Traders get a wake-up call

That was the stark message from district council leader Graham Gubby on Tuesday night.

In an unprecedented attack Mr Gubby laid into the culture of complacency that he believes has infected the town and warned that as long as 'everyone wants to leave it to someone else to do it for Bexhill', nothing would ever get done.

And he warned: "Unless we work together we're going to be stuck with what we inherited 20 or 30 years ago - a town that's dying around our ears."

The Tory boss of Rother District Council was addressing members of the Chamber of Commerce at an open meeting held to report on progress made by the Bexhill Community Inquiry (BCI).

The BCI was initiated by Rother District Council and development company Sea Space as an integral part of plans to regenerate Bexhill.

But after 18 months of 'consultation' there was virtually nothing on the drawing board, the meeting was told, and both time and money were slipping away.

In a meeting that grew increasingly fractious, Sea Space representative John Shaw explained that the initial 30 million allocated between Hastings and Bexhill was dwindling and would run out on at the end of March 2006 when the initially allowed period of three years also closed.

On the positive side, following negotiations in the summer, a design team and consultants had been appointed while two of the planned four workshops had taken place 'largely as listening exercises'.

But he warned that ideas, schemes and projects were in short supply. He said: "I'm the man with the toolbox but I need sites and schemes in that toolbox.

"The opportunity is there for you as the business community to decide whether you want to reach out and grab what's available."

And he added: "What happens in the future is entirely in your hands."

But it was Cllr Gubby who rounded on Bexhill business most savagely. "Why does everyone want to leave it to someone else to do it for Bexhill," he demanded. "This should all be about civic pride. People should be asking themselves:'What can I do to make Bexhill a better place for me and my neighbour'.

"It could come down even to writing a few letters about the good things going on instead of writing and complaining about the bad things all the time."

He cited the failure to secure the link road between Bexhill and Hastings and said that Bexhill just hadn't fought hard enough.

He said: "I love newts, orchids and badgers as much as the next person but the environmental arguments were allowed to outweigh those for jobs, schools and homes.

"You've got to lift your horizons. Where do you want things to be in 30, 40, 50 years time? Our job is to put in place systems that will work to the long-term benefit of Rother."

He added: "John Shaw was right to give you a wake-up call. You've got to know that we work damned hard for you all. Now you have to participate."