Lewes Forum thread

Go on, tell 'em what you think

Lewes Forum New message

Southover Grange petition

On 31 Oct 2012 at 10:19am jennyb wrote:

Sign the petition!

Check it out here »

On 31 Oct 2012 at 11:14am Nick wrote:

Done!

On 31 Oct 2012 at 12:36pm Rocket Man wrote:

If you are interested in knowing what Cllr James Page said about the Grange and other LDC assets when he was interviewed on Rocket FM, check out the quotes on the website, www.rocketfm.org.uk

On 31 Oct 2012 at 12:47pm Get your facts right jen wrote:

There are no plans to sell Southover Grange. The Register Office decided that they did not want to renew their lease HOWEVER, you may still be able to get married there. Registering births and deaths will actually be easier in the new location. Have you ever tried to get a pushchair into the Grange?

On 31 Oct 2012 at 3:11pm Southover Queen wrote:

If you look at the link Jen gives, you'll find that it is actually is addressed to the County Council and calls on them to review the decision not to renew the lease of the Register Office currently sited there.
In the absence of a reply from Jen, allow me to make a couple of observations. The first is that without the Register Office being sited at the Grange it is not clear what regular purpose the Grange will serve in the future. The second is that LDC, and Cllr Page in particular, have already disposed of a very substantial piece of land without any meaningful consultation so the track record gives rise to concern. The third is that LDC has already announced a substantial review of the buildings it occupies and intends selling off many of them. There is quite clearly a danger that if the Grange becomes a redundant building then it becomes very vulnerable to the whims of LDC.

The petition would force ESCC to review its decision not to renew the lease, and it would give us, the residents of Lewes, a chance to have our views heard. Signing the petition might at least force our elected representatives to give an account of their decisions. Doing nothing is an excellent way of letting them do exactly as they please.

On 31 Oct 2012 at 7:07pm brixtonbelle wrote:

Did anyone else see the piece on bbc south east last night about proposed massive water park in Newhaven? It would be financed by the very same Dubai company that bought the recreation land in Newhaven at a knock down price (80K) under the very secretive deal negotiated by Cllr Page himself (the deal referred to by SQ above). The proposed water park would actually require a huge site, much bigger than the recreation park, so how else is the District council going to help facilitate this - what other land is it going to sell , or even, help the development company compulsorily purchase ? Whilst I welcome the idea of new jobs and investment in Newhaven, a project like this would have massive knock on effects for Lewes and the immediate surrounding area (for starters the Lewes-Newhaven road would bear a large amount of increased traffic - how would that affect the villages along that road?). Worryingly the plans appear to be at quite a late stage. They were on display at the Hillcrest centre, but not sure whether they will be seen in Lewes.

On 31 Oct 2012 at 7:36pm Southover Queen wrote:

I missed that, BB. You've put your finger on what really concerns me about how local "democracy" works (or doesn't to be more precise). Newhaven was completely railroaded, and if they're allowed to get away with it in Lewes it will happen here too.

On 31 Oct 2012 at 10:20pm Rocket Man wrote:

We have now posted a recording of the interview with Cllr Page on the Rocket FM website, www.rocketfm.org.uk on the Listen Again page. There is also a clip about the Newhave rec land.

On 31 Oct 2012 at 11:09pm Southover Queen wrote:

Brilliant: thank you Rocket Man. I shall listen tomorrow!

On 2 Nov 2012 at 2:53pm concerned of lewes wrote:

I echo the concern above about the lack of democracy in the council.
To elect 40 odd councillors then have a system set up that enables one person to have so much influence is simply wrong.
Not all councillors are in favour of this system so I would recommend contacting your one and asking what you can do to help stop this continuing.

On 6 Nov 2012 at 11:24am Brixtonbelle wrote:

Re the plans for the water park - it seems they weren't on display at the Newhaven consultation. The consultation period is lasting until January 2013 according to this Sussex Express report. I'm finding this very worrying. before we know it we could have a thorpe park opposite the incinerator.

Check it out here »

26 posts left in this thread