Words: Grace Lally. Pic: protests outside East Sussex County Council last year. Elections are being cancelled and opposition groups have been forced to resort to the courts to defend the democratic right to vote. In Putin’s Russia? In Trump’s America? No, this particular anti-democratic stunt is being pulled by our own local councillors here in Hastings and…
Grace L After two and a half years in temporary accommodation, Thomas and Alice (not their real names) are appealing to Hastings Council to give them and their young child a secure home. Unlike other homeless families in temporary accommodation who are on the waiting list for social housing and can bid for places as…
Grace L One year after taking charge of Hastings Council many of our local councillors look ready to throw in the towel. Residents turned up to the 9 June meeting of the council cabinet (the leading members of council) to demand answers about the old Bathing Pool site and Sandrock Bends – two incredibly unpopular…
Grace L Hastings Borough Council (HBC) is being asked to review how they support disabled residents into suitable accommodation, after a disabled woman revealed she has been in temporary accommodation for three years that has no wheelchair access onto the street. She is now being moved to another property where she won’t even be able…
Grace L and Merlin Betts On 12 February Lucie Lambourne’s mother was murdered in their family home in Bexhill. The man arrested for the crime has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial in August. But as the results of this tragedy continue to unfold, Southern Housing wants to take Lucie’s family home, and sell it…
Grace Lally Shared from Hastings Extinction Rebellion, summarising points Grace made at a public discussion on 5 October 2024. Environment v Housing Need? Why do we NEED to build new housing? REAL reasons to build new housing? Myth 1: New houses are more sustainable Other environmental impacts of construction Myth 2: We have a shortage…
Grace L. Image: tenants’ protest July 2024 One Tuesday morning in February, tenants in the Four Courts flats in Hollington got a hand delivered letter inviting them to a meeting the very same day with their landlord, Southern Housing. The meeting would be about moving them out of their homes within a year. The whole…
Grace L Our local borough council is being abolished. It’s a done deal apparently. At the moment we have a local borough council in Hastings that makes decisions on a number of important issues – such as planning permission for new developments and dealing with homelessness – and a county council with a vastly bigger…
Grace L (picture by Palestine Solidarity Campaign) Every time I think I have become hardened to the relentless suffering in Palestine, a new report will punch me in the stomach with the sheer injustice of it all. Last week it was a video from a community activist in Al Mawasi filming his return home after the…