Same old crew

The problem is we are still saddled with the same old crew at the town hall that gave us the Sackville Road monstrosities and the silly new shelters soon to be installed on the West Parade. The “same crew” are the unelected officers and the two councillors who bludgeoned through the Next Wave plans. Any councillor who will dissent from the proposed council plans will most probably, as happened last time, be deselected or thrown off the committee in charge of the scheme.

Once again it is very possible that this new town centre “steering committee” will use the same procedural tactics as before - making decisions first then conducting a farcical consultation which can be analysed to suit their own purposes. An example of this was the pathetic ‘consultation’ at the Pavilion of the miniature shelter with the tree which “wasn’t going to be”, designs so high on the wall only a giant could see, in the Christmas holidays and to cap it all, with the wrong questionnaires. What a cock-up!

We at Vox Pop have gathered letters from most of the shopkeepers in the centre of town with their own suggestions for the council.

These businessmen are the ones who know what the problems are.

This is how the project should begin - not with a special co-opted group, handpicked by the steering group and officers, but with working businessmen and the public who may or may not be in favour of any future plans. Also any comments should be in their own words, not only in carefully engineered offical questionnaires.

We could go forward into a brighter new world for Bexhill if the local people are listened to this time.

And in the meantime the council should attend to general housekeeping in the shopping streets and make them more attractive now - not just in 20 years’ time. They should use the powers they have on the owners of deteriorating shops and buildings and listen to the ideas of citizens who want to help. Future visions are all very well but some action is what this area needs right now.

Jackie Bialeska

Chairman

Vox Pop