How to achieve a "happier Bexhill"

A HAPPIER Bexhill '“ that's Rother District Council's aim in working in partnership for its regeneration, the Town Forum has been told.

Inward investment into the area totals more than 75m, Rother head of services Tony Leonard told representatives of town organisations, meeting in All Saints' Church on Tuesday evening.

Major achievements had included the 10m refurbishment of the De La Warr Pavilion.

Still to come were:

*The 38m new Bexhill High School

*The 4m refurbishment of Egerton Park

*The 2m Bexhill Museum extension scheme

*The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

*The north Bexhill business park and 1,200-home Worsham development

*Colonnade shops and restaurants scheme

*The 2m start-up business units on the former Sidley Goods Yard site

He told the forum Rother was currently in discussion with Sainsburys over the re-development of its Bexhill store.

The council was encouraging the supermarket chain to make this a priority against other competing schemes.

The scheme could cost 20-30m.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It might happen in the next six weeks or the next six years..."

Coastal towns were undergoing a period of change, he explained. Nationally, the emphasis was changing from city to regeneration to "coastal renaissance."

The Bexhill and Hastings Taskforce had been set up with Seaspace as its agent to harness 40m worth of regeneration cash in the area.

To do so, it had evolved a five-point plan.

A key element was education excellence to improve education standards and skills.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Bexhill College and the Bexhill children's centres were an example. The new High School would be another.

De La Warr Pavilion refurbishment had produced a tremendous economic impact for the town and had cut Rother's commitment to the pavilion from 1.5m a year to 500,000.

The Colonnade would become the focal point of the seafront with retail units and restaurants which would impact on both the day-time and evening economy.

Rother had been working for more than two years with East Sussex County Council on the High School project.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Winning 34m of government funding for it had been a significant achievement and he paid tribute to school principal Mike Conn and chairman of governors Cllr Brian Kentfield.

Sidley goods yard was Rother-owned. The authority was putting 2m into the scheme to create 12 "incubator" industrial units on the 8.5 acre site.

The Link Road was the key to opening up land in north and north east Bexhill for job-creating new larger business sites and 1,200 homes.

In total, he said, some 75m of inward investment was coming to the area thanks to Lottery and government funding.

It was creating a momentum which was moving forward.

"We do believe we became a happier town."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The director of services fielded a variety of questions from forum members.

Ricky Sanderson, of Pebsham, asked: "Do you not think that the Link Road will create more congestion rather than less?"

Mr Leonard said: "The answer has to be 'no' '“ otherwise we would not be going through this process?"

Mr Sanderson said the Link Road would produce problems for Little Common and for Queensway, St Leonards.

"I cannot see how it could work..."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Leonard said it would not be able to build the business park or the new housing without the Link Road.

Environmental campaigner Dr Ed Echlin asked if thought had been given to the amount of land which would be built over and the impact on water supplies.

Don Butler of Beulah Baptist church asked if churches would form part of the planning for the new community.

Mr Leonard said all community facilities, including play areas, were part of the plans.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

M Leonard told Barbara Echlin that alternatives to the car as a means of transport formed part of the plans, including cycle routes.

Tuesday's meeting also heard about the development of Local Action Plans.

Rother chief executive Derek Stevens said these would give local people the opportunity to say what they wanted for their town.

Some 22 local action plans had been prepared in rural Rother. The council had identified funding.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"This will help rural communities to get their plans in place and then do the same in Bexhill"

Earlier, the forum '“ which meets only four times a year '“ had voted in favour of creating an executive committee to liaise more closely with Rother in reflecting the Bexhill community's wishes.

Welcoming the decision, the chief executive said: "It is about giving local people a real say in the future shape of the town as we move forward over the next five years."

Related topics: