LETTER: Civic pride can be restored

Through no fault of the town it has lost its sparkle and is not the pristine market town it once was.

In my opinion it’s not too late! If Horsham District Council pulls together all interested parties and voluntary groups, civic pride can be restored.

If we simply give the town some TLC and a spring clean! In my experience there is a great deal of good people in our country across all age groups who would do their bit to help tidy up our town.

Horsham is a great place to live and visit but it needs some help. The town needs to be pulled back up to the standard it once held.

A good place to start would be the Bishopric, a main road into the town that looks very much down at heel. For instance for a very long time a large section of the wooden fence outside Waverley Court has been missing but has now been repaired with ugly temporary steel barriers!

Continuing on the same road is the area where the builders of John Lewis and Waitrose had their Portacabins and car park.

This looks like a bomb site! What are the plans for this land and how soon will they be acted upon?

Other ‘blots’ on the town are the empty shops throughout the town that are just left with dirty windows (usually covered in fly posters) and full of unopened junk mail on the doormat.

Surely the owner/agent who is trying to sell or rent the shop could be made to keep its appearance in good order?

Then there is ‘Shelley’s’ fountain (whether you like the fountain or not) the shortage of cash and all the cuts within the country means we are stuck with it. Could the fountain not be lowered and made into a simple water feature?

If not , why can’t we (through voluntary groups and sponsorship) have the fountain and the area around it filled with plants to cheer it up and make it more pleasant to look at and sit next to?

The same principle could be applied to West Street which is really our High Street but it could be anywhere now.

It is totally devoid of all character following the expensive vandalism by HDC, which thought it would be a great idea to remove all the lovely green and gold street furniture that was adorned with hanging baskets in the spring and summer and replace them with silly bamboo planters, which are now used as ash trays!

If we allow our town’s appearance to continue in this downward spiral, it will be impossible to ever restore it to the lovely town it once was.

I really want to help my town, does anyone else?

STEVE SWAIN

Ryecroft Drive, Horsham

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