Save Bexhill Green

For the third time in ten years, Churchill Retirement Living has applied for planning permission to build a block of flats on the green at Gullivers Bowling Club. Their plan is to destroy a beautiful garden square that has been there for 120 years. One side of the square consists of a building generally considered to be the second most important in Bexhill, a Grade II listed Victorian crescent. Having been rejected twice, it is clear that the Council, the planners and the residents of Bexhill do not want this development. Churchill's approach flies in the face of the new localism bill; local people should be consulted on where new shops, offices and homes can be built and which green spaces should be protected. This seems of no concern to Churchill. With each appeal costing council tax payers tens of thousands of pounds, surely most Bexhill residents could think of better things to spend this money on. The irony is that there is a perfectly good brownfield site nearby, that of the old Grand Hotel, a derelict eyesore for years and ripe for renovation. The planning committee meets to discuss this matter on 10th April 2014. While Churchill have tweaked their proposal, there is no change to the problems it will cause: existing residents in Knole Road will lose privacy and light, there will be dire parking problems in an already congested seafront street, there is a risk of flooding- indeed the bowling club was flooded this winter and there were sink holes in the road (from water), even before soak away land is concreted over. Churchill's proposal is a purely commercial one that is of no benefit to the local community and destroys the last open green space in east Bexhill. It is to be profoundly hoped that the planners will reject it firmly. We the undersigned strongly object to the destruction of Bexhill's foremost garden square.

Rebecca Dugan, Knole Road Flat Owners    Contact the author of the petition