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The
Planners versus the Fishermen.
Hastings Council began planning for the post-war world in October,
1942, when it set up a Reconstruction Committee to make detailed
proposals for the direction of the town in peacetime. Before
the committee reported, a Mr Trystam Edwards came forward with
his own plan, in August, 1943. Edwards had been in line to become
town planning consultant for the borough, but instead of confirming
his appointment the Council, in October, 1943, first engaged
him to produce a fuller version of his proposals in the form
of a report on town planning in the built-up area.
Edward's controversial scheme appeared in March, 1945. Among
his suggestions was one for reviving the fishing industry by
directing most of the trippers to the west end of the town and
building a new village of fishermen's homes on the edge of the
stade, a direct reversal of Council policies. over the previous
two decades and more. The Council meeting of March 6, 1945,
glumly received Edwards' report - and promptly sacked him. His
proposals were thrown out, and in his place Sidney Little was
appointed Town Planning and Development Officer, in addition
to his duties as Borough Engineer and Surveyor.
The sacking of Edwards and the appointment of Little were of
great symbolic importance. Out of the window went post-war policies
sympathetic to the fishing industry and the traditions and life
of the Old Town. In came a reassertion of the pre-war antagonism
towards the fishermen and of the use of the East End as a dumping
ground for all the down-market tourist facilities. The Council's
appointment of Little ensured the continued post-war destruction
of the Old Town and its way of life.
The ever-energetic Little immediately began producing his own
plans for the borough. While he was at work the Reconstruction
Committee at last published its 12,OOO-word report, in May,
1945. This looked at every facet of the town's life, from industry
to leisure, and produced a framework of ideas and proposals
that the Council agreed should be borne in mind by all committees
when making future policy. The committee examined the local
fishing industry, the harbour and the Old Town, but its proposals
in these areas were vague and insubstantial compared with other
recommendations.
'We have to be bold and courageous,' Sidney Little told the
Hastings branch of the National Council of Women in July, 1945,
in a speech about town planning.
Three months later he spelled out what this meant for the Old
Town and the fishermen in his major report to the Council on
the borough's future. Most of the buildings between the boating
lake and Rock-a-Nore, including the Fishermen's Church, were
to be swept away, a giant amusement park would be built between
the boating lake and the net shops (which might be moved), while
a new promenade would be built roughly along the line of what
is today the railway track to Rock-a-Nore, where it would continue
beside a lagoon under the cliff to Ecclesbourne. The plan was
steamrollered through the Council in just eight days.
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