The Isabel Blackman Centre (IBC) in Winding Street reopened its doors one year ago on 29 July  revealing a space for older people that is not only refurbished, redesigned and revamped, but also reimagined. Primarily a day centre in the past, IBC  now offers a huge range of classes, groups and opportunities for learning and enjoyment in line with the ethos that life after 50 should be lived to the full and be fun, exciting and fulfilling. 

Bought by a consortium of community groups, IBC in Perpetuity, from East Sussex County Council, it is now run by Age UK and a team of committed volunteers. At the heart of it all is the licensed café/restaurant which is open to the general public (not just over 50’s) and serves freshly prepared affordable meals and snacks throughout the day.

Although it is taking some time for the image of the old IBC to fade from the public eye, it’s becoming clear that, given the opportunity, older people maintain a vast variety of interests which stretch far beyond sitting and chatting with a cup of tea and a biscuit (although there is plenty of opportunity to do that too)! 

Dean told me that many classes are now fully booked, and new ones are starting up all the time, often in response to requests from members (Spanish is the latest). Classes like Yoga and Tai Chi have proved particularly popular, and various exercise classes are available, tailored to different levels of fitness. There are also classes designed to help with specific conditions (such as diabetes) and referrals are received both from the NHS and from ESCC to help with physical and mental health problems.

IBC is particularly proud of the gym, a space where older people need not feel they have to compare themselves with Lycra clad gym bunnies, but simply enjoy exercising with others facing the same challenges as themselves.

One particular success is the LGBT support group, which meets on Monday afternoons, clearly indicating the need for older members of that community to be able to come together and talk about issues that are important to them.

Occasional activities such as the quiz, cinema and table tennis complete the picture, along with treatment rooms where massage and facial treatments can help banish aches, pains and wrinkles. And last but not least, there is also a shop selling good quality used clothing where you can pick up a bargain or two.

So if you want to know more, just pop in or visit the website isabelblackmancentre.co.uk
And don’t forget IBC are always looking for more volunteers!

Cllr Carr was elected as councillor for Castle ward on a Labour party ticket in May 2021 but defected to the Greens last December. At the time she addressed an open letter to the residents of her ward explaining her shift of allegiance as arising from her stance on gender equality and sexual orientation. “I have reached the conclusion that I will never be treated fairly or have my voice properly heard on behalf of the residents of Castle Ward if I remain in the Labour Party,” she wrote. ”As the mother of a gender non-conforming child, a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a strong advocate for equality, I have been side-lined, gagged and isolated”.

Green party councillors and co-leader Adrian Ramsay celebrate election wins at Goat Ledge in May: Cllr Claire Carr is second from the left
CREDIT: Stuart Griffiths

She went on to assert her independence. “Please rest assured that I will continue to be a councillor with strong principles who advocates for my residents and our community, except now I am free to speak in the best interests of the people of Castle ward and Hastings as a whole. Castle ward residents come before any party politics.”

“A missed opportunity”

The altered party arithmetic in the council chamber has made no difference. In a further statement released last week Cllr Carr wrote that the reasons she left the Labour party still stand and that she did not feel she could sign up to a deal which allowed Labour to keep control of the council. “I believe the people of this town voted for change which this agreement does not offer enough of”, she declared. “This is a missed opportunity for real cross party working between the three parties which could have given Hastings a fresh, diverse voice as well as allowing all councillors to bring their different skillsets together to meaningfully bring the changes this town so desperately needs.’”

She also took a swipe at the apparently restrictive terms of the alliance negotiated by Ms Hilton. “The document I was required to sign seemed to remove some of my rights as a councillor, including the right to freely ask questions and bring amendments when in the best interest of the residents of Castle ward or the town as a whole. I do not wish to enter into any agreement that limits the way in which I perform my duties.” 

Cllr Carr insisted that she remains a member of the Green party and of the Green group of councillors, and wished her co-Greens “best of luck” in their alliance with Labour, but she made it clear that she was keeping aloof. “I will continue to use my position as a councillor, outside of any whip, to try and hold the administration to account and best serve the residents of this town.”

