Your letters - September 3, 2010

Well done on making the grade

WE would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all William Parker and Helenswood federal sixth form students on the hard work and commitment which enabled you to pass your A2 examinations.

A 99.4 per cent pass rate is testament to their dedication but it disguises the individual stories of how they all reached success.

Working closely with them over the last two years has been a delight and privilege. Seeing them take responsibility for realising your ambitions - whether this means taking the next steps of leaving home to study at university, starting at work or planning a gap year or further study.

We were overwhelmed to witness their solidarity and the manner in which the students shared in each other's success whilst also lending support in making difficult decisions and choices.

We must make amends for having inadvertently omitted to congratulate Joe Tutt and Clare Lee on their straight A* and A grades in the recent report in this paper.

It is also a pleasure to confirm that Lil Read has gained her place at Cambridge and we share in celebrating her and all of your successes.

Finally, to the students: your achievements are part of a bigger picture of educational success in Hastings and St Leonards and this is an opportunity to congratulate everyone who sat exams this year.

WARREN DAVIES & WENDY GRAYBURN

On behalf of the Federal Sixth Team

Swearing by the council's campaign

I AM writing in praise of the council's anti-dog mess poster campaign.

At last - a council which is willing to pull no punches about the revolting and unacceptable problem of vile people leaving their dog mess behind.

Yes, the message is bold. But frankly, it needs to be. We have to get tough on those responsible for polluting our pavements.

Those who are offended by the fruity language really need to be a bit less precious.

I'm 66 years of age and I'd rather see an asterisked swear word on a poster than a pile of dog mess outside my front door.

I don't see those moaning about it coming up with an alternative strategy. So please, let's congratulate the council on taking a zero-tolerance stance to this disgusting issue.

SYLVIA PEPPER

Marina,

St Leonards

Unwell cat taken in by the RSPCA

MY husband found the cat described below late Saturday night.

The cat, an elderly female tabby, was unwell and needed attention and is not microchipped.

As the cat, which had white paws and was wearing a red collar, was clearly elderly and very thin, the RSPCA has taken her.

I have put out posters in the Hillside Road area, but am concerned that it may belong to an elderly person, who may not see the posters but may well read your paper.

I have also left message for Cat Call, and given details to cat protection league. I have also left details with Coopers Vets.

Hoping you can help reunite this cat with its owner. The cat is currently being cared for at RSPCA Blue Ridge Centre in Chown's Hill. Phone 01424 752121.

E J KING

Hillside Road

Traffic chaos driving away our tourists

I SEE that Hastings Borough Council has now switched on the traffic and pedestrian lights at the junction of The Bourne, East Beach Street and Rock-a-Nore Road and what a marvellous effect thay have had.

I sat in my vehicle attempting to deliver important packages to local businessses and residents and almost had time to step out of the vehicle, sit on the beach and have a nice picnic while I waited for the traffic to start moving again.

Traffic had backed up all along Rock-a-Nore Road which must have been nice for the visitors enjoying a drink and a meal outside the Dolphin public house and as for the fishing traders along Rock-a-Nore - I suspect they will no longer need to smoke their kippers or mackerel anymore as the traffic will do that for them.

Traffic was also backed up to Sacred Heart School which will be nice for the children when they return in September.

I was advised by one business that on the Tuesday of last week the traffic had also backed up all the way along the seafront, through the town and up to the park gates.

I suspect people will also start using the High Street as a rat run so this will have a nice effect on safety in that area what with a huge increase in traffic volume on such a narrow road.

What a marvellous idea to have these lights where I have never really noticed, as both a driver and pedestrian, the need for such traffic measures.

Is Hastings Borough Council again wanting to drive tourists away from our pretty coastal town?

Already visitors are paying through the nose to park anywhere and now they are also paying for the privilege to not be able to drive either into or out of town.

This will only end up meaning even less people will visit which shall have yet another detrimental effect on our town.

