Your Letters - July 13

Conquest filth

TWICE in the past 18 months we have taken a friend (a retired nurse) to visit her husband in the Conquest and both times have been disgusted by the state of the place.

Both A & E and wards and corridors smelt like a urinal, the stench was overbearing. On the last occasion an American tourist who has two broken legs in a motorbike accident in the bed opposite my friend's husband, had an overflowing urine bottle which he had repeatedly asked to be emptied (which my friend eventually did for him!) After even her complaints were ignored, his blood and muddled clothes had been left for days thrown on a chair next to the bed, the whole ward was dirty and untidy. When we took my friend there along the corridor was a large pool of dried blood on the floor and up the wall, it was still there when we returned hours later to collect her and was strewn with litter.

We were all absolutely appalled by the state of the place.

AUDREY COOK (Mrs)

Albany Road.

In blunderland

IF you can bear it, let's try to follow the latest logic from the planning experts of SEEDA. The new link road, we are told, is necessary because it will relieve additional congestion caused by what? Oh yes, the development areas which will happen because of the Link Road.

Never mind if you don't follow. This is a circular SEEDA logic designed to make you dizzy. Also, we will not have to battle through the one problem of the Glyne Gap roundabout but rather an additional two bottlenecks at either end of the Link Road plus another at Little Common.

Tough if you want to get anywhere in a hurry; but never mind the Link Road doesn't go anywhere near where you want to go. You will just have to use the old road. All roads will now have a cycle lane designed to offset all the extra pollution this will cause. Never mind that no-one ever uses them and that they will cause even more obstacles if you still want to use your car.

This will only cost you, a hard working tax payer, 89 million and destroy a lot of lovely countryside unnecessarily. Bexhill residents can be forgiven for believing that they live with Alice in Wonderland.

J.J. Wilson

The Highlands.

Arcane rules

HAVING been present at the recent Council meeting which approved the controversial development of the garage site in Little Common, I confIrm my congratulations on the accuracy and objectivity of your report (June 29).

Objectors had circulated documented legal advice, based on Government Planning Policy Statements and the Local Plan, detailing valid planning grounds for refusal to all members prior to the meeting. It was difficult for an onlooker to judge whether the silence of most members stemmed from lack of understanding of these issues or a reluctance to engage in constructive debate. Only Cllr. Prochak spoke to this advice at some length, ably supported by Cllrs. Vereker, Lendon, Douart and Wood, but their views were dismissed by several majority members, who clearly intended to put their fears of the cost of a possibly lost appeal above the express interests of local residents. One exception was Ward Cllr. Gadd who, despite making the statement reported, ultimately recorded a vote for refusal.

Your Editorial referred to the difficult circumstances of this decision. While objectors were allowed the opportunity of one verbal question plus a supplementary question to the meeting, this process was totally emasculated by the application of arcane rules. Such rules not only required the questions to be submitted in writing in advance, but also to be "non-specific" to the subject under discussion! The immediate negative response by the Leader was read from a script probably drafted by the same officers recommending acceptance of the proposal. There was no further discussion.

I do not know whether such rules have emanated from the control freaks in Westminster, or whether they are part of a policy designed by Rother to suppress the expression of embarrassing objections by the public. I do know that 30 years ago the London Borough of Lewisham had a policy which allowed impromptu verbal representations to planning meetings by both applicants and objectors. The summary dismissal of objectors' views at this meeting indicates that it is high time for Rother Council to reconsider their oppressive policy.

J HODSON

Cooden Sea Road.

Bypass needed

I AM writing to draw your attention to the effects on Little Common of the proposal for the Bexhill to Hastings relief road.

'¢ The proposal will result in a huge increase in the traffic on Barnhorne Road, Little Common Road, Cooden Sea Road and Peartree Lane, all at Little Common and;

'¢ The proposal will result in a substantial and unacceptable increase in Community Severance for the residents of Little Common.

