“I’m proud to be selected to build on the work started by Michael Foster and Labour in Hastings and Rye,” said Sarah Owen. “Right now people feel let down by this Government and I will offer a positive alternative and a genuine commitment to people in Hastings and Rye.”

Born and raised in Hastings and Rye, and a long-time local Labour activist, Sarah is currently political advisor to Lord Alan Sugar, and is helping develop Labour’s national small business policy.

Former Hastings & Rye Labour MP Michael Foster:
“I was delighted to be the first ever Labour MP in Hastings & Rye, and I’m delighted that we’re now on course for our first woman Labour MP. Sarah will be a real match for Tory MP Amber Rudd, and I look forward to some exciting local campaigning in the months and years ahead.”

Labour South East’s regional director Malcolm Powers said, “Winning back Labour support in the South in places like Hastings and Rye is a big part of winning our way back into Government. With Sarah Owen, local people have a strong and talented Labour candidate ready to take the fight to David Cameron’s Tories”.

You can read more about Sarah at www.sarahowen.org.uk

Thursday November 24th 7pm at Ellen Draper Centre, 84 Bohemia Road, St Leonards-on-Sea.

Guest Speaker Ann Kramer will talk about her work.

Ann has written or contributed to more than 50 non-fiction titles for children and adults. Her books cover a range of subject areas but she specialises in history, particularly women’s history. She entered publishing as an editorial researcher, then went freelance as a writer and editor. During the 1980s she took time off to achieve an honours degree in history as a mature student at Sussex University.She specialised in women’s history, focusing on feminist newspapers and Josephine Butler, a Victorian campaigner. During the 1980s she held various editorial posts but has been a full-time writer for the last 20 years. www.annkramer.co.uk

Please RSVP if possible to: kim.forward@hastingsandryelabour.org.uk

9.15am-10.30am, Saturday 26th November 2012, Southwater Community Centre.

 
Since pay parking was introduced in Hastings in 1998 the County Council has agreed that it should managed by the borough council and any surplus used by the two authorities to improve traffic and transport in the town.

East Sussex County Council’s Cabinet meets on 15th November and is being recommended to give control of Hastings parking to NSL, the on-street arm of National Car Parks.

“This is definitely not what Hastings people want,” said Cllr Kramer. “Instead of having local control of parking that tries to be sensitive to the needs of residents and businesses a remote national company will be making money out of Hastings car-owners.

“The government talks of localism giving more control over decisions to the local level. East Sussex County Council clearly believes in the opposite. This is not a good day for Hastings.”

The Conservative leader of East Sussex County Council Cllr Peter Jones has refused the borough council’s request that Cllr Jay Kramer be allowed to address the county cabinet to explain the borough council view.
 

New Arrangements For Waste Collection And Street Cleaning

We know that many residents feel that the waste collection and street cleaning services are amongst the most important that Hastings Borough Council (HBC) supplies. We are very keen not to repeat the mistakes made by the previous Council which attempted to impose large communal bins on hundreds of households without adequate consultation. This led to a large number of petitions. The Conservative Council was forced to back down and cancel the scheme at considerable cost.

New Contract

HBC empties the bins and cleans the streets through a contract which will end in 2013. Preparations for a new contract have been going on for some time. A Waste Advisory Group (WAG) consisting of local residents’ associations, local councillors and council officers was established in Spring 2011. WAG believes that wheelie bins will continue to be used by those households which currently have them. However, plastic sacks are a problem as they are the major cause of dirty streets and low recycling rates.

Trial Of Seagull-Proof Sacks

Residents in Thanet told WAG reps that the problem of split bags had disappeared after seagull-proof sacks were introduced. A trial of seagull-proof sacks is planned for about 100 households in Bohemia. The trial is being designed in consultation with the Bohemia Area Association. Andrew visited Thanet in 2011 and was impressed by the seagull proof sacks.

Financial Position

HBC needs to reduce the cost of waste collection and street cleansing. HBC’s largest source of income is Government grant. HBC has suffered the largest cut in Government funding of any district council in England. By the Spring of 2013 this will mean that nearly half of Government funding to HBC will have disappeared. This represents a threat to all services.

