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Hands off Burgess Hill
RE: Giant eyes up town centre in store wars – Hands off the Orion and Cyprus Hall!
I believe your article on Sainsbury’s interest in the Cyprus Road Car Park, Burgess Hill, for a superstore may have given the game away.
As you rightly point out buildings to the west of the car park include the Orion Cinema and Cyprus Hall. My concern is that Mid Sussex District Council’s rush to develop the Cyprus Road car park will result in the loss of two vitally important community assets. Councillor Gary Marsh says that there is a shortage of “food stores in the town”. He may not have noticed that we only have one cinema and an equal shortage of public buildings for hire by members of the community.
There has been a cinema in Cyprus Road, Burgess Hill, since just after the First World War. Whilst the building’s architecture may not be to everyone’s taste, it is a classic picturehouse design which, I believe, should be given listed building status (if it has not been already). It should be preserved as part of the town’s heritage. Any development of the site should incorporate it in its design.
Likewise, we have a limited choice of public halls that can be hired in the town centre. Many groups cannot afford the Martlets Hall or its conference rooms and therefore the Cyprus Hall is a cost-effective facility for them. It would be a shame to see this go and not replaced.
Leaving aside, for the moment, some of the practical traffic management difficulties in developing the site and its impact on local residents, it would be a great pity to see these two community assets destroyed.
What assurances can Mid Sussex District Council give us that this will not happen or that they will be replaced at the same time?
Robert Eggleston,
Ferndale Road,
Burgess Hill
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Weather for Haywards Heath
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
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