The council should be improving the old bathing pool site in St Leonards, not seeking to monetise it

Having suffered humiliation over the Rock-a-Nore fiasco – at least I assume it did, as it deserved to – the council is now turning its attention towards the other end of town, to see whether it might recoup some of the lost millions previously denied to it.

Again it is looking to glean as much money as it can from a location on the seafront which from time immemorial has been a prime amenity space.

I mean the old bathing pool site in West St Leonards, in respect of which we are now being told the council has commissioned a developer – in secret session, without consulting local councillors and at considerable expense – to come up with a scheme which will squeeze in over 150 houses.

I can only hope it will receive the same kind of enthusiasm from the public as the ill conceived Rock-a-Nore scheme did.

The old bathing pool site has been shamefully neglected for decades.

For comparatively little investment it could make a fantastic garden area, with a paddling pool for the kids, a little café, etc.

Instead, what has the council done over the past 30 years to make this area attractive? Apart from cutting the grass, absolutely nothing. Not one bench erected, not one tree planted.

It’s shameful, and it indicates just how much the council cares for the welfare of its residents in this part of the town. We deserve a lot better.

Yes, there is pressure to build more houses but we don’t want or need them here and certainly in nothing like the vast quantity the council is proposing.

What we simply want is for this to be an area we can be proud of, and somewhere we can go to enjoy.

To those who agree please sign the epetition against the proposal which is on the council’s website. A lot have done so already.