Bexhill councillor resigns for health reasons

Tony Mansi quit Rother District Council (RDC) on September 7, after five and a half years, sparking a by-election in Collington ward scheduled for October 27.

The retired postmaster has also relinquished his role as Bexhill Festival of Music chairman which he helped establish in 2007.

Mr Mansi said his proudest moment was handing a petition to RDC calling for a governance review to try and get a Bexhill town council, which was agreed on Monday (September 26).

“One of the things I managed to do was to present RDC with a petition to hold a local governance review and that’s going to start this month I believe,” he said.

“That was the Independent’s initiative.”

Mr Mansi moved to Bexhill from Lamberhurst, Kent, in 1998 and got into politics after the controversy surrounding the seafront regeneration project, New Wave.

He stood alongside the late John Lee as Independents in Collington ward in 2011 and both were elected, taking the seat from the Conservative Party.

In last year’s elections, Mr Mansi held his seat: “We must have been doing something right,” he said.

Mr Mansi said he enjoyed being a councillor and representing his community but believed it was time for him to resign and hopes the remaining Independents keep up the fight.

“I leave five and a half years later with still no knowledge of the financial costs of the New Wave,” he said.

“I’m sure my Independent colleagues will keep the pressure on the council until we do finally get a final figure.

“I hope that they keep the pressure on to get some democracy for Bexhill, as Bexhill accounts for half of RDC and we don’t have a means of deciding our own future.

“Unlike Rye and Battle which both have town councils, we have nothing here.

“We have 38 councillors of which 18 are Bexhill and we don’t have any means to any say in what goes on in Bexhill it’s all done by RDC and hence us triggering this local governance review.

“The whole point of the central government’s Localism Act is to give more local authorities more say but unfortunately that hasn’t happened in Bexhill.”

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