About Magazine Issue 16 - Summer 2002

about you about life about Hastings & St Leonards

Welcome

Jeremy Birch Photograph

With the elections now out of the way the Council has approved its programme for the year. Naturally the key priorities in our performance plan Unlocking the future continue to stand.

Already eight street wardens have started patrolling St Leonards, the town centre and seafront as part of our commitment to community safety.

We are continuing our negotiations with the DVLA to give the Council the power to remove untaxed cars throughout the year. We are also looking at government plans to allow us to remove abandoned cars in 24 hours.

We will continue to be at the heart of the five-point plan to revive the town, but we must ensure that everyone benefits.

In particular, new money flowing into the town must be used to improve the poor quality of much of our housing, so we will be declaring a new housing renewal area in Central St Leonards.

We want a revived Hastings & St Leonards to be an environmentally sustainable Hastings & St Leonards.

With the youngest population in the county the Council will be giving special emphasis to the needs of young people. A youth strategy is being drawn up for the town and the Council will make sure that all its own strategies recognise the particular needs of young people. The leisure needs of young people, particularly in their own local areas, should be a priority.

We will continue to be an accessible, listening Council. We will hold cabinet committee meetings in school halls and community buildings and the agendas, reports and proceedings will be made as publicly friendly as possible.

A recent editorial in the Hastings Observer laid down the challenge to the Council:

"Things have started to pick up and after a very long time Hastings is being associated with some of the better things in life. If that improvement is to continue, and it is vital it does,"