So once again, well done Hastings Borough Council for your thoughtful introduction of these lights. Bravo, yet another slip down the ladder of success for our town.

DAN BRYANT

Beaconsfield Road

An illuminating walk through the woods

WELL done to all those who arranged the Sharing of the Spring Walk on Saturday. It was lovely to see so many participants of all ages.

It was exactly as advertised: "a magical journey through the illuminted woods of Bohemia to the Sharing of the Spring ceremony at the Roman bath."

I have lived in Hastings for very many years and had no idea that this lovely wood existed with the spring and to see it all at night magically light up was a joy.

If this walk is repeated next year I would thoroughly recommend it - many thanks to the organisers.

GLENDA NICHOLS

Charles Road

St Leonards

Gulls won't be tricked by mounds

I'VE heard some ridiculous ideas, but this takes the biscuit.

To build a mound of earth, so the gulls (in Magpie Close) can't see the rubbish for the rooftops.

The gulls have learned where the food is, and where's a favourable place to roost and nest. They'll only have to fly over the mound to feed.

I lived in St Helens Road opposite one of the ponds in Alexandra Park. A fabulous view over a beautiful park, a real credit to Hastings and a valuable asset.

But the feeding station at the side of the pond encourages hundreds of herring gulls.

They are the largest of the gulls, whose natural habitat would be cliffs around our coasts. Instead they've adapted to our towns, living in rooftops, causing damage, noise and mess.

The gulls have achieved pest proportion, and I've witnessed them eating the moorhen chicks and ducklings in Alexandra Park. Would you want your young children to witness this?

Their acid droppings damage paintwork on cars, they tear off the anti-gull spikes placed on roofs and tear open the rubbish sacks on the morning of collection.

A large number of properties in Hastings and St Leonards are Victorian, with three storeys or more.

It is impossible for householders to easily remove debris dropped by these birds, that blocks gutters and rooves gullies. You can't safely access these areas by ladder.

How frequently do we see plants and weeds growing on roofs and chimney stacks. This is a direct result of nesting material deposited on our roofs.

The invasive roots from these plants cause very expensive damage to our property, by loosening mortar and allowing water penetration.

I'm glad there are people with a heart to protect our wildlife, but there has to be a sensible balance.

We've made it too easy for herring gulls (and foxes for that matter) to breed excessively, and it seems we're defenceless to do anything about it.

Maybe Hastings Borough Council should arrange an official, efficient cull, or assist in removing nests during the breeding season?

JERRY FOWLER

Cooden Ledge

St Leonards

Contemplating the beauty of St Leonards

AS supporter of art and the Jerwood Gallery I should like to congratulate the Observer for highlighting the wonderful Banksy mural at Marina.

How refreshing to see so many people quietly contemplating the art, and at the same time embracing the unspoilt beauty of our St Leonards coastline.

Coupled with the wonderfully-coloured flower beds, magnificent Victorian architecture and masterful Sidney little creations, it was a truly exhilarating experience.

On the St Leonards promenade one can hear the waves - as opposed to amusement arcades, smell the sea - as opposed to the hamburgers, and taste the salt in the air - as opposed to the car fumes.

I stood proud on the promenade where all of one's senses tingle at the rawness of such beauty.

And as I gazed out to sea and savoured the tranquillity, I realised that St Leonards has an ambience far more conducive with the viewing of art than that of the Old Town, and was the only place any genuine art lover would want a gallery.

Was this Banksy's message?

And as I turned to walk to the Old Town, suffocated by its congestion, my heart sank at an opportunity lost.

GLENN VENESS

The Slides

Hollington

These link road arguments based on misconceptions

'MOST of us want the link road' claims Arthur Kitson in his letter last week, but his arguments are based on two massive misconceptions.

The first is that the link road will relieve traffic congestion along the A259 Bexhill Road (caused mostly by local journeys to the Ravenside retail park) and secondly that it will open up areas for employment.

