Declining street maintenance in Eastbourne

I am a resident within the Old Town of Eastbourne.

It has not gone unnoticed that the condition of the borough’s highways and footpaths resemble a scene from a battlefield with the partial felling of so many mature trees with the stumps being left presumably to their own devices. Many of these which have not been felled but just topped prior to felling are sprouting new growth.

In addition, branch and foliage growth is as great at the base of many trees as that at the crow.

This is infringing upon the pavements creating obstructions to pedestrians. Likewise the growth of the crowns on smaller trees is falling over the pavements resulting in the need to duck beneath the branches. Branch growth is also sprouting on the trunks of many trees.

There is also an extreme lack of maintenance to remove weed growth in the road kerb channels and the pathway perimeters adjacent to the roadways and at the abutment with street property boundary walls.

In conclusion , there appears no obvious reason why the standard of highway maintenance has deteriorated to such an extent and left the roads and streets in such an abysmal and ugly appearance which certainly does not reflect the standard that Eastbourne residents expect - or visitors to the town.

Whilst I appreciate that things move on as the years pass and budgets become tighter and tighter I can only reflect back to the time when Eastbourne Council directly employed their own arborists,gardeners, highway cleaning operatives and footpath paviors.

Trees were lopped at regular intervals and pavements kept clear of weed growth and regularly treated with weed killer thus maintaining their appearance.

It is a sad reflection on the standards which appear now to be accepted but I would appreciate your views and explanation to the matters raised.