Next Wave letters special

Nobody wants this

HAVING visited the Next Wave display in the cramped conditions at the Bexhill Museum, it seems the local council is determined to let down and undermine the residents and businesses of Bexhill by giving us something we don't want or need.

The elected council should listen to the very people who voted them in and give the people of Bexhill what they want.

The council must take this opportunity to take pride in Bexhill and its heritage '“ a seaside town to visit, invest in and experience time after time.

Surely it has the expertise and funds to come up with something more creative and cost effective than just using more ugly concrete and tarmac.

Mike McCrory

Address supplied

Exhibition was a farce

THE latest embarrassing farce of the last Next Wave exhibition, totally overcrowded, and once again really only showing us 'artists impressions', is typical of the mishandling of the so-called "consultation process" which which the council has continually tried to fob off the public.

As for the pictures exhibited, the designs showed people sitting on the pavilion terrace with tables, choirs and parasols '“ eating out. What a good idea! This shows how little the designer researched what goes on at the Pavilion or indeed anything else that goes on here. It took a Bexhill man, a leading man in the community, to point out to the designers that the kitchens were on the first floor of the Pavilion, making it impossible to serve food on the terrace. Why didn't they ask the locals in the first place?

What is that phrase? Oh yes, I have it...the council officers 'couldn't run a whelk stall'.

We told them that the museum was far too small for the crowds that would come and once again they ignored us. Once again they infuriated the locals. Maybe they planned this all so that because of the long queues many people would just go away,

Jackie Bialeska

Vox Pop

DWLP is bad example

TO my fellow citizens:

At this time of financial depression, are you saving money and cutting down on everything, including heating?

If so, do you approve of the airy fairy Next Wave for Bexhill seafront costing 4million of your money? There are many who don't.

Councillor Maynard cites the renovation of our very own De La Warr Pavilion as an example of successful innovation by Rother District Council.

Did he say:

n Did the job finish on time?

n Did it finish on budget?

n Is the exterior coating on the walls already cracked and peeling?

n Are the artistic innovations a success or a financial disaster with nobody looking at them?

n Is there an effect on council tax?

JH Allen

Haslam Crescent

Bexhill

Room was cramped

A LARGE number of the residents of Bexhill are angry and I doubt that this will be the only letter received by this newspaper this week on this subject.

Residents were already discontented with the proposals for the seafront but Saturday's exhibition at the Bexhill Museum did nothing to improve the situation.

Firstly, the exhibition was held in a room much too small for the occasion.

This resulted in a queue trailing outside the building on what became a very windy and at times wet day.

Many of those wishing to see the display were elderly and unable to stand in the 15 to 20 minutes long queue.

Secondly the exhibition itself told people little more than they already knew.

The displays were merely artist's impressions which bore no resemblance to either the Bexhill we see today or even what it is likely to look like after this costly update.

While I was there, there was little evidence of councillors in high profile. The staff who were there, mostly consultancy staff, were unable to answer the real questions people wanted to ask. I understand that the leader of the council was present later in the day to hear comments.

This exhibition was a typical "tick box" exercise used by Rother to justify to a planning inspector that they had consulted with the residents.

But it is highly unlikely that a planning inspector will ever get to judge on this matter.

I wonder how many people realise that it will be the planning committee of Rother District Council which will give the necessary consent to Rother District Council for the proposed works which will be paid for out of Rother District Council's reserves.

I hope that those who visited the exhibition and did not like what they saw will therefore be writing to that planning committee once the application is published.

Democracy is currently failing the people of Bexhill.

As far as I can see, an objection to planning will be the last opportunity for Bexhill residents to make their voices heard over the Next Wave proposals.

Mary Varrall

Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate

Bexhill and Battle

Contemptuous council

ONCE again Rother District Council has shown contempt for the people it is supposed to represent.

The Next Wave Exhibition at the museum consisted of a dozen or so display boards crowded into a small room so that not more than three people were able to see one at a time.

No directional flow had even been considered let alone indicated.

This after waiting for 40 minutes in the rain to enter the museum!

Is there method in their madness?

G.A Duly

Newlands Avenue

It was a shambles

I AM writing regarding the ridiculously titled 'Next Wave' project and exhibition. I can't comment on the 'Previous Wave' as I seem to have missed that one.

