The new Local Plan will cover the period up to 2039 and will set out a vision for the borough and a plan for the development of the town.
We would like to get your early feedback on priority areas for the new plan and have developed a short questionnaire so you can submit your views.
If you wish to complete the questionnaire please do so by 10th September 2020.
We have also launched a new webpage and there will be more opportunities to comment on our draft plan in the Autumn.
Following their restoration of the Priscilla MacBean lifeboat, which was discovered as a rotting hulk in Eastbourne and is now on permanent show in the Old Town.
Now they are set to bring home a former Hastings lifeboat which earned the legend ‘The Ghost of Dunkirk’
The Cyril and Lilian Bishop lifeboat, which saved 34 lives in Hastings during the 1930’s, spent four days and four nights rescuing British and French soldiers from the beaches during the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War 2.
“She is best known and earned her nickname ‘The Ghost of Dunkirk when in late May 1940 the Dunkirk evacuation needed shallow draught vessels to make their way to Dover and the RNLI was asked to send as many lifeboats as possible and coxswain George Moon quickly called a crew together consisting of Will Martin, Bodger Barton, Jumbo White, Bill Hilder and finally Freddie Button.
“On arrival at Dover George Moon tells us that all the lifeboats were commandeered by the Royal Navy and he and the rest of the crew travelled back to Hastings by train.
In February 2015, a bid put forward by campaigners was refused planning consent by Hastings Borough Council, going against officers’ recommendations.
Members said the statue’s condition was so poor it would not be suitable for display alongside the town hall, which is a Grade-II listed building.
Campaigners submitted an appeal to have the decision overturned, which was successful.
A new heritage group, the Albert Statue Group, was formed early this year to raise funds for the project.
Hastings Lions Club came forward with a generous donation for buying and installing the new Portland stone pedestal on which the statue is to be erected.
There have also been donations from members of the public who are keen to see the long-neglected statue back in the public domain.
Roger Wilcock, of A. C. Towner Ltd has been advising on the project, and he is doing some of the preparatory work free of charge, with consent from his employer Edward Towner, as this is a community project without financial support from the council.
The life-size statue of Prince Albert, sculpted in Portland stone by Edwin Stirling at his Liverpool studio, was saved for the town by Edith Skelton, who bought it from the demolition firm for £50.
Open 364 days a year and free to enter, the Fishermen’s Museum at Rock-a-Nore is possibly one of the area’s most underrated and fascinating attractions.
It is a treasure trove of exhibits which show the history of the local fishing fleet and our relationship with the sea, having a full sized fishing lugger as its centre piece.
But the volunteer run museum, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this month, is in desperate need of financial support if it is to continue opening as it currently does.
“If everyone who came in donated just £1 we would be in a healthy position”
The museum is housed in the former Fishermen’s Church, built on the Stade in 1852, which fell out of use after the Second World War.
Hastings Fishermen’s Museum opened on May 17 1956.
Following dialogue with local people, other stakeholders and Hastings Borough Council the design proposals for the Observer Building have been revised. Flint Development Group are unveiling the new designs on the evening of Tuesday 8th December, at the Observer Building.
Please save the date.
The report found Hastings to be in the top one per cent for industrial heritage and parks and open spaces, as well as the top five per cent for landscape and natural heritage and for ‘cultures and memories’.
“The heritage of the town is marked and celebrated through some of the largest number of Heritage Open Days and blue plaques in the country,” the RSA report says.
Hastings ranks in the top nine per cent for museums, archives and artefacts and for ‘historic built environment’, the town is in the top 12 per cent.
Hastings has been named in the top five English ‘heritage assets’ – above Oxford and other historic locations.
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) released a report into the country’s heritage on Wednesday (September 23).
The RSA define heritage as, “anything inherited from the past that helps us, collectively or individually, to understand the present, and create a better future.”
www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/seven-themes-from-the-heritage-index.
£9.50 £9.99 £6.50
If you want to order by email (ohps@ohps.org.uk) post or telephone, (01424 424744)please state whether you will be collecting from The History House, 21 Courthouse Street, and if not, factor in postage of £3.50.
