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24 Poutū-te-rangi 2018
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Touring ECB addresses concerns
Not quite Abbey Road, but the ECB use the crossing in Days Bay to head out on their annual walkabout.
The Eastbourne Community Board took to the streets earlier this month to chat to locals about issues of concern, during their annual walkabout.ECB chair Virginia Horrocks says the event was very constructive. “Residents There's a reading revival going on in Eastbourne, thanks in part to Pat Duncan. Pat, pictured here with his trusty sidekick Charlie, came up with the idea of a community library, having seen it elsewhere, and has found the perfect spot at the Village Corner. With help from his Menzshed colleagues, he constructed a bookshelf with the aim of people donating, borrowing and returning good reads. Pat says the idea has proved popular, with a constant recycling of different books, and hopes people will see the bookshelf not as a dumping ground for books they no longer need, but as a place to share some of their favourite reads. There is another public book shelf at The Pavilion in Days Bay.
were highly organised,” she says, “with lists of problems and maps showing locations, so no time was wasted. There was also lots of appreciation of the ECB and the way council is responding to online RAPs (report a problem).”
Board in the dark about SNAs ECB chair Virginia Horrocks says the board is extremely concerned about the process by which areas of properties in Eastbourne have been identified as Significant Natural Areas, and the way in which residents have been informed that their properties are affected, and the "total lack of communication" with the ECB on the matter. “At a residents’ meeting earlier in February, local residents were anxious and confused,” says Virginia. “Most had received a letter identifying a large part of their property as a potential SNA. Two showed me letters in which their whole
property apart from the house was highlighted.” Mrs Horrocks says much more specific information is needed to alleviate fears, misplaced or not, that sections of properties could be taken into the regional park, or that property values would be reduced “While the initial approach to land owners was not well handled,” she says, “Council are now trying to respond to their concerns. Council officers have held a drop-in session in Eastbourne for property owners to discuss their individual properties and some have already come to a Continues on Page 2