Campaigners shift efforts to give Bexhill town council backing

After months of research and deliberation the group said it believed the move would be the best way forward for Bexhill in gaining power to govern itself.

Brian Cope, from D4B, said: “When the founding members came together they held differing views as to the best governance option for the town.

“Some were firmly of the view that a town council was best, others that an area committee would be better, some had yet to make up their minds.

“In order to be able to present to residents the pros and cons of these two options we needed to have a good understanding of what each could and couldn’t do and how they operated. We set about gathering information from town councils and area committees, including information about costs.

“One of the things that became clear to us was that the success of area committees was dependent on the wholehearted support they received from their council.

“When Rother District Council decided that an area committee for Bexhill would have no decision-making powers it became clear a Bexhill area committee would be little more than a talking shop, but still cost up to £92,000 a year.”

Rother District Council’s current six-week consultation runs until Friday, October 13.

People will be provided with four choices: no change, a Bexhill Town Council, an area committee made up of Bexhill councillors with no executive decision-making ability, or four parish councils splitting Bexhill into North, South, East and West.

Residents can find out more information about the review by visiting the council’s website at www.rother.gov.uk/CommunityGovernanceReview.

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