Tag archives for East Sussex County Council - Page 3
Greening Hastings
IAN BUNCH argues that the council needs to step up to the mark and lead a volunteer army to plant trees in Hastings. Kent Barker Most of us love trees…
MIXED RECEPTION FOR TOWN CENTRE RE-DESIGN
HUGH SULLIVAN A preliminary re-design of Hastings Town Centre was unveiled at a Town Deal Board meeting last week, then presented in the central hub of Priory Meadow shopping centre…
Fat Tuesday Festival Returns with Anniversary Disc
Despite the rejection of Arts Council England support, Hastings Fat Tuesday CIC (HFT) have announced that next month’s festival can and will proceed, albeit on a reduced budget. A successful…
How Green is Local Labour?
DAVID EP DENNIS argues that the environmental agenda of the Labour council in Hastings is at odds with the national policies of the Labour Party … potentially to the serious…
Get Active at Half Term
Active Hastings, supported by both Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council, are offering a range of free drop-in sport sessions running throughout next week, which is half term…
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…
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…
A New Lease of Life
RUBY COX talked to manager Dean Stewart at the Isabel Blackman Centre to find out how it was doing in its mission to change perceptions of both the IBC and…
Good News Section: Bus Routes Improving!
ROD WEBB There has been widespread publicity for the new night service between Bexhill and Hastings (and beyond) on the number 98 bus route. This will certainly be a huge…
Tories Lose Majority on County Council
PAUL McLAUGHLIN County Hall in Lewis The Conservatives have lost their majority on East Sussex County Council (ESCC) after being pushed into second place in a by-election last Thursday (3 August).…
Travellers at Bay
HUGH SULLIVAN Between 27 June and 10 July a group of Travellers camped for nearly two weeks at the Old Bathing Pool site in West St Leonards in 12 or…
Gateway junction works still stalled
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) remains at apparent loggerheads with its contractors Sea Change Sussex over completion of the Queensway Gateway junction road which is intended to connect traffic from…
More Funds for Potholes
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has announced additional Investment, potentially in excess of £15 million, to improve the condition of the county’s roads and protect them for years ahead. The…
No Political Affiliations, says Cllr Fernando
Cllr Lucien Fernando, who became ward councillor for Silverhill on a Conservative ticket in May 2022 but has now left the party (see HIP 227), says that his future votes…
Southern Water rebuked again
Investigators of town centre floods demand further data PAUL McLAUGHLIN Southern Water has been roundly criticised once again – this time over its failure to provide crucial data to an…
On-demand bus services introduced across East Sussex
Flexibus, a flexible on-demand rideshare service, has been introduced across a number of zones of East Sussex which are not served by any regular bus route. Residents within each zone…
Men’s Health in Hastings
Sarah Milne With sunny climate and long beaches, Hastings has long been looked upon as a place of health and wellbeing. From the late 1700s, through the Victorian and Edwardian…
No money for St Mary from Town Deal
HUGH SULLIVAN Provisional Town Deal projects to redevelop the Priory Street car park and the west wing of the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre were withdrawn at the end of the…
Queensway Junction still logjammed
Is County Council awaiting LEP abolition? HUGH SULLIVAN In a low-key pronouncement tucked away within his budget speech to the House of Commons on 15 March, Chancellor of the Exchequer…
Deterred or Detained?
Former Bexhill Prison Site to House Cross-Channel Arrivals HUGH SULLIVAN The former Category C prison of Northeye, on the western fringe of Bexhill, was one of three sites publicly identified…
More and cheaper buses promised by county council
East Sussex County Council last week released details of its proposals for cheaper bus fares and more frequent services across the county after receiving £ funding from central government. The…
George Street – demolition delays
PAUL McLAUGHLIN George Street is the beating heart of Hastings Old Town - the charming back lane, bustling with busy cafes and restaurants, where sleek independent shops and quirky, antique…
County Council reviews rejection of Park cycleway
An East Sussex County Council (ESCC) spokesperson said last week that alternative options have been “carefully considered” following the decision of Hastings Borough councillors in December to reject the installation…
Funding for Alternative Cycle Route?
Active Travel England, whose permanent Commissioner is former Olympic gold medal cyclist Chris Boardman, announced last month that they have received a £200m grant from central government to promote walking,…
Council Tax hikes, budgets approved
by PAUL MCLAUGHLIN Hastings Borough Council (HBC) agreed to raise the local council tax by the maximum amount allowed without holding a local referendum at a fiery meeting of the…
No Asylum Accommodation at Pontins
Following the report in HIP 219 of hotels in Hastings being used as asylum hostels, it has emerged that the Home Office approached Rother District Council and East Sussex County…
In the community
Another Candle Goes Out by SEAN JORDAN, local LGBT+ ; Photo: Sean Jordan On the evening of Wednesday 15 February, Hastings residents gathered outside Goat Ledge for a vigil to…
Opt Out and Meet The Neighbours
By Susan McFie Many local residents are furious over the dumping of sewage into our coastal waters. Many more are rightly concerned about the spraying of their streets with a…
We’ve got the space, so let’s use it
KEN DAVIS from Transition Town Hastings sets out the group’s innovative approach to solving the housing crisis in ; We need more homes, but homes of the right quality in…
SAVE THE CHILDREN!
Refugee aid group highlights safeguarding failures BY HUGH SULLIVAN On 24 January the UK Parliament debated allegations published in the national Observer newspaper the previous weekend that dozens of unaccompanied…
Cost of Living Support
East Sussex County Council is providing information on how to cope with the cost-of-living crisis. The information in this article comes from one of their newsletters. The recent costs of…
Queensway Gateway: funding stand-off continues
The dispute between East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and the not-for-profit regeneration company Sea Change Sussex over financial responsibility for completion of the Queensway Gateway road project which we revealed…
New Trustees rally to defend Flagship School
The Flagship school in Hastings, which opened last September with the aim of providing specialist education for neurodiverse children with social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) and/or autism spectrum…
Shared route, little common ground
Although never as simple as pro or anti bike, visitors to Alexandra Park last Saturday may have gained that impression. Once again, the vexed question of a shared use cycleway…
Community round-up
Emmaus attends royal garden party On 11 May, Emmaus Hastings & Rother trustee David Cooper attended a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Every year, three garden parties are given at…
Climate Change “Skulduggery” Row
The Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is a Private Member’s Bill first presented in the UK Parliament in September 2020 by Green MP Caroline Lucas. Over the last year, it…
Buses on demand in East Sussex?
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) approved a new transport initiative last week which is set to overhaul the provision of bus services across the county. The council’s Bus Services Improvement…
How Green are our Councils?
In October 2019 East Sussex County Council (ESCC) declared a climate emergency. It set a target of achieving carbon neutrality from its activities as soon as possible and in any…
Local group campaigns in support of Climate Bill
The Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill, which is due to have its second reading in Parliament on 29th October, has been drafted by scientists, legal experts, ecological economists and…
OPINION: We Need This Bill To Pass
By Richard Price Nearly 14,000 scientists recently warned that Earth’s vital signs are rapidly worsening. On 9th August, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a press release to…