Your Letters - June 22

Yobs nightly

IN recent months with the arrival of better weather, I and I expect many of the other residents of Bexhill have noticed more and more groups of youngsters wandering aimlessly around the streets with only five things to do, drink, smoke, spit on the paths, cause criminal damage and use disgusting language.

On the national news this morning I watched an item about how this country is turning into a big brother state where you can do nothing without a camera watching you. Not so in Bexhill and Sidley! We may as well have a welcome sign for all the disfunctional yobs and intimidating trouble makers to come and congregate here. It seems that the CCTV and "police presence" are of no use at all.

On the 12th of this month someone wandered through the town and then into Sidley during the small hours, breaking windows of shops and then cars, where were the police? There is a property in Ninfield Road where groups of teens on mopeds congregate and then race through the high street all night, where are the police?

Today (May 20) I opened my latest email from the Bexhill community contact officer to read that CI Steve Brookman is telling us that "Operation Temptation" is to be run again this year in crime hotspots. This is to involve "engaging the youth through high visibility policing" and "to increase the early evening patrols".

This will do nothing to resolve our late night despair, the yobs do not come out during the early evening and will not come out until the camera van has gone to film the late night fights outside the nightclubs in Hastings. We need old school hard policing for a reasonable length of time and make certain areas of Bexhill town and Sidley a no-go area for these embarrassments to our society. I'd like to know how most police officers would reply if we residents asked them to send their wife and kids down through Sidley high street late at night, the response would be interesting to hear. This is the reality that we normal people are now having to live.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.

What next?

I AM so glad you have, at last, printed letters re the huge fire in Wainwright Road car park, recently, (one from London and the other address withheld).

I do agree with both letters. However, when I (for one) wrote just after the event, I guess it was too controversial towards Rother, who allowed all that plastic to be stored so near the scouts building and our back gardens.

In view of the problems we have with vandals in that car park, it does appear with hindsight, that it was an accident just waiting to happen. And by the way, the yobs are all back, so we who live so near, can only wonder - what next?

JOYCE HUMPHREY

Reginald Road.

Waste agenda

Re: Mr Griffith's letter Observer, May 11 on the rubbish tip

AS a member of PRAC at Pebsham we had dealings with East Sussex County Council over the past 15 years. We have discovered that they have a hidden agenda in which they do not disclose to the public until it is signed, sealed and delivered. We have requested the details of the discussion held before the county planning meeting many times.

We have been fobbed off with a number of lame excuses such as the staff are at lunch or there is no one available to answer your call. Instead I have received two more copies of the main meeting (which makes three that I have).

It is obvious that the objection submitted by RDC and the residents have been completely ignored. So much for the Freedom of Information Act.

Now about where will all the rubbish go? Firstly, the 2009 closing date for Pebsham Tip is now history. There are already moves afoot to extend the closing date again, and again and possibly again. Veolia have made contingency plans to take the rubbish to Kent for disposal until our facilities are complete. This will cost the taxpayers more. There is no certainty that Veolia will need the Ashdown landfill site. I hope they don't for the sake of the residents in that area. In spite of all this there is one certainty: Bexhill will be taking the county's rubbish and possibly rubbish from other counties for years to come.

R SANDERSON

Top Cross Road.

Art venue

WITH reference to the article on the Bexhill Art Exhibition, the Bexhill Caring Community were delighted to allow the Art Society to use the premises at the rear of their offices. However, as explained to the chairman of their committee at the time of her negotiating for the use of this room, it has not yet been fully refurbished as a community room.

Sadly on this occasion the weather was so atrocious that in one corner of the room a leak was discovered. No exhibits were affected. We are sorry that the members of the Art Society did not find the premises to their satisfaction, even though their Committee did as much as possible to advertise the event.

A programme of fund-raising is about to start and we are appealing to everyone in Bexhill to help us to raise enough money to complete the works as soon as possible in order that the room can be fully functional as a community room. It is envisaged that it will be used by the Bexhill Caring Community and other organisations within Bexhill to promote various events, hold meetings, etc.

The Bexhill Caring Community rely totally on legacies and donations to run the services which are delivered to many residents in Bexhill and at present help approximately 4000 residents.

Several of our staff and volunteers are taking part in the sponsored walk being organised by Bexhill Rotary Club on June 10 in order to raise money for this fund and are appealing for sponsors.

If you would like to help please send your donations to The Bexhill Caring Community at 25 Sackville Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, TN39 3JD and if you are a tax payer please contact the Charity to complete a gift aid declaration.

MARGARET VON SPEYR

Bexhill Caring Community

Sackville Road.

Box of tricks

THE leaflet from Rother District Council giving details of the arrangements being made for kerbside recycling warns that if any green material is put in the black or green boxes or black wheelie bin these will not be collected.

On the back page of the leaflet it states the leaflet is printed on recycled paper and then, and I quote, "when you are done with it, pop it in your black box so we can recycle it."

However, inside the pamphlet it states the black box is for plastic bottles and cans! Does this mean if we put the pamphlet, which is paper, into the black box as instructed, the same principle will apply as for green material and the black box will not be collected?