The exhibition itself was a shambles, with people queueing for ages to get in to see designs presented in a manner which made the Jane And John reading books look like major works of literature.

As for the designs themselves, they are rubbish '“ typically modern concrete rubbish.

This council, which is already responsible for giving planning permission for the two monstrosities on the corner of Sackville Road, now seem willing, in a time of economic crisis, to spend a fortune ruining our elegant seafront.

All of those concerned in pushing through this disgraceful project should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, Carl Maynard, who seems to have filled Mr Gubby's boots very nicely, in particular. You are all, as Peter Mandelson would put it, a bunch of 'chumps'.

If you had any sense of decency you would resign immediately and consider moving to a town like Croydon or Brighton, where your obvious talents would be more suitably employed,

Colin Sullivan.

West Parade

What about the trees?

IN the Next Wave proposals for Bexhill's seafront, the all important subject of the scheme's horticulture was barely dealt with.

Arguably, this should be one of the most important elements of the plans. In short, it must look good.

For those who are not familiar with trying to grow plants along the approximately three miles of Bexhill's coastal frontage, there is a very clear rule that seemingly everyone fails to observe and certainly no one follows.

That rule for Bexhill is "for 400 yards inland from the high tide mark, you cannot grow trees". Of course, there will always be the odd sheltered spot caused by buildings where some protection can be found but failure to observe this rule guarantees horticultural disaster.

There is one example in which Rother was involved over the last few years and that was the fully predicted shambles of Glyne Gap.

When the scheme for the redevelopment by Land Securities came up in the last decade, I examined the proposed planting scheme to see what was being recommended.

I am a retired senior lecturer teaching degrees in plant sciences in London who, coincidentally, was born in Bexhill and feel more than qualified to offer a helping hand for that difficult spot.

Having examined the plans for which Land Securities paid a consultant's firm a hefty fee, it was clear that the trees that were recommended were completely unsuitable and would fail.

I reported this to, and met, the appropriate officer at Rother's planning department.

To their credit he admitted that they had no appropriate qualified person who could vet the list of trees proposed by Land Securities and indeed, why should they? So I asked that if I had proposed Musa cavendishii and Ananas sativus as substitutes, what would Rother have done?

The officer, who I shall not name, said we'd have no choice other than to sign it "approved". Full marks for his honesty but the ridiculousness of this hypothetical suggestion can be seen by anyone looking up a gardening directory (or Google).

Land Securities referred me to the horticultural consultant (via the architect) who had conceived this scheme. All he could say is how successful his schemes had been at other seaside places and that if it worked well there, then it would work just as well in Bexhill. I told him that Bexhill was quite different from other places and it was terribly exposed and that the expensive trees on his list would simply not survive. I assured him that he was totally mistaken.

I also contacted the relevant director at Land Securities and enclosed photos of what the wind did to trees in Bexhill. Obviously stuck between a rock and a hard place (after all he'd authorised payment to the so-called landscaper), he had little choice than to conclude the correspondence and telephone calls by saying "If they fail, then we'll replace them".

Townsfolk who have been observing the horticultural disasters at Glyne Gap will know that the very expensive chosen trees planted as a first tranche promptly failed.

They were then replaced with a second batch of trees which are now the cheap and cheerful Silver Birch. Gardeners will know that in no way is this a maritime tree and, of course, they are also rapidly failing.

So when I read last week's release issued by Rother which said "Plants will be chosen by horticulturalists with experience of seafront environments ..." I groaned out loud.

To repeat the warning: Trees cannot normally be grown in this environment. There are a few tough shrubs which can survive but any idea of having a permanent shrubbery that "offers seasonal interest as well as colour and shape" will usually be a pipe dream unless you treat them as annuals! Which of course they won't be.

Anthony Hamilton

Southcourt Avenue

Bexhill

Editor's note: At Friday's preview of the Next Wave exhibition, HTA architects told the group trees would not form a part of the scheme.

In fact, it's a good plan

I WRITE as a local resident, who has been watching, participating, and consulting where appropriate in the Next Wave Project for some time.

I took time to review the original plans. I sent in feedback whenever possible. Along with others, I independently audited the Next Wave Feedback process and was an independent scrutineer at the CABE Spaceshaper Workshop held earlier this year.

