New hope for disabled people

Rother leader Graham Gubby and East Sussex County Council were quick to respond after the Observer highlighted the plight of Wendy Matthews, of Martyn's Way, and her profoundly disabled daughter Claire, 24.

Claire is wheelchair-bound and Wendy said she feels families like theirs have been 'overlooked' and 'banished' from the town by the new scheme. She said the number of disabled parking spaces has dropped.

Observer news editor Rob Hustwayte went with Wendy and Claire on a trip to the town centre to witness the problems first hand. Wendy had asked the county council to do the same but was told nobody was available.

Now Cllr Gubby has offered to take the same trip to hear her concerns first hand.

He said: "If we haven't got it quite right we should talk and try to resolve the problems.

"I am obviously concerned that people, for one reason or another, seem either genuinely not able to find places to park or perceive that there are less parking spaces.

"I am setting up a meeting with technical officers from East Sussex County Council because we are in the review stage - lets not forget this is not finalised yet. I am already in discussions with them about plans for areas which could be designated for disabled drivers."

Area Highways manager Graham Furness also responded, saying: "We at East Sussex County Council are fully sympathetic to the needs of people with disabilities and invest public money to help improve accessibility for them and all members of the community."

Mr Furness says Bexhill's problem is a lack of effective parking enforcement, which is currently a police responsibility.