July 24 2014.



MISTAKEN?
I think Councillor Main is mistaken when he writes that the plan for Railway Quay was a non-starter because Tesco was never committed to it. He wasn't involved in the negotiations and at the planning committee meeting to which he refers he seemed agitated when a request to defer the ASDA project for two months was actually upheld. However, he needn't have worried: the committee Chair used her casting vote to overturn that decision.

Steve Saunders is obviously keen to remind us of the fact that she was a Tory, presumably to provide cover for those in his own party who that night made what will probably turn out to have been the wrong call. Naturally, his own fight for the potential benefits of the doomed Quayside application is generously acknowledged by his fellow councillor - just in case local politicians should be mistaken for..... paper tigers?

Sean Blake

---------------------------------------------------------------

PAPER TIGERS
This is very disappointing news. ASDA was the only supermarket to say they were on board with new development and now it wants to pull out as well.

The so-called Tesco plan was a non-starter simply because Tesco was never committed to it. As Cllr. Saunders said, it potentially offered greater benefits to the quayside, but without an operator signed up to go into the building, it would never have seen the light of day.

It is true that the planning committee were swayed in some respect by the fact that ASDA was signed up and ready to go. Now we find out that they were just paper tigers too.

Hugely disappointing for Newhaven.

Cllr. Rod Main

---------------------------------------------------------------

CONSULTATION VALUE?
We don't think we were alone in MUCH preferring the railway land proposal.

Just goes to show that what people want is still ignored despite "consultation" going ahead.

Dennis and Wendy Picott

---------------------------------------------------------------

NOT SURPRISED
Not surprised that once again LDC have shafted Newhaven for a road that's not needed.

When will people wake up to the facts!

Money talks plain and simple and LDC will whore itself easier than most. It was never about whats good for Newhaven.

Sadly people you reap what you sow.

Gary Middleton

---------------------------------------------------------------

DISAPPOINTED
I am naturally disappointed by this announcement, particularly as at the time this received permission, I had fought so hard for the permission to go to the application I felt offered more to the Town at Railway Quay. Indeed the owner of that site has proved their commitment to redevelopment and regeneration by helping to bring forward the University Technical College scheme. I have always felt that the casting vote by the Tory chair of the District Planning Committee that granted planning permission back in 2012, was wrong. It relied on the assertions that ASDA had put pen to paper on a contract and wouldn't wait any longer for a decision - effectively bullying the committee into making a quick decision.

I am very concerned that the housing and access road elements of this scheme are the only things that remain and without the financial support offered by ASDA towards the almost £1 million of 106 monies that the Town stood to gain, the developer will try and force the Council to let them proceed without having to recompense Newhaven.

The same team of developers has currently demolished the nearby Parker Pen site and is trying to get permission for even more houses and is already reneging on promises made to Newhaven Town Council.

I fear that future regeneration of the Town is being stifled, as commercial land is lost to housing development, with the transport, health and education infrastructure unable to support them.

Cllr. Steve Saunders

---------------------------------------------------------------

ASDA SEAFORD?
I wonder if there is any connection between this news, and a rumour circulating in Seaford that ASDA have displayed an interest in the Newlands site?

Bob Brown

---------------------------------------------------------------

Do you have a view? E-mail news@haven-news.com