High Street Bins

The Old Town is looking particularly beautiful with the hanging baskets in full flourish and both the churchyard and Manor Gardens well maintained by local volunteers (more of that later). What a shame then that we now have eighteen bins lining High Street for the flats located in numbers 16, 18 and 20. This makes a mockery of the thousands of pounds we spend each year on planting and maintaining the hanging baskets, as this photo illustrates.

I have had a frustrating correspondence on this matter with Daniel Colvin-Morgan, who has the lengthy title of Waste and Street Scenes Manager at RDC. As with his predecessor, Deborah Kenneally, he does not seem to understand what a blight the bins are and how inappropriate it is to allow this in a conservation area on a street lined with listed and other heritage buildings. There are other alternatives – on the RDC website, it mentions daily refuse bag waste collections: ‘Daily waste collections take place at 7am, Monday to Friday. The daily collections are carried out on Devonshire Road, Devonshire Square, Sackville Road, St Leonards Road and Western Road. The service is to help residents with limited access to waste storage manage their waste more easily.’

Bags rather than bins are used in most of Hastings and in the citadel of Rye so I have repeatedly asked why a system already used in these other historic districts and in the Bexhill  Town Centre Conservation Area cannot be used in the Old Town, but this is met by a lot of hot air and the sound of goalposts being moved. Daniel has tried to tell me that there is no rear storage at these properties for bins, so Alex Markwick kindly took some drone footage for me to show there is plenty. In fact, until 2021 the residents of these flats did keep the bins to the rear and dragged them though the properties for collection on the nominated days. However, Daniel insists this is not a ‘reasonable’ request to make of the tenants. I would say neither is it reasonable to ask people pushing children in buggies, those u

sing wheelchair or mobility vehicles, or anyone with limited sight to navigate around these huge bins on such a narrow and busy street.

I have asked Daniel to visit the Old Town and speak with us directly, but he insists “a meeting would not change the position I have already set out in previous correspondence.

In other words, he is not even prepared to listen to our concerns. If you would like to email Daniel direct and voice your own frustration on the matter please do so: Daniel.Colvin-Morgan@rother.gov.uk

We do not intend to back down – the Old Town is too important and too beautiful to allow this situation to continue for decades to come. A petition may be the next step, but all other ideas are very welcome.