There are deeper issues in Eastbourne town centre

SUS-200209-130304001SUS-200209-130304001
SUS-200209-130304001
From: Helen PinigerSt Leonards Road, Eastbourne

Regarding the artwork outside empty shops, yes it brightens up the area giving people something to look at and come together in discussion on and of course is a brilliant promotion for the artists.

However, I feel we mustn’t overlook the deeper issue here in Eastbourne town centre.

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The former TJ Hughes building has been empty for 15 months and the Debenhams one for seven months. They are both big prominent sites.

The artwork is temporary but what does temporary mean, months, years, decades?

If the big retailers don’t want to know about taking these sites over and I can accept that maybe the day of the big department store is over, can we look at other options?

How about keeping the outer facade of the buildings and having smaller outlets inside, or an indoor market maybe?

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I’m sure others have suggestions that could be put to the relevant people.

After all these character buildings are what makes a town centre unique and they should be preserved.

When left empty for a long time, buildings get run down and before we know it someone has turned them into flats.

This would be such a shame and leave Eastbourne town centre with just the Beacon which is okay and functional, but in my opinion a little soulless.

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