I was therefore delighted to see the plans and concepts revealed at last by the architects HTA in last week's RDC presentation at Bexhill Museum. Throughout my involvement, I have tried to remain positive, upbeat and stoically independent about RDC's plans, often in the face of much negative dialogue from the various pressure groups in the town, many who would wish to see no change at all.

On the basis that you are never going to satisfy everyone, I am pleased that most interest groups in the town have been included in the consultation process and I feel that the treatment applied by HTA is innovative and forward thinking, without being too avant garde, and has provided a sound and creative platform for the long awaited re-generation of Bexhill's seafront.

If I have one or two reservations it is the loss of the putting green as a facility on the seafront, although that could easily be re-located to Egerton Park and I would like to see more detail about the essential need for traffic calming along West Parade. I'm also sad to see that, whilst skateboarders appear to have been provided for, the vastly greater number of cyclists are still going to be required to break the law in order to cycle on the promenade.

The "Park on the Prom" treatment of the green setting for the De La Warr Pavilion is to be applauded, as is the overall increase in the number of benches and seats along the seafront. I do hope that the results of the design competition for the new "shelters" will provide a uniformity of style which is in sympathy with the forward thinking that has been applied to the overall HTA scheme '“ but please no Gaudiesque, stainless steel monstrosities as were originally shown to us at the BTF meeting way back in September 2007 when this scheme was first promoted.

It's time for Bexhillians to stop looking backwards and to get behind this scheme. I for one wish it very success and look forward to a bulldozer or two on a seafront near you in the very near future!

Keith Rhodes

South Cliff

Bexhill

Boycott paying tax

I, WITH friends, attended the exhibition several months ago at the De La Warr Pavillion and again on Saturday at Bexhill Museum.

On both occasions 95 per cent of the public, including regular visitors to Bexhill, are 100 per cent against these plans.

But no notice is being taken even when talking to Cllr Maynard face to face and I have realised why. He and the controlling Rother Conservative group are blind and deaf.

There can be no other explanation.

I have always believed these people to be public servants who are employed by us. We pay their exorbitant wages and allowances.

As their employers they have to seriously listen to us and not go ahead with their hare-brained ideas otherwise they will be "sacked" at the next election.

This is the first written warning.

We are not against change and expenditure as long as it is for the right reasons.

As council taxpayers we have more important, realistic issues where this money should be spent.

How many of us make personal financial sacrifices and go without? How dare they misuse and mis-spend monies forcibly taken from us?

I suggest we cancel our direct debits and council tax payments until we get some sense out of this shower. Join me in this protest.

Marcia Linden

Martyns Way

Bexhill

Don't ditch the golf

HAVING wholeheartedly welcomed the recent extension of Bexhill Museum, I am less than happy about certain aspects of the council's seafront proposals.

Crazy golf and putting have been popular on the Metropole lawn for the last 30 years at least, so why get rid of them now just so people can perhaps have picnics, practise yoga and play croquet?

Surely even in 2009 a bird in the hand is still worth two in the bush.

Secondly the replacement of memorial benches would be acceptable, if not necessary, providing every plaque was transferred to a new bench.

Otherwise in the absence of friends or relations of the departed, plaques can too easily get "lost".

Recently a 21-year-old memorial tree and plaque were cleared from a site in Egerton Park without any word to the donating group.

However, I as a member of the group, happened to still be around to ask where they had been cleared to and why.

Lastly the proposals say not a word about the need to bring back public toilets, other than in the over-used ones in the De La Warr Pavilion.

In contrast, the Grand Parade bandstand in Eastbourne recently boasted conveniences with real live attendants. That's what I call class!

If the council is serious about adding dignity and style to the Pavilion area, it too should invest in such old-fashioned but ever-helpful facilities.

The attendants could at least press the panic button when the vandals arrive. And he or she would be two less on the unemployed list.

Allan Bula

Wickham Avenue

Bexhill

Thank you Jackie

To Jackie Bialeska,

THANK you so very much for all your hard work re: Next Wave, seafront seating etc. Let's hope the seats are as comfortable as the ones we have now!

Patricia Piggott

Address withheld