East Sussex County Council have now appended notices of apologies on lamp posts in some of the roads that are definitely very dangerous to drive on. Whether they have just realised how bad the condition of practically every road in Eastbourne is, it is just nonsense unless they go round with their eyes closed.
Calvary Crescent is one road to avoid driving down as there is a hole so deep that it is becoming what is called a “SINK HOLE” and someone drove into it last week and had to change his front wheel because it was twisted out of shape. Unfortunately it was one of the holes that hadn’t got chalk marks round it.
Why spend millions of pounds to upgrade the A27 from Polegate to Beddingham that East Sussex County Council state they haven’t got which is quite evident as they keep dragging their feet in repairing the roads properly in Eastbourne? However if they have millions of pounds at their disposal it would be more to the point if they made improvements to the road to Hastings as more patients have to visit the Conquest Hospital, due to the daft legislation of the person who manages Eastbourne DGH.
At the moment and at any time during the day it can take up to an hour and a half getting from Eastbourne to Hastings and with more and more houses being built the roads will become grid locked, especially nowadays when most families tend to own two or three cars.
Having received a copy of the Conservative Eastbourne & Willingdon local news with the headline: “The Road To Recovery” there is a photograph of three people holding up boards and one of the boards has the word “SAFETY” written on it. How dare they talk of safety when the roads are so bad.
I notice that the newspaper does not report on the more important issues like tax increases and anything of that nature. It only reports on what the public already know and Politicians only grab hold of sensational headlines that are safe and favourable to the public. Anyone can start a campaign to save this and that and they seldom amount to anything and are soon forgotten.
Please read the report below by our Member of Parliament for Eastbourne and Willingdon – it may concern you!
Dear Gregory Time for my monthly newsletter, and once again the theme is Eastbourne’s growing buzz: the Carnival is imminent, tens of millions of pounds in outside investment have been announced for our town, unemployment is 20% down since this time last year, we’re now well over 3,000 apprenticeship starts since 2010, campaigns for a better A27 and fast train are progressing, and even the Prime Minister agrees that “Eastbourne is leading the way”!
1 Don’t forget to make a note in your diaries for this year’s Eastbourne Sunshine Carnival. It’s on Saturday 31st May, starting at 4pm from the Western Lawns and finishing at Princes Park. There’s also a Fair on at the Park which will give our Carnival even more of a boost! I’d also like to give our sponsors – Legal & General, the owners of the Arndale Centre – a special mention. Their support has been excellent. We’ve over 60 floats and marching bands and the theme this year is ‘Rio by the Sussex Sea.’ See here for more info and a bonkers pic of me, our Pageant Master David Cooper and Bill Plumridge, the manager of the Arndale, strolling through the Centre dressed in ‘colourful’ costumes. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what the lady looking at us was thinking!
2 As if we needed further proof that Eastbourne is buzzing and attracting investment from around the country, last month it was announced that a new development in Sovereign Harbour has finally been given the go-ahead. This will create 1,500 jobs and bring £80 million in investment to our town. I’ve been involved in this for over two years, chairing numerous meetings and negotiations, and I’m delighted that the investment has finally been approved. This is a vision for the Harbour which includes a community centre, play areas, a high quality business park and will, I’m convinced, ensure Sovereign Harbour has a stunning future. I’d like to give very special thanks to the SHRA and the Harbour residents. It’s been a long haul but I appreciate the trust they put in me and all of us on the Harbour Committee. Thank you. See here for more info.
3 Many of you saw my letter to Stuart Welling last month and the response after I sent it around was unprecedented. Within a week of me calling for the resignation of the senior managers at the DGH one of the local Clinical Commissioning Groups took matters into their own hands, withdrawing many services from the purview of East Sussex Healthcare Trust. Liz Walke, Chair of the cross-party SavetheDGH team, and I met with the CEO of Brighton Hospitals Trust last week to discuss all the possible options our own CCG could explore in the future – there’s more info here.
The A27 campaign is also going well, and on the strength of my submission to the Highways Agency (see here) I’ve been accepted on to 2 important reference Groups: One at the County Council, where we will be exploring the best avenues for improvement (excuse the pun) and lobbying Central Government; and one with the Department of Transport, where I will be the only MP on the panel that oversees the process. It’s an exciting time, and I’m hopeful there will be some movement on this crucial artery soon. See here for more info.
I’ve also been campaigning locally on the critical issue of local disability tribunals. Since August 2013 the majority of disputed cases have been moved from their Eastbourne location in favour of having the cases heard some 30 miles away in Hove. This is forcing disabled people to travel long distances, presenting real challenges and causing unnecessary hardship for vulnerable residents. Rarely for an MP, I’ve always asked my team to provide an advocacy service for disabled people who need the extra support. As a town of almost 100,000 people and we should host Tribunals, as we had done for many years in the past. The added burden of travelling to Hove means equal access to justice is being made unnecessarily difficult and that can’t be right. See here for more info.
4 In Parliament a few weeks ago, I launched a report on how good RE teaching in schools plays an important role in promoting community relations and cohesion when taught by trained RE teachers. I think in the modern world educating our children with facts on the beliefs and practises of people from all faiths, including those with none, is more important than ever. Take a look and let me know what you think.
5 Finally, last week Eastbourne received a well deserved compliment from a surprise admirer –the Prime Minister! When I asked him if he agreed with me that ‘where Eastbourne goes, the UK follows’ he agreed that we are leading the way. He was particularly impressed with our record on apprenticeships, which have played such a large part in the way Eastbourne and Willingdon has bucked the trend over the last 4 years. It shows what we can do when we all pull together! See here for more info. That is all for now. I will be in touch soon as the new train franchise is announced (fingers and toes crossed) over the next few weeks, and I’m hopeful we will have some good news in there for my fast train campaign. But until then, take care, and I hope to see you all at the Carnival on the 31st May!
All the best, Stephen Lloyd MP for Eastbourne and Willingdon P.S. We still need a few more marshals for the Carnival. If you can help, fill in the form here and I’ll make sure it gets to our Traffic Marshalls co-ordinator Andy Holter (who deserves many congratulations for his Eastbourne Achievers Award last week) You have been sent this email because according to our database, you gave us permission to contact you. If you wish to unsubscribe from my e-newsletter, please click here. GET INVOLVED: Is there an issue you feel strongly about? If so please reply to this email or call my office on 01323 733030. Thank you. To forward this email to a friend who might be interested click here. To change the contact details we have for you click here.