Recent news that the Conservative group of councillors on Eastbourne Borough Council has declared its outright opposition to the proposed sale of the downland farms, together with the public opposition of the Eastbourne Labour Party and Eastbourne Green Party, means that there is now a powerful cross-party political opposition to the downland sale.—Keep Our Downs Public Campaign, 3 March 2017
Combined with the grass-roots, politically neutral opposition of thousands of people who support the Keep Our Downs Public campaign, it is clearer than ever that the Liberal Democrat group that controls the council should immediately halt the sale.
Today (Friday 3rd) March is the deadline for returning voting slips from the Eastbourne Review.
But given the universal recognition of the unfair way the poll has been constructed, and the failure of the Review to be distributed in a timely fashion to all Eastbourne residents the poll result may not accurately reflect the huge public opposition to the sale.
Indeed, the council’s flawed poll and one-sided presentation of the ‘facts’ in the Eastbourne Review just serves to highlight the lack of proper consultation with the public and with councillors that has marred the council’s handling of the issue ever since the council cabinet met in secret to decide to sell the farms.
Lyn Core, Old Town resident and Keep Our Downs Public (KODP) spokesperson said: “It’s now time for Eastbourne Borough Council to honour the wishes of local residents and visitors who love our cherished downland.
“We are all very concerned about the fate of our Downs if it is sold on the open market. A sale would mean the total loss of control over the downland by Eastbourne Borough Council, which up to now has managed the area sympathetically, ensuring we have clean drinking water, food production managed in an environmentally sensitive way, protected cultural heritage, a rich wildlife resource and accessible countryside”.
