Next Wave: a bright new start or a potential disaster?

The news on Next Wave might have gone quiet over the last few weeks, but last Friday the official groundbreaking ceremony took place by cutting turf on West Parade.

So is this a symbol of bright new beginnings for Bexhill or the first visible seal on a project which could turn into a disaster?

There has been much debate over this scheme, and well deserved too.

The project has a price tag of 5 million and when one is spending such a huge sum of public money, residents' viewpoints must never be taken lightly.

Yet the letter from Jackie Bialeska, chairman of Vox Pop, suggests some hope for those genuinely concerned about the impact of Next Wave on the town and on its people.

She points out that walls will be retained around what is now the

putting green (although the putting green is to go under the scheme but this could easily be relocated), the benches will remain wood and the wide boulevard idea which caused such outrage at the time is now to be a narrower path.

The Colonnade has also seen plans for a rather unsightly cylindrical cupola thrown out by Rother and the architects.

One outstanding gripe remains - the seafront shelters.

We have yet to see the designs for them but we understand Rother is going back to the drawing board somewhat with the controversial

"open space" idea which was chosen by the council.

A shelter is a shelter.

Let's hope we see a design soon which will do just that.