Traffic - The Environmental Statement prepared by East Sussex County Council for this scheme, shows that traffic on Barnhorne Road will increase immediately by 25% and on Little Common Road will increase by 18%. The effects on Little Common Road and Cooden Sea Road get worse in the further future forecasts. This information is tucked away in Chapter 6 of Volume 3 of the Environmental Statement.

These traffic flows are subject to seasonal variation and will be some 25% higher in the summer months, they also imply routinely about 2300 vehicles an hour in the peak periods and up to 3000 vehicles per hour in the summer. This will definitely call for a radical change in the junction design at Little Common, the Traffic and Transport section states that Little Common roundabout is a site of traffic delay!

Community Severance - The Environmental Statement lists as one of the "Objectives - to reduce community severance in the A259 corridor ..." This is clearly not the case for Little Common! And "Community Severance" is defined as "the separation of residents from facilities and services they use within their community caused by ... changes in traffic flows". In Little Common the village shopping centre straddles the A259 with the Post Office and various shops on one side and the local butcher, baker, deli and supermarket etc on the other side of the road. In addition the school children from the local school on the south side of the road daily have to be guided across by a lollipop lady. This is very much the centre of a local community. In addition there is a Community Hall on one side of the road.

But the Environmental Statement brushes this under the carpet without a mention. East Sussex County Council states that "traffic is forecast to increase in some roads in Bexhill and Hastings" but does not draw attention to the substantial increase at Little Common.

The levels of traffic flow envisaged would definitely require the A259 Barnhorne and Little Common Roads to be widened at the junction, which is surely something we don't want.

For the above reason I believe the proposals for the Relief Road should be rejected. What is needed is a new road bypassing Bexhill in its entirety.

G LAWSON

Maple Avenue.

Village fiasco

Re: Tesco? Little Common

SMALL communities suffer disproportionally from diseconomies of scale. Unit costs are markedly higher when you have a small customer base. The cost of living is higher than that in larger communities and by allowing the Ken Hood site to sit empty, the objectors have exacerbated the problem. Sites that sit empty do nothing to help the community. This whole fiasco, has done more damage than good to the village.

E D COOK

Sandhurst Lane.

Tesco yes (1)

FURTHER to Frank Woods' letter (Observer, June 22), a recent survey by the Guild of Fine Foods - whose 618 members represent around 25% of the deli and farm shop sector in the UK - welcomes 'express' outlets such as Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local due to evidence that they increased the footfall in the high streets where they opened, and subsequently increased their own trade.

The current argument used by Mr Earl and his fellow protesters seems to be that Tesco will ruin the village as all the other shops will close, well from this report this would seem to indicate the opposite.

It is surely down to traders to adapt to the current market conditions and offer something that Tescos can't - whether this be a specialist product or just plain old 'good service'. From the list that Mr Woods provided, and my own knowledge of Little Common village, Tesco Express doesn't do estate agency, high street banking, sell large trees and shrubs, flower arranging, run a cafe, freshly baked bread or deli items.

My family and I currently use the butcher and bakers and really can't expect this to change when 'Tesco', if it is them who open here, opens, as they offer produce and service which is not available at Tescos. The only shop that would lose our custom is the Co-op which currently offers a poor range and high prices for basic food stuffs.

So I for one will welcome Tesco to our village with open arms.

Simon Bula-Edge

Green lane

Little Common.

Tesco yes (2)

I FIND myself in complete agreement with the letter by M. Downing-Waite, printed in last week's paper. I know exactly how he or she feels when unable to buy a packet of sausages in the local Co-Op store. I too have found myself unable to find basic food stuffs in that store.

The fact is that the Co-Op in Little Common is nothing more than a glorified newsagent cum sweetshop and is totally inadequate for the area.

I, too, am in agreement that we need a proper food store in the village and if Tescos can provide this then let's build it.

T. CAREY

Churchill Avenue

Little Common.

Tesco no

IN approving the "Little Common Tesco" councillors were mindful that, under current planning law, "the degree of local public rejection is not in itself a material planning consideration".

