Christmas Message from the Mayor of Hailsham

“First, I’d like to wish all residents of Hailsham a peaceful and very happy Christmas. Similarly, I send every best wish for the festive period to Hailsham people overseas who will spend the holidays away from home this year.

Another year has almost passed and in 2017, your Town Council has been extremely busy making improvements to its services within the local community.

One such project is the Hailsham Neighbourhood Plan, which we have been busily working away for the good of the town and its residents, and made great strides in our efforts to develop a Plan for Hailsham. In doing so, our Neighbourhood Planning Team, consisting of councillors and residents, has received lots of feedback from residents in terms of infrastructure requirements and issues to support future housing growth in Hailsham.

We are currently seeking your views on the draft Neighbourhood Plan, all of which will be reviewed when preparing the final version. The Plan is being produced for the benefit of local people and we’re proud, through our various public consultation events this year, to have given you all the opportunity to help influence the way in which Hailsham will be developed in the future.

Another major project this year was the town centre transport and access improvements, which came to completion just recently. Road layout improvements, new pavements, changes to parking and additional pedestrian crossings and loading bays were just some of the features introduced to help minimise the impact of more housing on the transport network.

My fellow town councillors and I will continue our work on improving Hailsham as a whole – not just the town centre – and carry on the excellent partnership work with other councils and organisations and projects including the Movement and Access for Hailsham & Hellingly Steering Group (MASHH) and of course, Hailsham Forward – our very successful Town Team.

In terms of my role as Town Mayor, I have had the pleasure of visiting Hailsham’s community groups and voluntary organisations, many of which the Town Council has awarded grants to in order to be able to introduce new or improved facilities, activities or projects for the benefit of the town.

As Mayor, I will continue to visit as many places and people as possible during the remainder of my term, to raise the profile of local charities and voluntary organisations, all of whom work tirelessly to help others and make individuals lives just that much better and brighter.

I would like to thank the people of Hailsham for the opportunity to represent them, and my colleagues at the Town Council for all their administrative and other support throughout.

Last, but by no means least, I’d like to bring the point home that Christmas is not only a time of joy and festivity, but also the time of year when we should look out for those who are alone, vulnerable, or without close family ties.

I trust you will pause briefly in your own celebrations to remember those less fortunate than yourselves and donate to the local Food Bank. We wish we could say that there was no need for a Foodbank and that there was no hunger in Hailsham, but, unfortunately the need is still high and no less during the run up to Christmas.

We all need food, but sometimes it’s easy to take it for granted, and some people find themselves in considerable hardship during the festive period and struggle to afford to feed themselves and their families.

The Foodbank in Hailsham does an amazing job in reaching out to those in need, and the real heroes are the volunteers who give so much of their time week in week out providing emergency help to around 1,000 people a year.

Last December, the donations helped us to spread some Christmas cheer to our residents in need and, while so I’m delighted that people have shown their generosity towards this charity, I would encourage everyone to help more – at least have a look to see if there is anything they can spare, and to offer much-needed support by dropping food items off at the local Foodbank branch at the top of George Street.

On behalf of all the members and staff at Hailsham Town Council, the Deputy Mayor Cllr Amanda O’Rawe and I wish Hailsham residents a merry Christmas and peace and happiness in the New Year.”

CLLR NIGEL COLTMAN – Town Mayor & Chairman