Your letters - August 20, 2010

Pub brightens up the town

I JUST had to write in to say what a great job the artist has done on the front of the Tubman pub.

The building now has character with its new sign written fascia. This artist is a very talented person and the council should employ him to brighten up other buildings in town. Maybe the artist could do something with the old Observer building just a couple of doors down the road, which has become a bit of an eyesore. It's about time the council sorted that one.

M GILLAH

Trinity Mews

Dorset Place

AFTER reading the article in the Observer this week we went especially to look at The Tubman and its external decoration.

Really, it is a scandal that the council under the guise of a planning restriction on 'advertising' should attack a perfectly innocuous decoration by young artists from Xtrax.

Congratulations to the landlord for being brave enough to commission them and I hope that after due reflection the council withdraws its objection.

ARTHUR AND MELANIE KITSON

Old London Road.

Thanks to the council for prompt action

LAST week someone very kindly dumped their old washing machine in our car park so I rang Hastings Borough Council's fly tipping department that afternoon and explained the problem.

Imagine my utter surprise when leaving the museum at 7.30pm to find that the council had already removed the offending washing machine.

So many complain about the council, but I just wanted to say publicly well done, Hastings, for acting so swiftly to this problem, and to the fly tipper: I hope the council can trace and prosecute you for your anti-social behaviour.

Take your rubbish to the designated dump like everyone else does. Charities such as ours can neither afford the time nor money to deal with your pollution.

JACQUI STANFORD

Shipwreck & Coastal Heritage Centre

Farndale Macbeth meant to be farce

I READ Donald Cole's critical letter with great surprise, as I was at the first night performance (Stables Theatre production of the Farndale Macbeth) and found that all the audience was laughing most of the time.

The play is a farce, is part of a series of plays '“ a murder mystery drama featured in the Stables programme a few years ago and was also very funny.

There was no attempt to pretend the play was anything else in the advance publicity, so Mr Cole and his partner should have been prepared.

The Stables always puts on a range of productions to try to cater for all tastes.

I go to many of the performances, but not all, as they are not all 'my cup of tea'. May I suggest that Mr Cole gets involved with the Stables? He can volunteer in many ways '“ front of house, bar, scene-building, selection of plays, acting etc.

Perhaps he'd get more out of it by putting something in.

ARTHUR KITSON

Old London Road

Find an alternative to BHLR scheme

WE note from the Observer (August 6) that the county council is 'pulling out all the stops to make sure that the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road (BHLR) gets the go-ahead' and that councillors are 'going up to London on a regular basis'.

We would like to remind the council:

n That the BHLR holds little promise of new jobs, merely relocating old ones (80 per cent) in places likely to increase car commuting.

n In 2009, the BHLR was the second worst UK local authority road scheme out of a total of 59 schemes assessed for their calculated CO2 emissions.

n That the scheme will deliver two per cent more CO2 than if it were not built, and nowhere near the Climate Change Act's requirement of a 14 per cent reduction by 2020.

n It will deliver a 10 per cent increase in CO2 by 2050 whereas an 80 per cent cut is required.

n The 'value for money' assessment of the road is skewed by the discredited practice of giving money values to many very small time savings that would be imperceptible to any road user '“ essentially useless.

Measures to address the 'lack of connectivity between the two towns' noted by the new chief executive of the county council have been only sporadically explored since 2002 by the authority itself. Only BHLR has been pursued while other measures identified in a Government-funded study of that year have been pushed into the long grass.

The future envisaged by the promoters is one of car based, land hungry developments which have plagued us for many years and landed us with the problems associated with climate change, examples of which we see reported from across the globe on a regular basis.

The BHLR itself isn't only a tired and outmoded scheme, it is potentially highly damaging to any prospect of sustainable development.

We say to the promoters: For Hastings and Bexhill's sakes '“ scrap it and put your creative energy into making the towns a model area for a sustainable 'low carbon economy' '“ and save our high quality open spaces.

NICK BINGHAM,

Chairman, Hastings Alliance for Sustainable Transport Solutions

Self-service tills: no job opportunities

IT IS very good news that a supermarket has opened on Station Plaza, offering some town centre jobs and opportunities.

However, all the supermarkets are increasingly giving over manned tills to self service which inevitably means fewer jobs, not more.

We work with the long-term unemployed, as well as with young people with little or no experience of employment, and the jobs afforded by supermarkets are ideal as they can offer the first step on the ladder of opportunity.

Supermarkets offer extremely good initial training both in the skills necessary to carry out a variety of tasks and in customer service so staff can use those skills to take advantage of the career path offered by a particular supermarket chain or, alternatively, take them into other areas of work.

Self-service tills do not offer any job opportunities except perhaps for those who manufactured the '“ certainly nowhere near Hastings.

I know a number of people, myself included, who, as a matter of principal, will not be using self-service tills.

Local people need jobs. Supermarkets please note.

PHILIPPA WHITE

Manager

BHT Finding Futures

Havelock Road

Where are the toilets at Carnival time?

MAY I congratulate the Old Town for hosting a week of wonderful events, and at the same time thank the many people of Hastings and surrounding districts for their support and many visitors.

Being president of the Old Town Carnival and having attended the Pirate Day I was appalled at the lack of toilet facilities provided by the town '“ one male toilet plus two urinals, two cubicles for ladies, replacing the old complex of 12 male toilets, an equal number of urinals and 12 toilets for ladies.