A F GOUGH

Richmond Road.

Dog danger

SOMEONE is walking around the Peartree Lane area of Little Common eating corn-on-the-cob and dropping the stalks along the footpaths. While corn cobs are delicious for us, unfortunately they are poisonous for dogs.

My mum's beloved dog picked up one of these discarded stalks and was extremely ill, ending in major surgery to remove a section of her intestines. Luckily (and thanks to a great vet) she is now pulling through, but it could so easily have been fatal. If you are the corn-eater, or know who it is, can you please ensure the stalks are put safely into a bin and not left on the ground. Many thanks.

ALISON ATTWOOD

St Lawrence Way

Eastbourne.

Top treatment

COME on sir - be fair - you have recently reported the death of a patient at the Conquest Hospital due to MRSA allegedly caused by filthy conditions at the hospital. So let's take it in context - considering the thousands of successful operations and treatments undertaken every year at the Conquest surely the loss of one or maybe two lives - whilst unfortunate - does not warrant blazing front page headlines in your newspaper.

How about talking-up the magnificent work undertaken by all staff, from paramedics, A & E nurses, ward nurses, doctors and consultants, they all do a splendid job often under most trying conditions and are entitled to a modicum of praise and recognition.

Over recent years either my wife or myself have been operated on for a spinal problem, a heart attack and between us five eye surgeries. At one time necessitating an in-patient stay of some three months. Never during all of this treatment did either of us find the most simple of reasons for complaint, we have on every occasion been treated with the greatest of efficiency and courtesy.

J ROSS-KING

De La Warr Parade.

Sports centre

WE now know that the planning permission granted in 2001 to build a sports centre in Gunter's Lane is to be renewed for another three years. Anyone who reads the documents available online, hoping to discover the reasons behind this decision, is liable to be both surprised and disappointed.

The very fact that the county council, in one guise (the planning committee assisted by the director of transport and environment), has been considering an application by that same august body in another guise (the director of children's services) is itself disconcerting to the fair-minded citizen, but let that pass.

Unsurprisingly, the dismissal of local residents' objections is perfunctory and unconvincing, but what might surprise the man in the street is that the county council made its decision in the teeth of an objection by Rother District Council.

Neither the report of the director of transport and environment nor the minutes of the planning committee's meeting enlighten us as to the reasons for dismissing the objection.

By juxtaposing a reference to that objection with an observation that certain other bodies have not raised objections, the report implies that the objection can be discounted, even though the bodies concerned are unelected and deal with a very narrow range of issues.

Crucial to a renewal application are the three (separate) grounds for not approving a renewal and considering the proposal afresh. The report is amazingly non-committal about the first of the three, viz whether there have been any material changes in planning circumstances in the intervening years.

It enumerates such changes (including adoption of the Local Plan) over two paragraphs, but fails to confirm explicitly that the grounds are fulfilled or even say the opposite. By way of contrast, it is categorical that the other two grounds are not satisfied. Yet, as regards one of them, who would agree, after six years of nothing happening, that it is acceptable to continue the uncertainty for another three?

The major disappointment arises when it comes to actual policies and guidance. These are described, but there is no attempt at justification of the proposal by reference to what they specifically say.

We are told that in 2001 the Local Plan was at 'initial deposit' stage and although it contained relevant policies these were given little weight in the determination of the original application.

The man on the Clapham omnibus might think that this means a proper job will be done this time around. If it was, the records do not show it.

All we have is a bald (and bold) assertion in one short paragraph that the proposal complies with specified policies. No explanations given and complete silence on Central Government policy in PPG17.

In short, the documents reveal a lot, but not what they purport to reveal. To paraphrase the words apparently addressed by a planning official to one of your readers, perhaps the members of the committee used their hearts rather than their heads.

R A SAUNDERS

Ellerslie Lane.

Vote thanks

WHAT a privilege it was to meet so many of you at the door of your homes and to enjoy the good conversations with you as the sun shone down on the lead up to the recent elections,

and thank you to the many who invited me in for a few minutes chat as I walked around the neighbourhood.

Thank you to all in the Old Town Ward who voted for me, however, it seemed this time not enough wanted a Conservative candidate to represent them on the council and I would like to congratulate Stuart Wood and Frances Winterborn on their election victory.

I wish the new administration every success for the next four years and am delighted that so many of my Conservative colleagues were voted for.

ANNABELLE WEST

Conservative Candidate for

Old Town Ward

A WARM thank you to all the people who voted for me in the recent elections, in Collington Ward.

BARBARA WARBURTON

The Briary.

Pavement fall

I RECENTLY had a fall in Sackville Road owing to the uneven pavements. I understand a shop owner, Mr N Wells, has been trying for two years and still nothing has been done. I was lucky, shaken and bruised but nothing broken. The shopkeeper, police and ambulance were really pleasant and helpful. Their valuable time could have been saved if the pavements were repaired. The next person to trip might not be so lucky and do a bad injury.

Thank you for all help I was given.

C M WING (Mrs)

Cooden Drive.