We need a review

This will, of course, require them to be completely open with the community.

We are urged to wait our time, but we all know what happened when we waited our time over the shelters! No, the petition for a town council will go ahead, until the residents are given more than vague assurances by Rother.

It has been a pleasure listening to residents on the street, and they clearly appreciate being given the opportunity to express their thoughts on a variety of issues.

Do residents really feel their interests are “being served by their elected councillors”? A glance at Rye should be enough to show we would not have “the same old tired councillors” in a town council.

Indeed, in my opinion, having “the same tired old councillors” is far more likely to happen in area committees.

But let us have a Community Governance Review, which would ensure Rother is open with the community, and then residents can make up their minds, when they are given all the facts, about town councils and area committees, rather than being drip-fed what Rother wants us to hear!

This review is, of course, what Rother will be forced to do if the petition is successful.

As for only 57 people attending the Town Forum, let us be perfectly clear on the facts here. I asked to speak at the Town Forum in September which was very well attended, and received an e-mail from the Democratic Services (don’t you just love the name?) to say I had a slot reserved. The public forum and the reports from the clubs were put at the end of the evening. There were two important presentations on the core strategy and Parkinson’s Disease, but as there was much time-wasting, surprise, surprise, we ran out of time - and I and several other residents, including ones talking about local clubs, were not given the opportunity to speak.

Fortunately I had warned people what was likely to happen, so it was no surprise to me!

The Town Forum in November was poorly attended, as people had probably found the slow and ponderous pace too much to risk a second time around, and of course the event suffered from a lack of good publicity, which is in my understanding in the charge of the Democratic Services!

There was also the problem that several speakers had not turned up, and some who said they had only been told at the last minute.

Yes, now is the time for change.

Look at how successful the traders were on Saturday when they decided to take control of their own regeneration.

CAROLE WOODLAND

Cooden Drive

Bexhill-on-Sea