Sadly this is true although there is a requirement for consultation, which has not been met. What isn't true is that appeal costs, such as may be awarded to a developer if he wins any appeal, should be a material consideration. Decisions must be made purely on planning grounds without fear or favour, as Cllr Maynard conceded last Monday. Surely any other approach would be immoral? Nor do I accept such a distinction as you suggest between the "rights of the individual or small community versus the ratepayers at large." We are all individuals and live in communities; defending one community, whether Little Common, Pebsham or Peasmarsh, defends us all.

In this respect our MP is currently introducing an all-party bill to defend 'Sustainable Communities' and on June 15 gave support in the House to "the traders and residents of Little Common fighting inappropriate development". This bill advocates a "bottom-up" approach to stop "ghost towns" (and villages) by communities deciding such issues for themselves. Such principles also underlie Rother's own forthcoming Local Development Framework.

Councillors may well argue that all this is not yet law and decisions must currently be made under the Rother District Local Plan and government Planning Policy State-ments (PPS). But in this case why did most councillors seemingly ignore all the detailed planning reasons for refusing this application submitted by myself and others quoting these very documents? And how do we explain their refusal to further investigate PPS 6 as proposed by Su Prochak, or to instruct Retail and Traffic Impact Assessments?

Supermarket chains try to intimidate planning offices throughout the country but don't always win. Councils are fighting back using existing planning law to refuse many such developments and successfully defend their decisions on appeal. While here in Rother the council may face a judicial review of their decision involving equivalent costs to defending an appeal, we may all yet pay dearly for their dismissive handling of the case against this application.

Nick Hollington

Whydown.

First application

Copy of a letter sent to Rother District Council

Re: Ken Hood's site, Little Common.

CAN you please comment, whilst you have been consulting with the applicant for the above planning application, you did not consult, advise, assist, more with the original application for the three number single shop units and flats over, which a) would have been more in keeping with the village, b) would have been much less controversial, compared with the now proposed scheme.

I find and think that as a planning officer / department you could have made better decisions for the locality and area than what is now being proposed.

I await your reply with interest.

CHRIS OGBORN

The Gorseway.

Christian Aid

A SINCERE Thank You to everyone who was involved in raising 11,284 for Christian Aid Collection Week. It was a wonderful result!

WENDY GUBBY

Christian Aid Co-Ordinator for Bexhill

Warwick Road.

Be patient

TWO letters published (from Stephen Jackson and Stephen Hardy) in the June 22 edition of the Bexhill Observer make direct reference to EnviroComms in relation to our involvement with the new recycling service in Rother, suggesting that we are "expensive" and '“ according to Mr Jackson '“ "monumentally incompetent" and thus, by association, in part responsible for the problems that have been incurred by some households during the roll-out of the new recycling service.

Both these comments have been made in the absence of an understanding of what it is we actually do, the advertising business, the nature of the contract to which we work and the processes that govern the procurement of services by the public sector, which, I can assure Messrs Jackson and Hardy, do not allow "expensive" companies to prosper.

One area where we did fall short of expectation was with the distribution of information packs, which should have reached residents a week before the new bins and boxes arrived.

The company we appointed to handle this grossly under-performed but as the appointing agent we take responsibility for this and I would like to apologise to the residents of Rother who failed to get their information pack on time.

Having swiftly remedied the matter (at considerable cost to ourselves), I will leave it to others to judge whether this issue is worthy of the accusation of "monumental incompetence".

The shortcomings in the new service are of course highly regrettable. Having followed the correspondence here and elsewhere, the appearance is that many would assume those in charge to be little concerned but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.

Having worked with over 30 local authorities across the UK, it is rare to find the level of commitment to public service being shown here to ensure that this service gets back on track.

Patience is a virtue and this new recycling service will succeed.

Stephen Bates

Director of Communications

EnviroComms

Marketing Communications for the Environmental Sector

Basildon,

Essex.

Poor goods

I WRITE to you as both a council tax payer and a voluntary worker in a local charity shop. I am also a supporter of recycling.

