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 and Hastings Borough Council (HBC) are combining to put on…
Council to take £1.6m from reserves
Last Friday Hastings Borough Council issued its draft corporate plan and budget proposals for the next financial year (April 2021 to March 2022). It involves taking nearly £ million from reserves rather than cutting services significantly or making more staff…
Conservation Grazing gets a Boost
Cattle have been part of the council management of Hastings Country Park for many years, along with the wild Exmoor ponies that were reintroduced in February this year. The current breed is a traditional Scottish cow, the Belted Galloway, adapted…
Mixed Messages On Mowing
Hastings Council has been accused of confused priorities following their recent support of ‘No Mow May’ – a national campaign asking people not to cut their lawns in order to encourage bees and other insects. “Uncut grass allows nectar-producing flowers…
A Search For “Illegals”
By Charlie Crabb On the afternoon of 8th April, out on my daily walk with my partner in Hastings Country Park, we were approached by two policemen. They asked us if we had seen anyone hiding in the bushes, as…
England Coast Path Plans Welcomed by SEG
In our article “Waste, Potholes and Footpaths” featured last month (HIP 147), we suggested that the pressure group SEG (Save Ecclesbourne Glen) might be less than impressed by the upbeat PR accorded by Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council…
Waste, Potholes And Footpaths
For Councillor Dowling, It’s All Good News Without a trace of irony East Sussex County Council has heralded a huge spike in its collection of post-Christmas household waste as a triumph of environmental protection: 4,695 tonnes of recycling – “the…
Climate Emergency
Maya Evans Has Her Say In HIP 145 Julia Hilton reviewed the pledges made by Hastings Borough Council (HBC) in its climate change motion passed in February 2019, and concluded that it “does not appear to be taking the declared…
Wild Ponies Return
A herd of five Exmoor ponies will be returned to Hastings Country Park nature reserve this February. They form part of a mixed grazing system at the Park and, together with belted Galloway cattle, manage the wild hilly landscape of…
HIP Environmental News
Council protects nature reserves Colin Fitzgerald, lead member for the Environment said: “Hastings Borough Council has protected the very best wildlife areas in the town by declaring them Local Nature Reserves, …high-quality open spaces for our local community to enjoy.…