RAIL CUTS WILL PUT REGENERATION OF hASTINGS IN JEOPARDY CLAIM

Regeneration bosses and politicians think any cuts to services would harm confidence in Hastings - and could lead to investment going elsewhere.

The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) met with the Hastings and Bexhill Regeneration Taskforce last Friday to discuss plans to axe direct trains from Hastings to Gatwick and London Victoria.

Members of the Taskforce - which include Hastings and Rother councils, East Sussex county council and Seeda (South East England Development Agency) - were horrified to learn of the proposed cuts.

They would mean services to Eastbourne reduced from three to two trains an hour - with passengers having to change at Eastbourne for trains to Gatwick and London. Any delays to trains could mean passengers missing their connecting train and waiting for up to an hour for the next one.

Mr Foster said: "These proposals go against all we are trying to achieve. I cannot believe the SRA is serious."

Paul Adams, transport manager at the Taskforce, said the prospect of cuts could have grave implications for the town's regeneration but remained confident they could change the SRA's mind.

He said: "We want to see improvements to the service, not reductions. I don't think the SRA has taken full account of the implications for Hastings and Bexhill and what is going on here.

"We hope we will get them to recognise that their plans are not using up-to-date information and get them to revise the proposals.

"A proposal like this harms confidence and sends out the wrong message. There has been a lot of confidence shown by investors but if we get a big organisation not doing that it would be a setback."

Mr Adams said the Taskforce steering group would meet in December to formalise a collective response to the proposal - but the various partners would also make their objections known before then.

Mr Foster is on the steering group and is seeking a meeting with SRA chairman David Quarmby.

He said: "To have no direct link with our major airport at Gatwick is totally ridiculous and I have told them so. There must be no misunderstanding about how important this issue is."

A spokesman for the SRA said: "We are going out to all the stakeholders and getting their views and obviously last Friday's meeting was part of that.

"All the views will be fed back in to the consultation and will be considered when a decision is taken."

The consultation lasts until early December.

THE decision over the link road could be heading for refusal after a leaked revelation from the minister responsible for the decision.

A Government Office of the South East (GOSE) insider suggested at a regeneration Taskforce meeting last Friday that new Transport Minister Charlotte Atkins was becoming increasingly worried about environmental issues

surrounding the 3.4 mile road.

Taskforce members, Hastings Council leader Jeremy Birch and MP Michael Foster, are seeking an urgent meeting with the minister to allay her fears over the 47.1m scheme. It is understood she will be responsible for the decision, expected in December, after it was delegated to her by Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling.

Cllr Birch and Mr Foster want to refute allegations made by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Transport 2000 that the road would harm ancient woods and the Site of Special Scientific Interest it runs near to.

They fear without stating the positive case for the road - such as alleviating traffic on Bexhill Road and raising travel times between the two towns - the minister will turn down the scheme.

Cllr Birch said: "We need to explain the regeneration and the environmental benefits of the link road.

"The road will form the northern boundary of Pebsham Country Park which will mean there will be a large environmental project which will mitigate any of the concerns people have about the link road.

"While I accept on its own the link road won't solve the problem, as part of wider public transport and rail improvements we can offer some relief to people living with poor air quality on Bexhill Road."

Paul Adams, transport manager at the Taskforce, said he remained confident the road would be approved.

He said: "Many of the pitfalls that affected the bypass do not happen here. This is a much smaller scheme at three miles rather than 13.

"It is a single-carriageway and does not run through any Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty of Sites of Special Scientific Interest or ancient woodland whereas the bypass did."