We can confirm, as we suggested in a story dated, 6 October 2017, that Pay and Display is coming to Pevensey Bay.—Bay Life, 13 October 2017
Story broken by Bay Life confirmed: Pay and display will be here with us within eighteen months.
No doubt Wealden Council will issue a media release at an appropriate point in the near future to confirm that Pay and Display is coming to Pevensey Bay.
The source for our story is the appointment of an officer who is to analyse the traffic usage in the shopping parade in the Eastbourne Road in preparation for the radical change. The advertisement of the job and appointment is a matter of public record.
Our view is that pay and display will be here with us within eighteen months.
Bay Life supports the change as we believe that there will be significant benefits for both residents and visitors. Our aim will be to lobby to see that this happens.
In our view it is time that money was put into the fragile economic and social base here to support business and our community, particularly at a time when so much has eroded our precious public assets.
We lost the Bank, we nearly lost the Post Office and it would appear that we are about to lose the library, except it would appear that the community has decided with significant strength and clarity, that this is not going to happen.
We note the point that Huw Merriman has made that such sums will bring in local revenue and could be spent on improving congestion and road safety.
He says, “Rother and Wealden are one of only 15 council districts in England that have not taken on responsibility for parking enforcement.
“However, I am supportive of the decision of Sussex Police regarding parking policy as I don’t think that police officers should be issuing tickets to people who overstay the time limits of parking bays, especially as the revenue from the penalty notices goes into central government and we do not see any local benefit and nor do the police.
“I think it is time that the councils considered taking over the responsibility for parking enforcement in towns such as Bexhill, Battle and Rye. Doing so would also bring in local revenue that could be spent on improving congestion and road safety”.
Local revenue is what we need.
Money spent on the road infrastructure here, particularly in the heart of the shopping parade in the Eastbourne Road, in our view, will be a trigger for economic activity and in the perception of Pevensey Bay as the hidden jewel in the crown of Sussex.
We are a hidden jewel and we should stay a hidden jewel, but if as seems likely now Pay and Display is only part of the most radical transformation that we have seen in Pevensey Bay in our lifetimes, then we will support those changes if they benefit us as residents and our visitor base.
We will particularly support these changes if they enhance the character of our community and infrastructure and if they are keeping with the eclectic spirit of Pevensey Bay.
The view of Bay Life is that the next 2-3 years will see the most radical transformation of Pevensey Bay that we could envisage. Where we believe that those changes benefit us, we will make clear our view.
As well as a Beach hut feasibility study, we also now have strategy being focused on the birth of the business quarter here in the heart of Pevensey Bay, which has already begun.
We believe the business quarter will also attract significant funding over time and we note the consortium already founded that is working to this endeavour.
We may be the hidden jewel in the crown of Sussex, but if our crown is about to shine, then the spit and polish will be worth the effort.
We will spit and if the furniture polish comes from the parking meters and all the other changes that are being planned and about to take place, then we ail support those changes.
It is rude to spit, particularly in the street, but if done with the style of Sharleen Spiteri then it is not just the local Texas Poker nights that benefit, but us all.
Already we have received a number of letters about the radical change that is coming to Pevensey Bay with Pay and Display, from both residents and business owners.
We will publish all these letters and give every section of the community, and every person who wants to speak, the opportunity to speak in the pages of Bay Life, both online and in print.
The opportunity to speak and say what you believe and think about the arrival of Pay and Display in Pevensey Bay is open to everyone.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
