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…
Tag: centralisation
News in Brief – Observer – 19/04/2025
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…
A democracy worth defending?
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…

