Observer Column 16 April 2025

Last week our consultation on our new Hastings housing strategy went live and thank you to the three hundred people who have already responded. It very simply asks you for your experience with finding a decent place to live in Hastings and whether you feel settled and secure in your home. It also asks what we need to do as a town to ensure everyone has a decent place to live.

You might be lucky enough to have a safe and secure home but the lack of affordable housing is something that probably touches every family in Hastings, whether it is a young person struggling to find somewhere to live or an older person who now finds their home not fit for purpose. We want everyone’s views and are also happy to come to events in person so if you are holding a community event in the next few weeks and would like to include a discussion around this issue do get in touch with HousingSolutions@hastings.gov.uk The survey is available here.

At Downs Farm last week the team leading on the next phase of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund held a shared event with Southern Housing at the Downs Farm community centre where over 200 residents had a chance to map out where they would like to see improvements to their estate. The free children’s books and Easter eggs were very popular! Ideas included wild flower meadows and community gardening as well as really down to earth requests like more litter bins. Residents were hugely appreciative of the opportunity to share their ideas, and some came forward to sit on the newly created community panel which will be identifying which ideas were the most popular and can be taken forward for the available budget. Active Hastings will also be running lots of different sports activities over the coming months for all ages.

Many parents, carers and teachers are rightly worried about the future of the former University of Brighton Academy Trust schools and it is disappointing that neither the county council or the Department for Education who makes the final decision on which academies will take on these schools in the future, have seen fit to reach out and hold any sort of public consultation to hear residents' views. I spoke at a recent meeting hosted by our MP Helena Dollimore which saw over sixty people attend including representatives of the National Education Union who did so much work to bring to public attention the way these schools were failing our children.  We encouraged people to make sure their views are heard by emailing the Regional Director for Education, Dame Kate Dethridge, (Kate.DETHRIDGE@education.gov.uk) who with the regional board, will make the final decision on which academies trusts take on these schools. It is pretty shocking that our children’s future educational provision is decided by a panel that doesn’t have a single Hastings representative on it so it is even more important that you make your views known.