999 services shake-up

It all started back in September 2011 when Sussex Police moved all the response officers from Rye and Bexhill into Battle police station.

But just a few months later, Rother’s own chief inspector branded the building ‘not fit for purpose’ and said although there were no immediate plans to sell it off, the Force was ‘considering its options’ with regards to the future of the building.

She said one option would be for officers to move into shared buildings with other emergency services.

Last week it was revealed that the South East Coast Ambulance Service wants to centralise services in Hastings, potentially putting both Battle and Rye ambulance stations at risk of closure.

And this week Sussex Police revealed they considered moving the response hub out of Battle and into Hastings - but this plan has since been ditched.

I’ll leave it to you to make up your own mind about where this is heading.

It has been said a number of times that Battle’s car parks fare the worst when Rother District Council imposes its annual price hike.

But shocking figures revealed this week have shown exactly how much RDC is extracting from unsuspecting motorists.

Annual income from the town’s Rother-owned car parks has gone up from £246,304 for the year ending April 2011 to £341,036 for the year ending April 2012 - an increase of 38.5%.

This compares to a revenue increase of just 5.7% from Rother’s other car parks.

What a stinging slap in the face for the traders who work so hard to keep this town going.