A warm welcome to the first of the society's blog updates. Thank you for looking in.
Our society is for those who are interested in Eastbourne, who've lived in the town in the past or who live there still. We're trying to understand what's happened over the years to make it the place it is today; and what is going on now which might shape its future.
We're looking at the big things. We're not interested in trivia (well, not much).
This weekly update will run through what we're currently looking at.
First thing: the Council's three big projects, financed by Central Government's levelling up money. The Council's going to tart up the end of Terminus Road, and make it a pedestrianised outdoor dining area. It's going to put down some kind of art trail around the town. And it's going to put a tourist centre at Black Robin Farm near Beachy Head.
You can see what's going on here. The Council wants to make Eastbourne a more interesting, fun place to visit. It needs the visitors, and it needs them to spend money.
On the subject of money, the pandemic has hit the Council's finances hard. No tourists or conferences. Yet an increased demand for social care and other services. Central Government stepped in with cash (not the same as above), but on condition its accountants review the position. They've told the Council it needs to do more than rebuild its tourism and conference offer. It needs to sell off things. I don't know what the Council owns, except for the Eastbourne Downs farms. It's not going to want to go back there surely. This is going to be tricky.
Second thing: there's a big consultation underway about the town's sea defences. Climate change and sea level rise is going to mean breaches, and thousands of houses built on the flood plain will be at risk. The Environment Agency will probably want to raise the sea wall east of the pier, going down all the way to Cooden. It might think about whether the levels - the marshy ground through which the train line runs - can accommodate occasional storm surge water. Watch this space.
Third thing: another consultation, this time about Brighton University's future in Eastbourne, although we suspect it's a done deal. This marks a probable end to a line of further education in the town. Eastbourne will feel its loss - the students will go; I guess the buildings will either be knocked down or renovated for housing.
The history of education in the town is interesting - from the art school which educated Tirzah Garwood and her husband, Eric Ravilious, to the emergency use after the war of empty private school buildings to train up teachers. The ghosts of a hundred plus such schools haunt many Meads and Upperton roads.
Fourth thing: we're watching the political situation in the town. The Liberal Democrats have chosen their candidate to fight the next General Election, and what a CV he has (OBE in his twenties for social action). But he and his team mustn't underestimate the challenge, as I'm sure they won't - the Brexity, Conservative vote here is resilient. The Libdems' best chance is to harness growing Labour support towards the loan of tactical votes. And the candidate will need to do all he can to get himself noticed (which, with his "Eastbourne OBE Roadshow", he is already surely doing).
We would have said that Eastbourne was probably out of the Liberals' reach a few weeks ago - because the Labour and Green vote had already gone their way. Now we're not so sure. This writer holds no political affiliation (nor an Eastbourne vote for that matter). So we'll just attempt an impartial view on developments. We know one thing, though - it's going to be a right battle.
That's all for now. Do feel free to comment or feed back. In the meantime, have a great week and stay safe!
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