Long term plan needed for Eastbourne

I attended the council meeting on Wednesday May 18 to listen to the councillors debate the petition to save Eastbourne bandstand signed by more than 2,000 Eastbourne constituents.

It’s worth mentioning it would have been 7,000 if they had accepted it without email or telephone numbers.

We did not get any assurance that a ten year plan would be put into place: in fact we didn’t have any clarification when work would start to put a plaster on the bandstand.

We were assured the bandstand would open in 2023 - with the amount of work required - I personally do not believe it will be open in spring 2023.There does not seem to be the will of some councillors to set out a plan to repair and restore our seafront. The fact is that unless we put in place now measures to repair the bandstand, reopen Fort Fun and repair the Redoubt, then these things will just become beyond repair .We then lose the visitors that bring money to the town.

That will have a knock on effect and businesses will have to shut their doors and cease trading. We need Eastbourne Borough Council to put a long term plan in place.