New Chair of Hastings Board announced

Kevin Boorman is the new chair for the Hastings Board.  

He was selected by a panel drawn from the Hastings Board and in consultation with Helena Dollimore, MP for Hastings and Rye.

Kevin is a lifelong Hastings resident, and spent over 20 years on the railway, in supervisory and managerial posts, leaving when British Rail was privatised. He then joined Hastings Borough Council in 1998 and retired in 2023 having worked in senior tourism, marketing and communications posts.

Kevin said: “I am delighted to be appointed chair of the Hastings Board, and the opportunity it gives us to improve the lives of local people.

“I was born in the Old Town in the 1950s, when it was one of the poorest parts of Hastings, and have seen the town’s fortunes change considerably over the years, with some good times and some bad times.

“It now gets a far better press than thirty years ago when we were dubbed ‘Hellhole on Sea’, but I know there are still some major challenges facing the town, which remains very deprived in places. The ‘Plan for Neighbourhoods’ gives us a real chance to make a real difference to our communities. We need to really listen to local people, and I am committed to consulting as widely as possible within the town before we develop our ten-year plan, which needs to be submitted to the government in November.”

Member of Parliament for Hastings, Rye and the villages Helena Dollimore MP said: “This £20m Government funding gives us an exciting opportunity to improve our area. I’m looking forward to working with Kevin and others to improve our town. We will be pushing to make sure money is spent wisely and for the voices of local people to be heard when deciding what it should be spent on. More than 200 people have already been in touch to share their ideas with me so do keep sending them in by emailing me or using my website.”

Cllr Julia Hilton, deputy leader of Hastings Borough Council and lead councillor for regeneration, said: “The Plan for Neighbourhoods is a great opportunity to look at how we do regeneration differently, we need to know that in ten years’ time we have used this fund to really make a difference, particularly for the young people of our town. Kevin has a huge love and knowledge of Hastings and I am looking forward to working with him and the Hastings neighbourhood board to really listen to what change people want to see in their neighbourhoods. I would also like to thank Rebecca Conroy (previous chair of the Hastings Board and Chief Executive Officer East Sussex College Group) for her skilful work as interim chair over the past 12 months.” 

Kevin will be taking up this voluntary post from 30 June, and he will be overseeing the board which is responsible for spending the £20m of government funding allocated to Hastings over the next ten years through the Plan for Neighbourhoods. The funding will support the delivery of mostly capital investment and improvement in community services, such as regeneration, education, health and employment.

You can find out more about the Plan for Neighbourhoods and read the government information.