Councillors X and Y 

In the meantime the election results have disinterred a related controversy featuring Cllr Carr. In February this year the council’s Standards Committee conducted a hearing at which a “Councillor X” was accused of breaches of the council’s Code of Conduct by a “Councillor Y”.  X was found guilty of a campaign of bullying on (mainly) social media, and in “using her position to confer a disadvantage upon” Y. The committee directed that, as a sanction, X should undertake one-to-one training with a monitoring officer on the Code of Conduct, and further one-to-one training on social media “with an appropriate officer”. It also directed that the “confidentiality and identities of the complainants and the councillors” should be respected.

Although many insiders will have been well aware that X was Cllr Carr and that Y was the then Labour party councillor for Central St Leonards ward and Deputy Mayor, Ruby Cox, these identities stayed unpublished in the committee’s report. However Ms Cox, having been ousted by Green candidate Tony Collins in last month’s election and therefore feeling herself under no further council obligation, has issued a press release to put her case against Cllr Cox into the public arena.

“After her election as a Labour councillor in May 2021, it seemed to me that Cllr Carr took it upon herself to demonise me and cast me as some sort of transphobic monster”, Ms Cox claims. “with the apparent aim of driving me from office both as a councillor and as Deputy Mayor. She and her supporters initiated a campaign of public denouncement, via social media and all the local papers, which impacted on my mental health, my ability to do my job, my self-confidence, my relationship with other councillors and my sense of safety and security, even in my own home.

“The culmination of her campaign, as many will know, was at Pride last year when she made her denouncement of me from the main stage. I feared this was designed to generate hatred towards me and to give this excited crowd a focus for their anger. My anxiety was such that I felt obliged to leave town for the day. Fortunately I’m still here to write this now, but it could have ended in a very ugly way indeed.”

Cllr Carr remains unrepentant. She says that, as a councillor still in office, she is unable to comment on the Standards Committee hearing: “the council have refused to let me speak on the matter. I am however happy to say I stand by my speech at Hastings Pride and my related Facebook post and will continue to use my voice to support the LGBT+ community and particularly the trans non-binary community, who continue to suffer attacks online and in public by those who hold gender critical views.”

You may recently have seen news items about Universal Basic Income in the mainstream media such as the Metro, a sure sign that the concept is at last being taken seriously and not just as some wild utopian pipe dream.  This is hardly surprising when you look at our failed benefits system and the increased levels of poverty in places like Hastings, where Tory rhetoric about “levelling up” can readily be seen to be failing our residents daily. 

In recognition of this, in July last year Hastings Borough Council passed a motion, with cross party support from the Green Party, committing us to work with the UBI Lab Network to explore ways to promote and expand the concept of UBI with reference to Hastings, and campaign for UBI trials to be held in this country in the near future.

CREDIT: Nick Fewings/unsplash

What is UBI and how is it relevant to Hastings?

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a regular, non-means-tested sum paid by the state to cover the basic cost of living. It’s paid to all citizens individually, regardless of employment status, wealth or income.

UBI is the fairest, most effective way to mitigate the effects of coronavirus on people’s incomes and to start to repair the terrible damage done to society during the pandemic.  It would also mean huge savings to the DWP, which currently employs 95,000 people administering the fabulously overcomplicated means-tested benefits system which still manages to leave £16 billion in benefits unclaimed every year.

Universal Credit is a punitive system based on bullying people to spend 35 hours a week looking for jobs that don’t exist, and the five-week wait (which is supposed to emulate waiting for your first pay cheque) guarantees that individuals are already in debt before they get their first payment, which is insufficient to live on.  It is a recipe for disaster, despair and the destruction of people’s lives. Being part of the movement to introduce UBI is surely one way we can fight back and take practical steps towards an improved quality of life with guaranteed income security.

A network of UBI Labs has been set up which work with local authorities across the UK to develop UBI proposals to address problems such as poverty, inequality, discrimination and environmental damage – all issues that have a profound effect on the people of Hastings. 

UBI could:

• Give employers a more flexible workforce whilst giving employees greater freedom to change their job and reject bad work;

• Value unpaid work, such as caring for family members and voluntary work;

• Remove the negative impacts of benefit sanctions and conditionality;

• Give people more equal resources within the family, workplace and society; 

• Enable greater opportunities for people to work in community and cultural activities or to train or re-skill in areas that will be needed to transition to a low-carbon economy.

