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…
An account from a frontline support worker The headlines about the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Universal Credit are bad enough, but there are also subtleties happening in the sidelines that we all should pay attention to. The changes to disability benefits drawn up in Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support…
Over 100 Labour MPs are threatening to vote against the government to stop cuts to welfare benefits. They seem to think that taking away Personal Independence Payments (PIP) from around one million sick and disabled people is not what they were elected to do. But not our MP. No, the very ambitious new MP for…
On March 26th, Hex writer Andrea joined a march in Hastings, East Sussex, to protest against the disability cuts. Andrea interviewed members of the public about how the new four-point ruling and disability cuts will affect them personally.
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…
Jane Ripley Recently I went to the Save Sandrock Bends campaign, who held a public meeting on the proposed development of the beautiful and biodiverse site on the corner opposite the Conquerors March on The Ridge, for where an Outline Planning Application has recently been made. I went on behalf of our group Standing up…
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…
Merlin Betts News in brief involves a Hex journalist summarising the news displayed in another local media outlet for that week or fortnight. The summaries will likely include personal comments and additional research not present in the original article. If you don’t like that, well, you were warned. Last week’s news in brief was covering…
On 29 March, Hastings Assembles held a community assembly for two hours in Hastings Town Centre, for local people to meet and discuss the planned changes to local government, including the plan to abolish Hastings Borough Council and bring in a new elected mayor for all of Sussex. The afternoon kicked off with Julia Hilton, leader of Hastings council, explaining the overall…
Merlin Betts This week it feels like reminders of the obvious. Roadworks go on well past their timeframe. The pier might get slightly less noisy – maybe. Ill-conceived housing schemes push onward under Labour’s national encouragement. Southern Water embarrasses itself, and Helena Dollimore quotes facts and figures according to her latest sealed instructions from Labour…