‘Danger’ fears over Eastbourne seafront in darkness

A section of string lights on Eastbourne seafront, which are usually on at night, have been out of action for a week.

On Sunday, October 3 Drew Wilton first noticed the lights were off in the evening and saw the same again on Thursday, October 7.

Mr Wilton said almost a week later the lights are still not in use.

He said, “There have been some lights on down the pier past Bistrot Pierre but nothing on the main seafront.”

The Eastbourne man said he feared what could happen on the promenade without the lighting.

He said, “The last thing I want is for anybody to be in danger.

“With that [the lighting] gone I do worry about people.

“The fact that they are gone could create real risks and danger when you consider what has been happening in London.”

Mr Wilton also explained how his fears have been heightened recently.

The raised concerns around people’s welfare at night has been brought about nationally following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.

An Eastbourne Borough Council spokesperson said, “Our contractor is inspecting the lights to find the cause of this outage and we hope to have the fault rectified as soon as possible.”

In November 2020 residents also voiced their concerns over the lack of visibility between the pier and bandstand as the lights failed to come on at night.