Clearly UBI would resonate in different ways with different groups of people, bringing different benefits according to their circumstances. For instance, for those seeking employment it would give them the chance to retrain or undertake further education, without the threat of benefits sanctions if they do not spend every waking moment looking for low-paid insecure jobs that do nothing to develop their skills or their career.  For carers, it would mean their work is valued and they do not have to expend their energy constantly form filling to prove their eligibility for whatever meagre benefits are on offer.  For this reason, the UBI network is organised not only into geographical areas, but also into thematic labs such as UBI Lab Youth, UBI Lab Women, UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab LGBT+, UBI Lab Disability and UBI Lab Food.

What could UBI mean for Hastings?
CREDIT: Kai bossom/unsplash

The gains to our health and therefore to our NHS must also be taken into account.  Removing the stress of continual worry about loss of employment and having no money to pay the rent would have enormous benefits: people would have the breathing space to find fulfilling work and to gain in self-confidence and self-respect as a result. A more fulfilling life means a happier, healthier individual, and happier, healthier communities as a result. The list goes on and on.

So, what about cost?

The standard argument against UBI is of course the cost, but one recent study, based on data from the 2014/15 UK Family Resource Survey, has shown that UBI could virtually eliminate poverty in the United Kingdom at a cost of £67 billion per year, or just 3.4% of GDP.  This would provide a UBI scheme of £7,706 for adults and £3,853 for children.  To put this into context, according to a 2015 piece in the Guardian, the UK spends over £93 billion per year on corporate subsidies and tax breaks. If so, the UK could entirely fund a UBI by eliminating corporate subsidies and tax loopholes. No increase in individual taxes would be necessary, and the government would still have £26 billion available for corporate subsidies.

All these are just ideas as to how UBI could work and what benefits it could bring.  What level UBI should be set at and how it could interface with the current benefits system to ensure e.g. that disability benefits, are protected are important issues that need thorough investigation. What we need are, of course, trials, and I know of at least two taking place in the UK at the moment, with another in Ireland. They are very limited in scope but they are at least a toe in the water, so now is the time to demand full immersion!  As a ward councillor for Central St Leonards, it makes me angry and frustrated to see how people struggle with their daily lives through no fault of their own, and to know how much better their lives could be with just minimal financial security.

If you’ve read this far, you want to know more and hopefully have plenty of questions, so please get in touch. We’re planning to have a public meeting (on Zoom) very soon, where we’ll have a speaker from the UBI Labs Network and an opportunity to take this idea forward in a way that’s relevant to you and your situation. We’ll also be creating a Facebook page where we will publicise other events and post UBI-related news. We look forward to hearing from you!  

• To register an interest in joining the Zoom meeting about UBI in Hastings, please email Cllr Ruby Cox on cllr.ruby.cox@hastings.gov.uk

• Ruby Cox is one of the councillors for Central St Leonards, Vice-chair of Planning, the Older People’s champion and Deputy Mayor. She used to work in local government in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Originally from London, she has lived in Hastings six years now, has been an active trade unionist (UNISON) all her working life
and is now secretary of East Sussex retired members’ group.

Last Sunday’s Hastings Pride festival was billed as a major event in the town’s calendar – the more so because of cancellation not only of the 2020 event but also of the Brighton & Hove Pride weekend which should have taken place earlier in August. The sun shone obligingly; the costumes were colourful; the crowds were large, if not overflowing; the music line-up, themed on the 1980s and including drag artists and cabaret performers, was pitched to the target audience. Hastings Pride (HP), joint organisers with the Hastings & Rother Rainbow Alliance, promised to deliver “our biggest and best yet”.

Among the credited sponsors of the event was Hastings Borough Council; and the town’s mayor, as its formal representative, was due to officiate in the parade.

But behind the scenes an ideological battle had been raging for several weeks. Back in May, following the local borough council elections, a new mayor and deputy mayor were elected, both from the ranks of the majority Labour councillors. The local party met in advance, picked Cllr James Bacon for the main post and Cllr Ruby Cox as deputy, and instructed its body of councillors to vote accordingly in the council chamber.  Cllr Bacon was duly elected unanimously by the full 32-strong council, including Conservative and Green opposition; Cllr Cox received 31 votes, but with one abstention lodged by a newly elected Labour councillor Claire Carr.

CREDIT: Alexandra Whatley

“Transphobic posts”

Cllr Carr gave no public explanation for her abstention either in the council chamber or in the immediate aftermath. However, it soon emerged that her refusal to endorse Cllr Cox arose from what the Rainbow Alliance have described as “concerns over harmful trans-phobic posts” which the deputy had “shared on social media”. 