The link road is nothing more than a ruse to provide access to massive green belt development - thousand of affordable new homes and supporting services.

No connection whatsoever with either of his arguments.

For example, if the link road and access to it were designed specifically to move traffic quickly between Hastings and Bexhill (as the pro-lobby claim) why wasn't it put through government as a dual carriageway, like at Lamberhurst, affectively by-passing the Bexhill Road and West St Leonards conurbation?

And jobs? Well yes, while the road is under construction I suppose (but I bet outside contractors are used). And yes again, if you allow for all the mini industrial estates and supporting shops that will crop up either side of the road.

But here's the rub. How does this new population exit the new high density housing estates and areas of employment?

Yes you guessed it '“ via the link road, effectively making it another Bexhill Road (North).

In 10 years time we will have another 5,000 homes, a further inflated population of 20,000 plus people, with all the traffic, pollution and strain on local resourses this will bring and all we would have achieved in this time - is yet need again for another link road!

And so the story evolves. Look at Basingstoke, Ashford and Newbury for similar examples.

Please everybody, try to visualise the bigger picture here.

This is not about moving traffic faster between two towns.

It's about making this rich idyllic community, with all its precious countryside diversity, heritage and charm, into just another blueprint concrete town.

The politicians will love it of course, but will it really enhance our quality of life?

PHIL WILSON

Blacklands

IN his letter last week Mr Kitson sets out his own eco credentials quite clearly, and good for him.

However, he is clearly unaware of the realities of the consequences of the current link road scheme.

Based on East Sussex County Council's evidence at the public inquiry, any time savings will be measured in minutes, typically one or two minutes at the most.

Of the 2,000 claimed jobs at the proposed new employment site, some 80 per cent of them will be jobs relocated from within Bexhill or Hastings.

Assuming the projected 2,000 jobs are ever achieved that's a net gain of 400 jobs at a cost of some 100 million and huge environmental damage: the beautiful and precious Combe Valley would be ruined.

The unusually high pollution count at the sampling station on the Bexhill Road has been shown to be caused by a combination of salt in the atmosphere and dust particles emanating from the refuse tip, both airborne drift and deposited on the road by lorries leaving the site.

Whatever problem is solved along the seafront will simply be moved elsewhere.

Wishing Tree, Bohemia and The Ridge, already suffering heavy volumes of traffic and increased pollution, will be further affected.

There is the critical point that alternatives to the road have never been properly investigated so other more sustainable models for development have never been put before the public.

The link road would anyway fall foul of the Climate Change Act.

SUE PALMER

All Saints Street

Not strictly a taxi driver

YOUR headline article: 'Taxi driver jailed after sex attacks' raises two important issues.

First, the company for which Mohsen Nilchian worked was exclusively a private hire organisation.

To describe him as a taxi driver is not therefore strictly accurate.

To the average member of the public this may seem a fine distinction, until they are about to board a cab at the rank at 2am, when they may be reassured to know that the rank is serviced exclusively by taxis and not by private hire vehicles.

Secondly all drivers are subject to a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check before they are granted a hackney carriage licence.

In the case of people who have lived all their lives in the UK, this will reveal any recorded convictions or police cautions back to the age of 12 years.

In the case of applicants from overseas, they are required to declare all addresses at which they have resided during the past five years.

If, during that time, they have spent some time overseas, enquiries will be made of the police in the country where they have lived.

It goes without saying that such information will only be as good as the police records overseas and will certainly not reveal any criminal activity before five years ago.

A spokesperson for Hastings Borough Council recently remarked that CRB checks for people from overseas routinely come back more quickly than those for permanent UK residents, which would seem to indicate that they are less thorough.

While no doubt most of our colleagues from overseas are people of the utmost integrity, under the present arrangements it is inevitable that this country is granting hackney licences to a few highly dangerous individuals like Mr Nilchian.

GRAHAM WALLACE,

Secretary

Hastings and St Leonards

Taxicab Association.