Seafronot hotel project is ditched

Town MP Gregory Barker, who once vowed that a hotel on the Metropole site would be built "over my dead body," has told a meeting of the Hastings and Bexhill regeneration taskforce that if it pursued its unpopular objective he would have no choice but to quit the board.

The Taskforce steering group has agreed to a request from Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby NOT to submit an application to Rother for the purchase of the council-owned Metropole site.

This aspect has been welcomed by the Save Our Seafront campaign which last month submitted protest petitions containing more than 12,000 names to the Rother leader at a protest rally in front of the Town Hall and by the Association of Bexhill Citizens which, together with SOS, outlined its opposition at last week's four-hour Rother seminar on regeneration.

Meeting last Friday, the Taskforce also agreed to the leader's request to proceed with an application to purchase part of the De La Warr Pavilion car park for the flats and offices development.

The leader explained his moves in a detailed statement to Monday's meeting of Rother's cabinet.

Earlier, the MP had told the Observer: "The whole issue has highlighted how important the Metropole putting green is to Bexhill.

"I want to see that green space passed into the hands of a charitable trust that would ensure that it is maintained as open space for future generations and in the best interests of the whole town."