Meeting the community

On Saturday evening July 17th I was to be found controlling the road barrier at the junction of St Margaret’s Road and Warrior Square (East) – the council leader really was manning a barricade. It was the St Leonards festival and as a local Central St Leonards councillor I was happy to do my stint as a steward. Now we look forward to Old Town Week. In fact every weekend there are events, festivals, fetes etc.


What they all have in common is that members of the community run them. The council might help out with publicity or road closures but if it wasn’t for volunteers giving up their time and effort none of them would happen.

Along with deputy leader Cllr Jay Kramer I have been meeting with voluntary groups over the last week. We have seen the Community Network, the Intercultural Organisation, the Rainbow Alliance, the Senior’s Forum, the Youth Council, the Inter-faith Forum, and the Disability Forum. We haven’t necessarily finished there. If any other community organisation would like to meet with us let us know.

The aim of the meetings was for us as the newly re-elected council leadership to outline our vision and plans. The policies we stood for election on have now been endorsed by the council and we believe we have a mandate to implement them. But we also wanted to hear the plans and priorities of these various groups and see where we could collaborate.

The discussions were very illuminating. The need for meeting places was a common theme and the need to be properly involved and not just treated as a consultation box to be ticked was raised. But they all welcomed the chance to let the council leadership know first hand what they felt.

However, we had another job – to make the community sector aware of the serious financial challenge facing the council and the town. With the government’s intention to cut public spending we are having to plan for a 25% cut in the council’s income. No area of our activity can be untouchable; we have to review everything we do.

But we want the people of Hastings to help us prioritise these activities. In September and October we will be holding a big conversation giving every resident the chance to tell us what council services they value the most and would least like to see reduced.

So when you see us out on all the community events feel free to let us know right now where you would like money to be directed in this difficult financial climate.

The photo shows myself and Mayor Cllr Kim Forward with artist Maggi Hambling, gallery director-designate Liz Gilmore and Jerwood Foundation chair Alan Grieve at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jerwood Gallery on the Stade.

Cleaning up Hastings (including roundabouts)

I have ritually handed over the ‘keys’ to the Pelham roundabout (that’s the one with the fountain) to BBC Newsnight. To try and show what the ‘Big Society’ means, armed with a broom, they have adopted it. If they don’t actually do anything I will be writing to the Director General demanding some action. Our roundabout it not to be messed with!


In the real world we have be getting tougher on keeping Hastings clean. And there are two reasons why we need to. As residents we all have a right to expect it. But it’s also about presenting an image to visitors and would-be investors that Hastings and St Leonards is their sort of place. Dealing with litter, dogs, street drinking, tatty buildings etc is part of creating a more prosperous town.

So with other councillors and council officers I repeated the seafront ‘grotbuster’ walk that I first did in 2000.

I noted down every building needing repair or redecoration and owners will now receive a letter encouraging them to take action. Failing to respond could result in enforcement action. If you own a building in our town you have a social responsibility for its upkeep.

When we did the first seafront walk we noted the derelict hulks of the Queen’s Hotel, Regent Court and the Marlborough, plus other smaller eyesores too. All those have been dealt with and the seafront looks much better. But with the salt air, buildings in this prominent location need regular maintenance and improvement.

A high profile walk sets the tone and reminds everyone what we expect. The ‘grotbusters’ are on the case.

Then I had a meeting with our local police commander Chief Inspector Mark Ling to agree a get tough approach to street drinking and begging. We get complaints from residents who feel intimidated by groups of drinkers and by aggressive begging. They also complain of offensive behaviour by individual drinkers.

A dispersal area has been declared on the promenade enabling the police to move drinkers on and this is being enforced. Twenty two of the thirty four anti-social behaviour orders in the town have been issued to street drinkers.

At the meeting we agreed to step up the joint enforcement activity between the police, the council and other agencies. We want a harder line to be taken by off-licenses with habitual drinkers. Just like the Bar Watch scheme, which agrees that named individuals will not be served in town centre pubs, so off-licenses will be pressed not to serve the well-known street drinkers? Habitual Drink Orders will be considered which make it an offence to sell alcohol to a named habitual drinker.

There are now more detox opportunities and improved funding for those organisations working with drinkers and we want to encourage street drinkers to take up these opportunities.

Finally during the Summer months we will be launching a crack-down against dog fouling with some pretty hard-hitting posters and leaflets. Keep your eyes open – otherwise you might tread in something.



The photo shows me outside one of the buildings we noted down on the ‘grotbuster’ walk.

Leader of the council again – for a whole two months. We want to meet with everyone and they want to talk with us. We are meeting with community groups, business groups, young people etc to explain our vision for the town and to listen to what they feel should be the priorities for Hastings. (If any community group feel they would like to let us know their thoughts please get in touch). We are also going to address the whole council workforce – the people actually doing the jobs in the council are probably the real experts.


But just going round all the community events of the last few weeks – in Alexandra Park, in Broomgrove, on the West Hill or in the America Ground – residents want to tell us how they feel things could improve and we are only too happy to listen.

Should the whole of Robertson Street be pedestrianised; are begging and street drinking been tackled hard enough; has Ore Village been overlooked; couldn’t we do more with the old Waterworks Road depot site; and of course parking and many other issues too numerous to list.

It certainly takes longer walking around town when you are in control – but isn’t leadership about hearing what others have to say and trying to integrate the best ideas with the policies you were elected on.

Becoming leader in 2010 is not going to be same though as when I first took the position ten years ago. That marked the start of the major regeneration investment in the town by the government. And the council was one of the best funded nationally.

With talk of 25% or even 40% public spending cuts all that has changed. Running the council now might be less about where would we like to spend more money and rather where might we have to spend less.

This is going to affect all of us. So after the Summer holidays we are going to hold a ‘Big Conversation’ with the people of the town – tell us what your priorities would be if government grants to the council are to be seriously cut back. What are the things you would never want to see reduced? We will be using the council’s About magazine and the local media to let you know just how difficult the situation could be and for you to let us know what you think can be done.

But for now the weather is still good, there are still lots of Summer activities to enjoy and Hastings is still a great place to live.

(The photo is of me being quizzed by the Helenswood Year 9 newsroom)