Darling, Copenhagen and the Battle for Hastings Pier
Where do I start this week?
The Pre-Budget Report, the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, the by-election in St Helens Ward, or the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust public meeting at Blacklands school...
Well, for those readers who form part of this column's Commentariat, the good news is that at the very least you'll be spared another 500 words about my university days!
What do they say? You can't please all of the people all of the time?!
Unless, of course, you are the Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust.
What a fantastic bunch of people have come together to work to save our Pier from the seeming indifference and inadequacy of the Conservative Cabinet on Hastings Borough Council.
The group has managed to make the Pier a key issue in respect of the St Helens Ward by-election – the polling day for which is tomorrow.
And they have shown, by their work, that there is much still to be achieved in respect of joining up all the regeneration efforts that are going on in Hastings.
The Trust organised a public meeting on Monday evening, at Blacklands primary school, in order to quiz the St Helens Ward candidates.
It was packed. There was everything you could want – a star turn from three Blacklands pupils; a video giving all the vital information about how HPWRT can and will secure the future for our Pier. And there was a public holding to account of the candidates.
At the end of the meeting, all three candidates from the main political parties made a solemn pledge to persuade their respective parties to agree in principle to begin the process of the compulsory purchase of the Pier by January 2010.
My own view, and you may say that I am biased, is that John Tunbridge – our Lib Dem candidate for St Helens Ward – is the most credible in respect of delivering on this.
So go to it St Helens Ward – vote for John tomorrow, and usher in a balanced Hastings Borough Council, where politicians will have to do the unthinkable, and discuss issues maturely, and act in the best interests of the people of Hastings.
So what about Copenhagen and Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report?
Well, you might think it's tenuous, but I reckon that the Trust's campaign for the Pier does have a connection with these broader political events.
With the need for the world to address the impact of climate change, we need to re-assess in this country our carbon emissions. That might mean going on holiday in the UK more, and sometimes by train; it might mean re-invigorating our seaside resorts; it might mean investing in people as well as the fabric of these towns; it might mean creating jobs in the green industries and using sustainable methods of protecting and preserving our heritage; it might mean making the most of what we have in order to see out the recession.
All these possible applications of increasing environmental and social sustainability have a direct bearing on Hastings and the Battle for Hastings Pier.
I hope that the by-election tomorrow heralds the first step in the process of local change we can believe in.
As we all need President Obama to say at the end of the Copenhagen Summit – yes we can!
(To read more about what Nick has been up to, check out his blog – 'Nick Perry for Hastings & Rye' at www.nickperrylibdem.wordpress.com; or reply to him: @nickperrylibdem on Twitter]
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Weather for Hastings
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west
