Meeting Local Councillors

On Saturday morning about 11am I decided to go along to a meeting of the local, St Leonards area, Labour councillors. Those present were Trevor Webb, Jeremy Birch and one other (Andrew Cartwright ?). It was held in the basement of the Seaspray Hotel in Eversfield Place on the sea-front between Warrior Square and the Pier. I got there just as someone else was leaving and had time for a lengthy chat. I'd met councillor Webb before at the SACRE and HIFF meetings in connection with my Hastings Humanists activities.

I asked about plans for re-opening the Pier, suggesting that it might be possible to open just the front apron while the rest of the structure was being repaired. At present it is owned by a company registered in Panama.

We also discussed the imbalance of Labour representatives on the local Cabinet, which hardly seems to be a democratic arrangement, but is apparently within the rules. I was interested to find that it was the previously Labour-controlled council that enforced the landlords along Eversfield Place to have work done to improve their properties, which at the time I lived there (1994-9) was very run down. There has certainly been a great improvement since then.

Lastly I raised the problem with the seagulls breaking open waste bags and spreading litter about, suggesting that those households who experience this problem, and don't have suitable space for wheelie bins, should be supplied with stronger sacks in place of plastic bags. Apparently such sacks are available.