Anger over survey slur

ROTHER has been branded one of the worst places to live in the country.

In a national newspaper on Wednesday a survey named Rother as the 10th worst place in a quality of life league.

Now Bexhill Town Hall chiefs are demanding to know how the survey organisers came to that conclusion.

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They are furious that years of hard work to regenerate Bexhill and encourage investment from outside the district had been wiped out by one article in the national press.

An irate leader of Rother District Council Graham Gubby said he and chief executive Derek Stevens have written to the Daily Mail inviting a reporter to come and see Bexhill and the district for himself.

They have also demanded survey organiser Experian defend its statement and show how it came to its conclusion.

Cllr Gubby said: The chief executive and myself are very angry.

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We want to know on what grounds they base their accusations and explain why they are contrary to what we believe is the truth.

The leader went on: A recent Mori poll said the standard of services we were delivering was very good. We also have a disproportionately high number of people who move into the area deliberately and stay.

All we have been trying to do in promoting Rother and Bexhill in particular as a place of regeneration and investment has been wiped out by the article. Sure, there are areas of Bexhill which need working on but it is not a bad place. In no way is it 10th from the bottom of the pile. There are plenty of worse places to live in the country.

In the poll of all the 376 local council areas in England and Wales, Rother came 367th, below London boroughs of Harringey (354) Tower Hamlets (360) and Hackney (357). Hastings was ranked 283rd.

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How can we come below Haringey when the government is about to take it over? asked a bemused chief executive.

Council areas were measured by accessibility to quality retail and leisure facilities; unemployment; disposable income; average house prices; total number of cars; average, good and poorly ranked schools; theft probability; and household density.

Said Mr Stevens: I can see we can score low on some of theses measures. But it is not a true picture. We do not have a large departmental store.

Unemployment is low though we would score low on disposable income as we have a fairly low wage economy. And the average earner in Rother cannot afford a house.

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The schools criteria hurts because we have three Beacon schools in the district plus the technology status at the High School. Rother has a clean, safe environment, a wide range of leisure centres, outdoor and indoor pursuits and more heritage than virtually anywhere in the country.

It goes to show statistics can throw up figures but not reality.

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