With the millions of pounds being spent on the Stade development, our planners came up with toilet facilities for the Old Town and the influx of thousands of people which would have been unacceptable at any local boot fair.

On carnival night the toilets at Rock-a-Nore closed on schedule at 7pm.

Many participants of the carnival, who had spent at least two hours on the floats, came back to find them shut, a long walk back to the Stade, and a 15-minute wait in a queue.

Not the best advertisement for our town, especially if you are elderly or in charge of a number of children. Pelham Place, the next toilet block, is nearly half a mile away.

Who said 'Bring on the clowns'? We seem to have an abundance of them, both in the town hall and local planning.

BILL WICKING

Rock Lane

Guestling

Chairman's message

THIS year's carnival saw people coming from Essex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Cornwall and I even met two ladies from Russia.

It had a really international audience. The build-up throughout the week would be best described as magnificent with events such as the Seaboot, Bike and Pram Races.

On Thursday there was the High Street Party and Friday brought the challenge to beat the record for the most pirates in one place at a time - this was annihilated.

Again we saw international support with pirates crossing the Channel to take part.

Fancy dress and commitment from the people of Hastings makes our week the success it is. My committee does its best to help as do the Hastings High Street Traders Association and the Old Hastings Preservation Society.

Many individuals also have a big part to play during this week. I could mention some names but not to offend those I may forget, it is best not to.

Many thanks to everybody.

ROBERT E MORGAN

Chairman, Hastings Old Town Carnival

Moreton blow

WITH the elderly population of East Sussex set to increase and more pressure on hospitals to keep their beds clear for those needing treatment, the case for retaining a facility for the elderly at the Moreton Centre in Boscobel Road is even more important.

For the elderly to stay living in their own homes is well accepted both on preference of the individual and of eventual cost to the public and any facility that can give extra support is cost effective compared to full time residential care.

A fully reopened Moreton Centre as a modern facility that elderly users could use and having readily-available respite care to enable a break for carers, would mean the centre again being of benefit to the community.

It seems both elected members and officers of East Sussex County Council (ESCC) are still after the short term gain of selling the site for development rather than considering what is best for the residents of the county when they get old and need some day support or respite care. Have the ESCC elected members in Hastings something to add to this debate?

BOB HART

Lower Park Road

I READ with dismay that the Moreton Centre is to be closed. It's no surprise. I was one of many who campaigned to keep the residential side going years ago. What promises they made us.

One East Sussex county councillor told me I would come back and thank them for all the new facilities they were going to put into place. None of this happened. All they have managed to do is waste a valuable asset.

My husband went to the Moreton twice a week for about seven years. It was a welcoming place to be, excellent carers, a good social environment, lots of activities and outings whenever possible. Sadly these didn't happen in the last couple of years he was there, and you had the feeling they just wanted to run it down with a view to ultimate closure. The centre not only provided care for disabled people but also respite for their carers. That never seems to be acknowledged. Who cares for the carers, indeed.

It's all very well talking about personal plans for people to decide their own care. No amount of money will give the service a day care centre can provide and it's vital that people are able to get out of the house and meet other people. The Government estimates that in the next 20 years 1.7 million people will have a potential care need. I cannot see that closing a good day centre will help solve this problem. It just doesn't make sense.

My husband is no longer here but I still feel very strongly about the Moreton Centre. I know how much it helped us and gave me some respite and I hate to think that future generations of the sick and elderly are just not going to have access to the same resources. What will replace them?

No one has put forward any concrete proposals. I am thoroughly disillusioned with all of it. One final point is that these services are not free as everyone contributes something, as well as a lifetime of paying taxes.

PATRICIA WRIGHT

Brittany Road,

St Leonards

Macbeth moaning

DONALD Cole (Letters, August 6) didn't enjoy the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Macbeth at The Stables Theatre and your newspaper was good enough to publish his foot-stamp for the edification of your readers.

Might I '“ as the spoof 'producer' of the play '“ be permitted a reply?

Cast and crew alike are, of course, sorry that Mr Cole didn't have fun.

I expect Messrs McGillivray and Zerlin are now bitterly regretting having written such a theatre-filling, world-wide smash hit.

Humour isn't universal, of course. One man's laughter is another man's tears. And this series of plays isn't everybody's cup of slapstick.

Happily, the scorn Mr Cole poured on our efforts wasn't shared by packed (often sell-out) audiences who laughed and cheered and joined in and had a very jolly time.

As Abraham Lincoln nearly said, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

By his own admission, Mr Cole's visit to the Stables was his first in many years.

Perhaps if he came more often he might realise how hard the artistic committee works to please all of the people at least some of the time.

In recent weeks, The Stables has performed The Graduate, Equus, Two, The Boy Juliet and Macbeth. Next up is Celebrating Shakespeare and The Wicked Lady. Still to come are plays by Michael Punter, Joe Orton, Edward Albee, Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.

Something there for most theatre-goers, even something to cheer up Mr Cole.

PETER ROE,

Ashburnham Road

Seagull problem

RE: the seagull problem at the north east part of Pebsham tip.

Twenty years ago we were being told that there would be problems if the site was not closed soon. Here we are and it is still operating.

The more waste that is dumped in that area, the more problems the residents will have.

The landfill site has had more lives than a cat, it is past its sell by date and it should be closed as soon as possible.

With the proposed landfill site at Ashdown Brickworks, it appears that Bexhill is in the middle of a major misjudgement being made by the by ESCC Waste Planning Department.

R SANDERSON

Topcross Road