Half Marathon, which was cancelled on the eve of its intended run on Sunday 23 March, has been rescheduled for Sunday 5 October. Nice Work…
NEU calls to return schools to LA control
James Ellis The National Education Union (NEU) held a well-attended demonstration in Wellington Place on Saturday morning (22 March) to support the return to local authority control of six primary…
Local Government Reorganisation Explained
The Government's plans to reorganise local government across Sussex are part of a larger initiative to devolve powers away from Westminster. The goal is to strengthen regional governance by creating…
Bella Bar Loses Alcohol Licence
Hastings BC’s Licensing Committee has revoked the alcohol licence of the Bella Bar on George Street. Licensing officers reported that the venue, which had been granted its licence as a…
Dog Control Order
Cllr Glenn Haffenden, the Hastings BC deputy leader, has confirmed that dog controls on the beaches in Hastings will switch to the summer restrictions from Tuesday 1 April. The new…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Ark – A Parent’s View Dear HIP I want to express my thanks to you for actually writing a truthful article on Ark Alexandra Academy (Why Won’t They Behave?…
Owens Fall-out Reaches Parliament
HUGH SULLIVAN Helena Dollimore, MP for Hastings & Rye, secured a ‘debate’ in the House of Commons on 10 March concerning the financial collapse of Owens, the short-lived entertainment centre…
Developers Seek to Shed Community Centre
HUGH SULLIVAN The housing estate being built on the site of Ashdown House, the former Department of Work & Pensions office-block off Harrow Lane, is due to accommodate 151 new…
Explosive Chemical Find Brings Chaos to St Leonards
PAUL McLAUGHLIN and FERDUSARA ALI Emergency services cordoned off roads around the A259 Marina on Thursday evening after explosive chemicals were found in a property. Police declared a major incident…
The Biggest Change in Local Government in Fifty Years
JULIA HILTON Last week our council debated the biggest change being proposed for local government in 50 years. According to the Labour government’s plans for “devolution and reorganisation of local…
Rental Boom, Housing Crisis
PAUL McLAUGHLIN Hastings has experienced a substantial rental boom in the last few years due to its growing popularity. But a shortage of private rental properties coupled with a sharp…
Battle for a Home
FERDUSARA BEGUM ALI meets a local woman who lost her home, became a rough sleeper and then endured a year-long battle to be granted accommodation A Hastings woman, once vibrant…
County Cuts Slam Hastings
PAUL McLAUGHLIN East Sussex County Council has confirmed plans to cut almost £4m from Adult Social Care and Health services next year. Julia Hilton, the Leader of Hastings Borough Council,…
What Can I Do?
The scale of the problem of homelessness can seem so overwhelming that many people simply don’t know what they can do to help. Well, the first thing is a simple…
Why we Have a Housing Crisis
KENT BARKER Less than 50 years ago, a third of all homes in Britain were owned and rented by local councils – about million of them. Today councils own only…
Return of the Council House?
A key element in tackling homelessness is the provision of social housing. And a major problem for providers of social housing is that most tenants have the right to buy…
Helping Helpers
PAUL McLAUGHLIN With so many voluntary agencies set up to help the homeless, the long term aim of actually eliminating homelessness may sometimes get lost. And that’s where Citadel Hastings…
‘Suffragettes’ Ejected from Shopping Centre
Three people trying to publicise an International Women’s Day event and to drum up support for rounders in Hastings were ejected from the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre earlier this month.…
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter Development Consultation Needed Dear HIP Local residents read, with a mixture of concern and disappointment, the latest titbits of information to leak out about the future of the Horntye…