2013 County Council election results --- Glazier scrapes it

The result for Rye and Easter Rother (which includes Winchelsea) is in.

candidate	party	2013		2009
		votes	share	votes	share
Keith Glazier	Con.	963	36.1%	1,572	52.8%
Mike MacKenzie	UKIP	884	33.2%	n/a
Nick Warren	Lab.	647	24.3%	407	13.7%
Peter Hillier-Palmer	LibDem.	171	6.4%	1,000	33.6%
turnout			36.0%		42.0%

So Cllr Glazier is re-elected but with his majority slashed from 572 to 79 and his share of the electorate down to 13%. He will at least be grateful that he did not down as much as the LibDems, whose vote collapsed from 1,000 to 171.

In the County as a whole, the Conservatives have lost overall control, although they remain the largest single party. UKIP made the best showing and Labour did well in Hastings.

party	2013	2009
Con.	20	29
LibDem.	10	13
Lab.	7	4
UKIP	7	n/a
independents	5	3

Unfortunately, the whole election has been marred by a very low turnout.

Not conserving Winchelsea

Icklesham Parish Council's Planning Committee has always shown a contempt for Winchelsea's Conservation Area status. Cllr Bronsdon (Rye Harbour) famously dismissed it as 'simply' about visual appearance. Cllr Sutton (Winchelsea Beach) argued that, as far as he was concerned, Winchelsea Beach was a conservation area.

However, the current Planning Committee broke new ground recently by supporting an application (RR/2013/433/P) by JC Leisure, the motorhome sales unit near Strand Bridge, to breach the Development Boundary --- ie build in open countryside --- by extending across the Brede. If accepted, this would be a major shift in local planning policy.

The application itself may appear innocuous: a change of use to parking. But once a change of use to a business purpose has been allowed, it is simple to get further changes all the way to allowing building. This is was happened at Ferryfields Caravan Park and, more recently, at the old gasometer site. All of these developments have helped to erode the medieval landscape setting of Winchelsea --- a hilltop 'bastide' surrounded by flat marshland, with little peripheral development.

A secondary role in this little story has been played by East Sussex County Council. They owned the land. When they sold it, they were asked by Winchelsea councillors to place a covenant to stop development. They refused, apparently as it might reduce the value to them.

Footlights again!

East Sussex County Council are introducing reductions in streetlighting. This is what they say.

"We engage with the local police and they have had no specific objections to the street lighting changes that we have recently implemented. We will continue to work closely with them to ensure that any specific areas of concern are given due consideration and that existing lighting levels are maintained, or if required, reinstated in certain areas if any issues arise following the changes to the lighting.

To date we have installed part night lighting into Crowborough, Seaford, Peacehaven, Telscombe, Newhaven and are about to start work in Lewes and Hailsham. Last year we introduced similar proposals in Heathfield and Uckfield. The Heathfield scheme has been installed for over one year and the Uckfield scheme approximately ten months. Recent discussions with the Police revealed that there has been no increase in reported crime or incidents of anti-social behaviour in either area and there had not been any injuries resulting from the switch.

In the Rother District we will be proposing to change our street lighting in Battle, Rye, Hurst Green, Flimwell and Darwell Down."

And more on footlights

Just as Icklesham Parish Council decide not to go with the environmental and economic benefits of turning off footlights at midnight, the rest of the world moves on.

ESCC is proposing changes to street lighting in the Rother area as part of a wider plan being rolled out across the County in order to reduce energy bills. The process will begin over the coming months and will involve initial talks with Parish Councils, the police and community safety teams before holding a public engagement event. The works will involve installing dimming equipment on street lights along main roads so that they are dimmed between the hours of midnight and 06:00hrs and installing part-night lighting controls in all of the ESCC maintained lighting on residential roads and providing a reduced number of street lights on some of the secondary/estate feeder roads.  The part-night lighting will switch off between 03:00hrs and 05:30hrs. Town and Parish Councils will also be asked whether they wish to convert their own lighting to part-night operation at the same time.