The Council are facing a bleak winter of difficult budget decisions. The Labour council has painted itself into a corner. By not balancing their budget for the past three years, rational budget choices are diminishing fast.
For example, Hastings Borough Council, along with Wealden and Rother District Council fund the tourist information portal www.visit1066country.com. This is one of the best ways for tourists to discover information and events for Hastings and the surrounding area.
It is likely next year the council will unilaterally pull its £50k funding from the tourism website. It isn’t unreasonable to assume that once funding has been withdrawn it is unlikely to be reinstated.
This seems like a very shortsighted and desperate decision. During the Covid period many more people have been looking to holiday within the UK, whether it be short stays or day trips. Hastings is a traditional seaside town and we rely on tourism for a large part of our economy.
Pre-Covid, local businesses from hotels and restaurants to cafes, shops and attractions in Hastings directly benefited from a tourist spend of around £269 million, which equates to about 5,240 full-time equivalent jobs. A staggering 22% of our population is employed as a result of tourism in Hastings Borough.
At a time when I would call for increasing our investment in attracting tourists to Hastings it seems we are about to decrease it.
In 2020 Hastings Borough Council stopped manning the CCTV system. The Police still have access to the CCTV but the service has been reduced. Recently, Inspector Kara Tombling of Sussex Police shared figures which stated that violent crime has increased in Castle Ward by 49%, giving Castle Ward the highest public place violence crime rate in Sussex.
These figures are quite shocking and I hope there will be a full examination as to what can be done to tackle the situation. We should all feel safe as we (hopefully at the time of writing) go out to celebrate the new year.
It has been another difficult year for the residents of Hastings and St Leonards with the spectre of Covid-19 still hanging over us all. Let us hope that 2022 will finally see the virus on the retreat.
I have been acting as a vaccine champion for the NHS this year, promoting the campaign to encourage everyone to get vaccinated. I have had all three vaccination jabs now and have been very fortunate not to have contracted Covid. I urge everyone that is eligible to get the vaccine and book an appointment as soon as possible.
Thank you for all the comments and feedback you have given me this year. Merry Christmas and have a safe, Covid-free and prosperous new year.