The Alliance say that they had “ongoing concerns about transphobia” within the local Labour party as well, and that they tried, with HP, to engage with the council to resolve them. Cllr Judy Rogers, a former mayor and current cabinet member, eventually responded, telling them that Cllr Cox had agreed to issue “a public apology”.

The apology, when it came, was framed in terms that Cllr Cox  “did not understand the complexities of the issues surrounding trans rights” in her previous sharing of a media post. This wasn’t enough for her critics. They demanded that she “acknowledge that trans men are men and trans women are women, and should be treated as such”. Cllr Cox is said to have refused.

Labour party statement

The Hastings & Rye constituency Labour party in the meantime issued a statement: “It is Labour Party policy to support trans rights, and we stand in solidarity with the trans community. The party backs self-identification and reform of the Equality Act and as a local party we will continue working to further that aim.”

Nevertheless the Alliance and Hastings Pride maintained their stance that no-one from the mayor’s office, and no councillors who voted for Ms Cox (which is all of them bar Cllr Carr), would be welcome in an official capacity at the Pride event. 

Chair of the Alliance trustees Gary Rolfe, who is also founder and facilitator of its “trans non-binary group”, said that Cllr Cox’s stance was in breach of Labour party policy (though he is not himself a member) and that council leaders were “colluding with her views”. He argues that the party “should not allow her to hold a prestigious position in the community”. She should resign forthwith and, if not, she should be disciplined by the party.

Support for Cllr Cox

Cllr Cox herself has made no public statement. However, others have used social media – in particular through the Mumsnet website – to post messages supportive of her, branding the Alliance’s demands of her as bullying and intimidation and criticising her councillor colleagues for failing to back her. Comparisons are made with Salem witch-hunts and Mao’s China, while questions are raised as to how representative the Alliance and HP are of LGBT+ people in general. One trenchant post asked “How have we got to a stage where groups like this can demand of elected representatives that they must make a statement of belief in a quasi-religious doctrine?”

Another post which gained approval states: “Pride is there to run a festival essentially. Not develop political policy and implement it.”

Several councillors including Cllr Bacon did in fact attend the Pride event on Sunday in a private capacity, and the party leadership may be hoping that the issue will fade in topicality now it has taken place. Clearly the Alliance intend otherwise. Their spokesperson Chrissy Brand said: “We will celebrate Hastings Pride on Sunday. However, the local campaign to ensure basic human rights for a vulnerable part of our LGBTQIA+ community will now ramp up. We will not rest until those that are elected to serve the people show support to some of the most vulnerable.” 

Asked how Cllr Cox could be forced to resign from her position of deputy mayor if she will not do so voluntarily, Cllr Carr made it clear that she expects the Labour leadership to take disciplinary action.

The council, which owns the land, has indicated that 76 of these homes (40%) will be made available as ‘affordable housing’, providing local residents with the opportunity to buy a home through shared ownership or to rent through a registered provider at an affordable price. Affordable rent will be based on the Hastings Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate.

Cllrs Cox and Batsford take a walk in Combe Valley
PICTURE: David Dennis

A planning application will be made in due course to Rother District Council. The land lies within Rother’s jurisdiction, even though owned by HBC. Before that, there was due to be a further public consultation event yesterday (31st October), and HBC will share “emerging proposals” followed by a Pre-Application Forum at a later date. Further information can be found at www.hastings.gov.uk/new-homes.

Local opposition to these plans has concentrated on their location on land that has regularly flooded in the past. Local ecologist and recently appointed steward at the country park, David Dennis, believes that the whole ecology of the park may be put at risk if the Tier 1 site is effectively removed from the flood plain – see his impassioned article below.

Cllrs Cox and Batsford take a walk in Combe Valley along with Friends treasurer William Ackroyd
PICTURE: David Dennis

Mr Dennis recently took the council’s lead member for housing, Andy Batsford, and fellow councillor Ruby Cox, who is chair of the Combe Valley Countryside Park community interest company, on a two-and-a-half hour ramble through the park to demonstrate the value of its existing role in sustaining local wildlife. It seems that he succeeded in this, but not in persuading either of them that the Tier 1 development should not proceed – see Cllr Batsford’s equally passionate article alongside.