Poor road links makes town poor

The Government recently announced a £1.6 billion fund to help some of Britain’s poorest areas.

The ten poorest districts in Britain (in terms of weekly earnings for full-time employees) are listed in this week’s Spectator. At the top of the list, ie the poorest, is “Rother (Bexhill on Sea)”.

Of the others on the list, only two are in the north of England and none are in Scotland.

For as long as I can remember, Rother has been governed by the Conservatives, as has East Sussex County Council. What we have suffered from in this area is antiquated and wholly inadequate road transport, both along the south coast and to London.

As a result, companies located in Bexhill have left and moved to places where road transport links are stronger. Efforts to improve road transport have been lukewarm at best.

The Conservative group has always deferred to central Government and it is notable that whenever the Conservative Party wins a General Election, our road transport links do not improve in material terms. There is occasional tinkering only.

I was persuaded by Stuart Earl that the population of Bexhill would be much better served by Independent councillors and he certainly led by example.

In May, we will all have the opportunity to replace many of the existing 31 Conservative councillors with Independents. Perhaps we will also secure a town council.