Our plea to address issue of Eastbourne’s broken pavements

Marie Hennellly of the Eastbourne Residents’ Campaign for Safer Pavements has been in contact with you in the recent past.

We are most grateful for the help the Eastbourne Herald has given the campaign in the past.

However, there has been no action about this important matter and we are now seeking to raise the campaign issues again, as we approach the East Sussex County Council elections in May 2021.

Through the Eastbourne Herald letters page, we wish to draw attention to those candidates in Eastbourne, standing for election as councillors to the East Sussex County Council this May to this major pavement safety issue in Eastbourne.

Residents are well aware that our pavements are currently in a neglected unsafe condition and getting worse.

According to a report from a Freedom of Information request, Eastbourne has the highest falls and trips requiring hospitalisation in the South East.

We have lobbied East Sussex County Council for some years now to allocate funding for a planned programme to address the problem but, so far, to no avail.

Hence we are now calling on all the newly-elected councillors representing Eastbourne’s residents on East Sussex County Council after May 6 (that is, councillors who get elected on the May 6 from Eastbourne to East Sussex County Council) to commit to lobby East Sussex County Council for extra funding for Eastbourne over the next few years as we need them to be our voice to get the condition of the pavements in Eastbourne much improved and safe to walk on.

Eastbourne residents voting will be mindful of the candidates’ attitude to this plea.