The cost of purchasing waste collection and street cleansing services has risen since HBC signed the contract under which these services are currently provided. The cost of waste collection is linked closely to the amount of recyclates which are collected and also to the facilities available from the local waste collection authority (East Sussex County Council) (ESCC). HBC is legally obliged to meet Government targets for collection of recyclates and is also legally obliged to use ESCC as the local waste collection authority.

Most of Hastings has alternate weekly collections (twin bin scheme). The Government has announced that it is making a £250 million ‘Weekly Collections Support Scheme’ fund available for councils. The amount of money available is sufficient to fund only a few of the 348 councils which collect waste, for a significant length of time. The Government is insisting that weekly collections paid for from this fund are guaranteed for 5 years. However, waste collection contracts last at least 8 years to be financially viable. No responsible council is going to take on the risk of signing a contract when it believes that after 5 years it won’t be able to pay for it.

Joint Working

All other district councils in East Sussex have lost some of their Government grant and are looking for ways to reduce the cost of providing services. HBC has joined with three other local authorities to consider signing a joint waste contract. It is believed that 1 large contract can be purchased at a lower cost than 4 smaller contracts.

The other authorities are Rother District Council (RDC), Wealden District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council. Negotiations as to how to divide the costs of the new contract are ongoing. RDC will administer the procurement process and the new contract. Once signed, the day-to-day management of the services will be undertaken by each local authority. Each local authority will have to approve the contract before it can be signed. The procurement process has begun and there have been a large number of expressions of interest from potential contractors.

Street Cleaning

In our work as local councillors we receive many complaints about dirty streets – especially dog fouling. In the existing contract removal of dog mess has the same priority as removal of much less offensive waste such as paper and plastic. Many residents feel that removal of dog mess should be given higher priority.

Kim writes, “HBC is making improvements to street cleaning now. We are not waiting for the new contract.”

Response to dog fouling

• Free poo bag pouches
• Additional cleansing using new “Poovers”
• High profile enforcement – Fixed Penalty Notices
• Zero tolerance message through media / HBC website

‘Poover’ Gets To Work

A new piece of a machinery, a’ Poover’ was used for the first time this month. Four of the portable machines designed to pick up dog mess, leaves and other small items of pavement rubbish have been purchased by HBC to clean the streets. Councillors Kim Forward and Andrew Cartwright went to have a look at the new machines at work in Woodland Vale Road.

Scrutiny

Whilst presenting opportunities, joint working also presents threats. In particular, local needs and initiatives can get forgotten. Andrew chaired a Special Scrutiny Committee to examine the draft contractual documents.
Amendments requested by the committee included:

1. In terms of secure containers, include the consideration of seagull-proof sacks and other types of containment that could help to improve street cleanliness in areas where standard wheelie bins are not appropriate
2. The inclusion of a separate street cleanliness assessment parameter to enable cleaning up dog mess to be given a high priority;
3. Production of a comprehensive timetable. This is needed to allow time for the councils
   to consult with residents;
4. Include a definition of street which distinguishes between the main carriageway and
   the kerbs and pavement in order to reduce instances of damage to kerbs and pavements,
   especially in more inaccessible areas (e.g. Hastings Old Town).

Recycling At Lidl And Summerfields

Kim writes “The Lidl recycling facilities were removed in July while they were refurbishing the car park. The recycling was reinstated in August. The plastic and cans container has been refurbished and a new paper container has been delivered. The site is cleaned daily. The site at Summerfields has more facilities with a WEEE container for waste electrical goods and HBC is looking into adding a textiles container.”

Please don’t hesitate to Andrew (01424 203231) or Kim (01424 717390) if you have any concerns or ideas.

 
Hollington and Wishing Tree councillors will be holding a drop-in surgery TODAY (Friday 21st October) at Tesco Extra, Churchwood Drive, St Leonards – 12 Noon till 1pm.

If you live in Gensing Ward councillor Kim Forward will be available for a chat and coffee tomorrow (Saturday 22nd October) 10-11.30am at Southwater Community Centre.

