Eastbourne Town Team

I may unwittingly have upset some members of the Eastbourne Town Team when I took issue with their recent findings about what might make Eastbourne great. They wrote on their blog "Just back from a stint on the BIG IDEAS 'zeebo... and really impressive response so far. Amongst the most impassioned ideas to come up so far are: much more plants and flowers in the town centre,..."

Unfortunately, I believe we need a lot more than plants and flowers .....so here is the list I sent to them:

Remove paid parking especially around shops
Pedestrianise central shopping area
Cycle ways from Beachy Head to Sovereign Harbour
Pursue John Lewis to open in Eastbourne
Encourage more good quality street entertainers
More street cafes…not pubs on pavements
More street markets ….not just Wednesday
More police to curb nuisance behaviour around pier
Improved rail services (to London, Brighton, Rye etc)
Sort out our heritage (bandstand, congress, …)
Insist that owners of listed buildings look after them
Build an iconic structure near the wish tower
Improve the quality of hotels and guesthouses
Less of those folk who pounce on you for charity
Discourage (penalty) shop landlords for empty shops
Free entertainment on the sea front (bandstand?)
Longer opening hours at the Tourist Information Centre
Reduce VAT (probably not possible but important)
Ask what EBC does with £25 million in business rates

Please let me know what you think.