Help Save the Cyril & Lillian Bishop, and enjoy yourself at the same time!

Tourist Infomration, 20th January – St Mary in the Castle - £8.50 tickets from Muriel Matters’ House

Council offices renamed Muriel Matters House

http://www.hastings.gov.uk/press_media/archive/2016/pr_20161219/

Hastings Borough Council offices on Hastings seafront have been renamed Muriel Matters House.

The building formerly known as Aquila House has undergone massive refurbishment over the last 18 months creating bright, new, modern offices and a welcoming Tourist Information Centre. Not only has the building had a top to toe makeover the council has also recently purchased the building, saving money on future rental outgoings.

The council now receives an additional income of £135,000 p.a. from renting out parts of the town hall and Muriel Matters House. In addition, the council is making a net saving of £75,000 p.a. from purchasing the building rather than paying rent. The total of £210,000 p.a. will help to meet the massive funding reductions the council is experiencing and assist in protecting the services it delivers.

To mark the fresh start the council have renamed the building Muriel Matters House.

Calls for 2017 to be the ‘Year of the Village Green’

The Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, has called on local authorities and developers throughout England to make 2017 the Year of the Village Green, by voluntary registering their land as greens.

The society urges developers to include registered village greens within their sites so that local people have a guaranteed green space for recreation which is preserved for ever. It also urges local authorities to register their own land so that even if it is sold, it is protected.

Kate Ashbrook, the society’s general secretary, said: “The registration process is simple; the only requirements are to provide proof of ownership, obtain the consent of any leaseholder or chargeholder, complete a form and send it to the commons registration authority (county or unitary council).

“Once the land is registered as a town or village green, it is protected by nineteenth-century laws from development or encroachment, and local people have rights of informal recreation there. “So if a planning authority considers that a developer should offer a mitigating benefit to the neighbourhood, it can insist that the developer registers part of its site as a village green.

Read more at: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/calls-for-2017-to-be-the-year-of-the-village-green-1-7754338