SPOTLIGHT: Housing crisis on the Sussex coast
More than 100 councils are due to join an emergency summit to discuss the social and financial crisis created by soaring demand for temporary accommodation. The online meeting on Tuesday (31 October) is to be hosted by Eastbourne Borough Council and the District Councils’ Network. Councillor Stephen Holt, leader of Liberal Democrat-controlled Eastbourne Borough Council, […]
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SPOTLIGHT: The keen swimmer, 80, who feels digitally excluded when booking council-run classes
Pauline Cooper, 80, is determined to keep fit and active so she goes swimming every day at 6.30am at the Sovereign Centre in Eastbourne. She also likes to take the Sunday morning aquafit class after her swim but cannot book in advance online because she does not own a smartphone or a computer. The 30 […]
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SPOTLIGHT: The Black Robin Farm project
What is happening at Black Robin Farm, the high-profile plan for a cultural and education centre on the South Downs above Eastbourne? It is nearly two years since Eastbourne Borough Council secured £19.8 million in Levelling Up funding towards this scheme and others – and the deadline for spending the money is less than six […]
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SPOTLIGHT: What can be done about the housing crisis in Eastbourne?
The annual cost of housing benefit in Eastbourne is more than £30 million, while rents continue to rise and limited numbers of new homes are built. The lack of housing is the driving force behind the Eastbourne Community Land Trust, which plans initially to build five houses for key workers and their families. Conservative MP […]
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SPOTLIGHT: The volunteers who honour the dead
The tombstones, crucifixes, angels and inscriptions slowly emerge from the creeping ivy and smothering foliage as if in a fairy story. What looks like a bank of overgrown shrubs becomes a row of stone memorials, marking lives, families, connections, history. “I just find it really satisfying to clean them up, research people’s lives and find […]
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SPOTLIGHT: How TechResort changes lives
Sam Best was researching jobs and considering his future when he came across the Japanese philosophy of ‘ikigai’, said to be the secret to a joyful life. The 19-year-old found that the idea was to fulfil four categories: do what you love, do what the world needs, do what you are good at and do […]
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SPOTLIGHT: What exactly is the problem with local news?
I’ve just read a copy of an Eastbourne newspaper. It is a model of good local news reporting with eight stories on the front page. Inside, on packed news pages, the reports include eight court cases and three inquests. The defendants in court included a 74-year-old arsonist and a 22-year-old man who allegedly stole 43 […]
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SPOTLIGHT: The road from Roche to pavement politics
Brett Wright was elected earlier this month as an East Sussex County Councillor, representing Meads in Eastbourne. His success as a Liberal Democrat resulted in the Conservatives losing their overall majority. We meet the man to find out what motivated him to stand and why he’s hoping his election will lead to a more collaborative […]
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SPOTLIGHT: Why chalk grasslands are so important for all of us
By ecology-trained consultant Julie Bygraves, of Wild Bourne It’s hard to express how special a chalk grassland is – you just have to go to see one. It’s also hard to explain what it is: in genetic terms it’s an assemblage of rare plants on chalk! But the constituent species can vary enormously depending on […]
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SPOTLIGHT: Concern mounts over the future of fragile chalk grassland
I visit the scarp slope of the South Downs with an ecology-trained adviser and an Old Town local who has walked the area for more than 25 years to hear their fears about how scrub is encroaching on the rare chalk grassland. A company is paid £9,300 of public money a month to implement a […]
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