 
Richard Street, Labour’s candidate for Ore in next May’s Borough Council elections said, “In just two hours 150 people signed our petition. Most of the people we spoke to had a story about tripping and hurting themselves on the uneven paving slabs and broken kerbs.

“One person showed us her cuts and bruises from tripping just a few moments earlier. The cracked paving stones are unsightly and unsafe. We know that money is scarce but renewing the pavement surface will make Ore Village a safer and more attractive place to shop. This should be a top priority.”

Ore councillor, Michael Wincott, spoke to local shopkeepers in Old London Road and they all signed the petition, having complained about the pavements for years. He said, “I’ve raised the matter time and again, but nothing ever seems to get done. The County Council is letting down Ore. It’s letting down residents, businesses, tourists. We hope that our petition will make them take action.”

 
In March your local MEP launched his campaign for a blanket ban on neonicotinoid pesticides at The Strand House near Rye with bee keepers Hugh Davie and Cathy Pope. The campaign followed a UN report that humans must change their behaviour to save bee populations.

Spearheading the campaign was Peter’s European Written Declaration backing the ban and calling for further research. As the window for signing closed a total of 107 MEPs from across Europe had put their names to the Declaration.

Peter will now continue the campaign and use the groundswell of support to push for a ban.

Bees are the world’s most important pollinating insects and are worth about £200m a year to British agriculture. They could be worth as much as £26 billion to the global economy.

Peter Skinner MEP:  “Our bees are in trouble and need help. They are hugely important to our local rural economy and environment and I don’t want to see them disappear from our gardens and countryside.

“We don’t know the long term effects of these pesticides on bees. Research showing a possible link to declining numbers has been ignored by the Conservative-led Government. That’s why I am delighted my declaration attracted 107 signatures and I will now be using that support to push for a European ban instead. This is clearly an issue right across Europe and we will be campaigning together for a ban. It’s time for plan Bee.”

“This will make it the people’s Town Hall,” said council leader
Cllr Jeremy Birch. “Aquila House will be a workplace for staff but the public will come to the Town Hall for all advice, information and services and of course council meetings. And if you ask residents that’s where they would want to go as it’s in the right heart of the Town Centre.

“We already have the award winning information centre in the Town Hall providing for residents and visitors alike. Now face to face contact for all council services will be in the Town Hall and if that requires more space on the ground floor to serve our residents so be it,” said Cllr Birch.

This new contact centre approach has already begun to be implemented with waste and planning contact being dealt with centrally and over the next year all public contact by phone or in person will be moved in. A team of staff have been recruited for their interpersonal skills and knowledge of council services so they can provide nearly all the information a resident might require when they phone up or drop in.

“This will provide a high quality service for local people and by bringing everything together in one place will save the council money at a time when that is a vital consideration,” said Cllr Jay Kramer who has been steering the project.

 
The Excellence Cluster was set up with government money dedicated to help with the extra needs of Hastings. It provides extra support to families and children in the town who are struggling with learning and it provides help with behaviour.

But back in March the Schools Forum agreed to redistribute the Excellence Cluster’s money to all schools in East Sussex based on the number of children and on a factor for deprivation.

After the outcry from Hastings that greeted their decision they agreed to put the matter on the agenda for their June meeting. Despite the case being made again that, while there may be social needs in all parts of the county the concentration of deprivation is in Hastings, they voted not to reconsider their previous decision.

They also voted not to change the formula for redistributing the Hastings money which would have given more weight to social needs rather than pupil numbers.

Labour county councillor Trevor Webb spoke at the meeting: “I made clear just what a vital job Excellence Cluster staff do in challenging circumstances and that this decision puts all those staff and what they do at risk. But, I’m afraid some people just didn’t want to listen. They wouldn’t even allow the Excellence Cluster staff to come along and outline exactly what they do and the successes they are having.”

Local school governor representative Kim Forward said: “The decision is a blow to our town and to our children. I came back from the meeting determined to tell governors and heads in the town just what had happened and to discuss with them where we go from here.”

Local schools can still choose to use their portion of the old Cluster money to buy the sort of services it has up until now been providing, but it will clearly be at a significantly lower level with the money being divided up between 200 East Sussex schools rather than 30 in Hastings.