Save our sea view!

Diane Pearson said she thought signing a petition with 11,000 other people was sufficient but accused the council of trying to "soften us by saying if we don't like the first design then we can have this one, when in fact we don't want any."

Modified plans to put a 60-bed hotel on the site as part of government funded regeneration of the town were revealed earlier this month at a lively Town Forum meeting.

Ms Pearson said building on the green would affect many people's lives especially at the eastern end of West Parade."Everybody here is extremely concerned. It's very depressing and at the back of your mind all the time, wondering if and when it's going to happen."

Whatever went on the green would look straight into her living room and many others too, she said, and offered an invitation to Rother leader Graham Gubby to come for a cup of tea at her flat and see for himself.

"People living on the ground floor will have an enormous amount of light taken from their homes, views of the sea will be obliterated. We paid more than average for our homes simply for that wonderful view."

She dismissed the argument that because the site had been home to the Metropole Hotel years ago, it was fine to build another hotel there. Then there had been many other green areas on the seafront, now long since built on such as Queens Court and the West Indies flats.

Ms Pearson said her West Parade flat got the worst of the weather. "It looks fantastic from my window but on the prom it's treacherous. Who in their right mind wants to sleep in an hotel with the howling wind and rain pounding on the windows and paying a tidy sum for it as well.

"I can't believe any architect would think it viable. They just want that space because there's nothing to knock down and the council haven't got to make any compulsory purchases. But it's our land Mr Gubby and you have no right to give it away."

Ms Pearson said she had spoken to many people in the area who had not been made aware of the new plans and hardly any knew of the building designed for the De La Warr car park (flats and office/commercial space).

She felt the council was not making contact with local people and thought the booklets (Bexhill-on-Sea: the next steps) should be posted to households. Not everyone bought the local paper or received the free paper (AdNews) because door entry systems did not allow distributors in.

Her neighbour Patsy McLaughlin moved to her Beach Towers flat five years ago and said she would be "devastated" if the hotel went ahead.

"The Metropole green might look empty but it is used so much during the course of the day. People train their dogs there, kids play football."

Her flat only got the morning sun and if the hotel was built it would take all her light.

Another neighbour, Bob Bamblett and his wife Liz, have lived in their West Parade flat for nearly ten years. Looking out on the sea as he spoke, he said it would be a "tragedy" to build an hotel on the green.

"We have no net curtains, we've no need of them but if they build the hotel we'll be looking at bedrooms or whatever."

He said they had the "No Hotel on the Putting Green" poster but had not yet displayed it in their window, although Liz had signed the petition against the proposal.

"If the Grand Hotel closed and Jarvis are selling the Cooden Beach, why do we need one in the middle of Bexhill?"