Hastings Old Town Residents Association
East Hill House
13 Tackleway
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 3DE
Dick Edwards, Chairman
01424-437069 — dick@hotra.org.uk
For everyone living and working in the Old Town
Report Street Problems
Click here to go to Fix My Street, where you can report problems such as potholes, broken paving slabs and blinking street lights.
The year ahead for the Old Town
The June meeting of the Management Committee set out the priorities for HOTRA for the year ahead. These include parking, pavements, fire services, noise pollution and the cleanness (or otherwise) of the streets and beach. You can read the full program in the July Parish News by clicking here.
Old Town wins Best Walking Neighbourhood poll!
Hastings Old Town has won the Ramblers' Association's Best Walking Neighbourhood Award!
Anthony Slack, long-time Hastings Old Town resident, nominated the Old Town. He said: “Whether it’s simply to visit local shops and restaurants, to go to the doctors’ surgery or to the local cinema or theatre, or just to admire our historic buildings, walking is usually the best way to do it in the Old Town. The well maintained green spaces, the sea views, and the pleasant places to stop for a rest and to socialise, all combine to make Hastings Old Town a fantastic, walkable community. We’re delighted that the Old Town has been crowned as Britain’s Best Walking Neighbourhood.”
Anti-social behaviour and dogs
Are you fed up with agressive begging, drug and alcohol misuse or thoughtless dog owners ?
Hastings Council are consulting on new Public Space Protection Orders.
You can read a summary of the proposal on dogs by clicking here, and on anti-social behaviour here. The full proposals are weighty documents of many pages. You can look at the dogs proposal here, and the full anti-social behaviour proposal here.
HOTRA has prepared a response which you can download by clicking here. If you wish to respond individually, take a look at this web page.
There is a petition to save the centre. Please sign it by clicking here
The Isabel Blackman Centre in Winding Street has been serving Hastings and nearby villages for generations. It is currently being expertly managed by Sussex Community Development Association. It opens 7 days a week and provides a vital link to the many senior citizens who go there. Some already pay a contribution to the costs.
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) want to save £10m from their £250m Adult Social Care Budget. If the IBC closes many elderly people will become isolated in their own homes. To meet their needs in other ways will cost more money. Their carers / family will lose their weekly respite time.
This is the fourth attempt by ESCC to stop meeting these vulnerable people's needs in the past 15 years, which is contemptable.
On July 23 a meeting of Labour-led Hastings Brorough Council called on ESCC to reconsider the closure, and criticised the level of evidence that the county council had produced to support the closure. You can read more in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer here.
HOTRA is actively campaigning to keep the centre open. Watch this page for updates.
Protect Stade Walking routes
Sign the Green Party's petition at Change.org by clicking here
The funfair owner has applied for planning permission to change the right-of-way that passes between the boating lake and the amusements, to build new rides, and to fence off open parts — including the lake. There are 2 applications: click here and here to see them both. The rights to enjoy unrestricted access across this area were established in 1893 during Queen Victoria’s reign.
If both applications are successful then the impact on the sea front would be considerable, and would virtually removes most planning constraints. The current leaseholder could easily build rides up to 35 metres high.
Old Hastings Preservation Societ have started a petition – available in the History House — and the Green Party have an online petition which you can sign by following the link at the top of the page. HOTRA have asked the Coastal Users Group to consider the matter on 27th February. We have also written to the Foreshore Trust Protector – Chris May - asking him to seek advice and clarify the picture.
Graffiti are not a new problem in the Old Town but in recent months there has been a blitz of tags on some of our walls. Hastings council will remove them if you complain – but only if they are on your property. Vivien Harrison has written a quick guide to notifying the council, which you can download by clicking here.