I note with concern that on page four of the Rother guide to recycling, people are advised to donate unwanted items of clothing, furniture, toys, books etc to charity shops. It now appears that some people are adopting the attitude that if one's wheelie bin is full the local charity shops will take any excess rubbish.

This is already apparent in the charity shop I work in.

Can I please use your kind offices to remind the local population that charity shops do not want items that are clearly unsaleable.

They all exist to raise money, both for national and international causes.

Would donors please bear in mind that we do not want DVDs that are scratched, bedding that a cat wouldn't sleep on, toys that are broken, crockery that is badly chipped etc. Ideally we resell almost everything and I ask all donors, bless them, to ask themselves "Can I really expect someone to pay cash for this item?" If it passes that test - bring it in.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.

Repent not

DESPITE some frayed tempers, hats off to the bin collectors who have slogged away to keep the service going. And a raspberry to Jon Miles, chairman of Verdant, who, to judge by his statement (Observer, July 6), clearly doesn't live in the real world. Perhaps Verdant should be renamed Verdammt!

But where does this leave Cllr Maynard? Between a rock and a hard place. First he's handed a poisoned chalice by the previous leader and then he spoils the effect of his "apology" by blaming Verdant. It's a bit like Gordon Brown blaming Tony Blair. Verdant, as Mr Miles' statement makes clear, doesn't do repentance.

For those who ask where their council tax goes, consider this: private sector contracts account for 20 per cent of local authority expenditure. There is a world of difference between public and private finances and between public and private objectives. The council has been out-manoeuvred at every stage. As you rightly say, "The economic principle that work can be done properly at less cost by private enterprise applies only when contract clauses define tasks without ambiguity and are effectively enforced."

STEPHEN JACKSON

Second Avenue.

Nappies left

WHAT is Bexhill coming to?

I have just returned home from a trip to the town and after seeing the state of Sackville road just outside of your own office and Western Road near the indoor market, I was appalled to see rubbish all over the pavements and in the case of the Western Road rubbish there was dirty nappies just littering the pavement, I really think that this is a case for health and safety.

I was given to understand that our council with all their great wisdom had engaged a refuse firm to remove all our waste and that we would have a better and cleaner town.

So much for fairytales.

Since this new firm have taken over from Serco I have had my household rubbish missed twice and my waste paper and plastic boxes missed once, I know that there will be teething troubles to begin with but how can they miss two houses in a small road of nine?

Goodness knows what visitors think of our town, it must look as if they have arrived in a third world country, I have always felt proud and privileged to have been born and bred in Bexhill as was my father and grandfather and it hurts me to see the town downgraded as it is at the moment, so if any councillors should happen to read this "Get your finger out and earn your position that the people of Bexhill voted you in office to do ".

Eileen McLean

Bexhill.

Too demanding

I AM one of the many people outraged by the extent of our troubles with the bin collection.

I had relieved a letter from the council on July 7 stating that our bin collection would remain the same as we had not received our weeklies due to the arson attack.

Our bin collection was due that Friday, June 8, but they had not turned up I rang Verdant that day to say they had not been collected and was told they would not be out until Saturday.

I put the rubbish out on the Saturday but they still did not come. It took them nearly three weeks to collect, at which time by then they already had flies and maggots in them and having two small children one aged three and the other nearly one, is totally unacceptable and unhygienic.

I dread to think of how many germs were in the bags and what disease my children could have picked up.

I do not in any way hold the crew responsible for what is happening as they can only do so much, I hold Verdant responsible as they should have done this differently.

It is stupidly impossible to do rounds by post code as they have said in this week's observer. Do they think these men are robots? If that's that case I'm glad they have stood up for themselves and not let them walk over them.

Jodie Betts (Mrs)

Springfield Road.

Fast service!

