Fresh off the Green Press

Hastings Green Party spokesperson Julia Hilton addressed the Cabinet regarding the marina development proposal which has now been withdrawn by its sponsor, the Hastings Harbour Quarter company.

In her statement to the Cabinet Ms Hilton said that: “I have watched with interest the ‘spin’ the council has been putting on [the withdrawal] announcement, claiming that the development was ‘rejected’ due to [the Council’s] clear ‘red lines’. But the decision taken at the cabinet meeting last September was unanimous in allowing this destructive development to take the next step towards trying to seek public money for the company to do feasibility studies. It is a relief that the relevant government departments had enough sense to realise how destructive this proposal could be and refused any public subsidy being given to the developers.”

She also noted that: “In the hundreds of conversations we had with local people on this proposal, it was clear that many people do not feel that they have a voice or any say over development plans and I would urge the council to urgently explore more creative and open ways to involve local people in co-creating a vision for our town.”

Ms Hilton also took the opportunity to invite the councillors to attend the upcoming open meeting, hosted by the Hastings and St Leonards Society, to discuss whether Hastings should start the process to seek UNESCO world heritage status. Such an initiative, she said, could form part of ‘a clear vision and framework … for the precious and unique heritage and landscape assets of our town.’

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The Hastings Harbour Quarter company which had put forward a multi-million pound scheme to develop a modern marina complex, including over a thousand new executive homes off Rock-a-Nore, has formally withdrawn its proposal. The idea had been widely condemned in the town as both entirely unrealistic and environmentally devastating.  And while both Ms Rudd and Labour Leader of HBC, Peter Chowney, had at first made favourable noises, local politicians had sought to distance themselves in recent months.

The Green Party claimed credit for mounting vociferous resistance from the outset.  Julia Hilton, their spokesperson, said that the HBC Cabinet should be adopting “an alternative bottom-up approach to creating a vision for this town that listens and works with the huge creativity and energy of our local community, not top-down from secretive developers working behind closed doors”.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.