Hastings Borough Council policy is clearly driven by funding opportunities

From: Philip Oakley, Earl Street, Hastings
Horntye Park, Hastings SUS-210211-120029001Horntye Park, Hastings SUS-210211-120029001
Horntye Park, Hastings SUS-210211-120029001

Very sad to see the planning application for 95 houses on the Horntye Park sports park. At a time when the eyes of the world are on politicians under pressure to solve climate change, those of us closer to home who can make a difference, want to embark on more urbanisation, building on green spaces. It’s depressing to witness.

Horntye Park, Bexhill Road, the Old Lido site and elsewhere are all green spaces under threat by a council trying to build more homes clearly needed. But at the same time many sites in West St Leonards, by Hastings Station and Braybrooke Road lay undeveloped, vast offices in Havelock Road remain empty, dozens of spaces above shops in the town centre lay empty and derelict.

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Whilst shops lay vacant the council want to build a restaurant on the site of an old public convenience in Harold Place. Whilst many commercial building built with public money by Seachange lay empty, the council want to build a hotel on South Terrace. At the same time the council are ironically applying for money via the Town Deal to greenify Hastings whilst it signs away the Lido site to developers.

Council policy is clearly driven by funding opportunities and where we end up is anyone’s guess. We desperately need a vision for the town and within that we need to ring fence green spaces and ensure that all other options are exhausted before we build over more green spaces.

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