NO more shall I rage at Verdant with my recycling problems, these seem to have been resolved. I wonder has anyone else in Rother had four collections in eight days? I have, on Thursday, June 21, my paper bin was emptied, on Friday, June 22 my paper bin was emptied again together with the tin and plastic bin. This was repeated on Tuesday, June 26 including the wheelie bin. On Friday, June 29 (official day) both small bins were emptied! I understand my neighbours have been included except for June 21.

Now, perhaps it is time to embark on my latest mission. The King Offa Way underpass. The natural small meadows of wild grasses and plants at either end, an art exhibition in between including small aluminium statues that constantly change, and finally sometimes a small natural lake at the south end. This is best seen at night under the lights.

The remedy - place on the Tourist Information website, apply for an Arts Council Grant and enter The Bexhill in Bloom Competition.

After all why should not all residents of Rother and visitors not enjoy this. The alternative contact the contractors - Interoute.

DAVID (AKA TONY) LEIGH

Holliers Hill.

Why pay?

READING in the Bexhill Observer about all the problems with the rubbish collections, I felt I had to make a comment.

When we were first told about the new rubbish collections I thought it was a good idea. In reality it is fraught with problems!

We are now experiencing bags of rubbish in the town, which the gulls are having a great time with.

This in itself is a health hazard (a) slipping on the rubbish and sustaining an injury, (b) encouraging vermin and all that entails, (c) being attacked by the gulls ripping the bags for food! Not to mention the upset it is causing to householders whose bins are not being collected and being left for days on end.

One person I know had a "missed" bin and was told it would be collected within 24 hours; well, five days later they are still waiting for it to be collected, as these bins are collected once a fortnight they will be overflowing etc. - very healthy. When you try to contact someone to see when it will be collected the telephone is always engaged (strange that!).

What do Environmental Health think about this situation?

These problems in one shape or another have been going on since these collections started, one could forgive "teething troubles" - but this is ridiculous.

The previous collection firm were very good always on time and very helpful. I personally think that the new collection firm do not come up to scratch - and if there is anyone in charge of this fiasco they should sort it out without delay. Let's face it we are paying for a service that is not being delivered - so why should we pay?

B. Gebbie

Old Mill Park.

Art exhibit?

I THINK the contractors are going for a record! Over three weeks now and no collection, let alone wheelie bins! Thank goodness it has been a cold month in June. I wonder if they think this an art exhibit!

John Thirsk

Beach Towers

West Parade.

Caring Curves

THE Bexhill Caring Community would like to thank Curves, the ladies gym in Sackville Road, for holding a coffee morning to raise funds for the charity. Our thanks to owner Jerry Robinson and all his staff and especially to Leigh who organized and ran the event. Thank you also to all the ladies who made cakes and donated items for the tombola and raffle and to everyone who supported us on the day. A total of almost 440 was raised.

MARGARET VON SPEYR

Bexhill Caring Community.

Green Day

I WOULD like to thank all those who made our second Green Day such a success on Saturday, June 23.

The Friends committee and Sure Start have worked for many months together, making a good partnership which provided a day of fun for families with a strong environmental message.

Thanks must also go to MP Greg Barker who attended for the second year, to our Town Mayor, Cllr Paul Lendon, and not least to the Bexhill Observer, whose support for the Friends of Egerton Park has been terrific.

We are already planning next year's events in the Park and a third Green Day is already in the diary. All are welcome to our annual meeting at St Andrew's Church Hall, Wickham Avenue on Wednesday, July 18 at7.30pm.

Christine Govier

Friends of Egerton Park.

Roadside help

I would like to say thank you for the kindness I received from all the people who helped me after I fell over in Cooden Drive last Thursday.

A gentleman who lived in one of the nearby flats wrapped me in a blanket, while somebody else telephoned for an ambulance and then stayed with me until the ambulance came. I would also like to thank the doctors and nurses at the Conquest who looked after me with kindness. Thanks also to the taxi driver who brought me home.

Rhoda Mackenzie (Miss)

Richmond Road.

New Testament

FOUND: NewTestament (soft back) in Town Hall Square (gardens) on brick wall on Sunday, June 10. Ring 810295 to arrange collection.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.