Next Wave display was poorly planned

IN JUST about any other town, the space provided for an exhibition of plans which will have such a huge impact would perhaps have been adequate.

But this is Bexhill, where the community takes a lively interest in what is going on.

Hundreds queued to see the architect's designs for Rother District Council's controversial Next Wave project on the seafront, and unfortunately the education room at Bexhill Museum was simply not big enough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Organisers were caught somewhat on the hop, and at first provided chairs for queuing visitors who were elderly and frail before moving the whole exhibition into the main part of the museum.

There is such a groundswell of feeling about this project that it was no surprise to see the huge amount of people who turned up to view the designs, speak to the architects and give their opinions.

While planning this exhibition, Rother should really have borne this in mind.

A bigger venue would have been fantastic '“ ideally the auditorium at the De La Warr Pavilion, which would have accommodated everybody comfortably and perhaps given the facilities for the designers to make a presentation to the public.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Whatever your view, it was clear from Friday's presentation to an invited audience that architects HTA have put a great deal of thought into Next Wave.

The opportunity to show the plans to the public could have been so much broader.

Well done the Scouts

IT'S great to see the Scouts have won a reprieve from the government over Ofwat's plans to introduce a "rain tax" based on a site's surface area.

The move would have significantly increased water charges for a whole range of community groups including Scouts and Guides, community centres, places of worship and amateur sports clubs, perhaps forcing them to close.

The Scouts' lobbying of Parliament on behalf of all these groups has been a rousing success.

Lord Baden-Powell would be proud.