Does Hastings really need street art?

From: Eric Waters, Ingleside Crescent, Lancing
Hastings Town Centre - taken from Robertson StreetHastings Town Centre - taken from Robertson Street
Hastings Town Centre - taken from Robertson Street

I was, to put it mildly, gobsmacked, when I read in The Observer that its defunct building in Cambridge Road is destined to be the centre of a “street art project” where “people will be able to hone their street art skills”, and that it will be funded using public money from Arts Council England and Hastings Borough Council.

I wonder if anyone, from either of these bodies, visited Brighton before deciding that it would be a good use of tax-payers money to lavish it on such a scheme , or were their heads filled with pretty pictures of what they believe Hastings will look like once these potential ‘artists’ are let loose on its streets? How much of their handy-work will turn out to be what one of the organisers described as ‘beautiful, thought provoking art’ and how much unacceptable defacement of private and public property?

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If they had bothered to look around Brighton, before reaching their decision to go ahead with this mad-cap scheme, they would have seen a city-centre plastered, from ground level up to the rooftops, with mindless scribbles and scrawls that have got completely out of control and are making the place look like a Third World ghetto. Some idiot even carried out his “street art” just below a Blue Plaque that commemorated the life of a Brightonian who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the First World War.

If Hastings isn’t very careful it could well finish up looking just like its neighbour to the west; a dingy, dirty place looking more uncared for by the day. If you don’t believe me, pop over and take a look!