LETTER: Get involved in democracy bid

Do you want Bexhill councillors to make the decisions for our town rather than the Rother out-of-town councillors?
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Oct 2016, 16:00 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:35 BST

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I am sure John Lee did (the founding chairman of Bexhill Alliance and councillor for Collington ward) and he would have been delighted that there is to be, at last, a formal Governance Review for the town.

He was an ardent campaigner for separate governance for Bexhill and in 2012 produced a detailed report for the Devolution Working Group of Rother District Council which came up with the discredited idea of effectively disbanding the Bexhill Town Forum and using the Neighbourhood Watch area groups as alternative forums which, of course, was a totally impractical idea and disappeared in the long grass.

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John Lee passionately believed there was no good reason for Bexhill not to have control of its decisions which would in no way detract from the rest of Rother. Whereas he was aware a town council would be a good solution he preferred the Area Committee solution because it was the limited cost option for residents.

Rother council have already shown their contempt for the review by breaking their own Code of Practice in deciding to refuse to agree that the Governance Review Steering Group meetings will be open to the public. Clearly they do not want to have to justify themselves. There is obviously a culture of anti-Bexhill to overcome so please sign up to our Facebook group ‘Democracy4Bexhill’ and we will keep you up to date on the consultation process so you can make your views known.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve the direction of democracy in Bexhill so residents please get involved. There is an inaugural meeting of the Democracy4Bexhill group on November 15, 7pm at St John’s hall, Victoria Road near Town Hall Square. All Bexhill residents are welcome.

Doug Stevenson

Chairman, Bexhill Alliance

London Road

Bexhill

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