Venue: Rother Town Hall, Bexhill – Committee Room 14.00 to 16.00 

Secretariat/Governance 
Anne Rathbone – Bexhill Neighbourhood Board and Partnerships Manager (RDC) (AR) 
Ellie Foster – Bexhill Neighbourhood Board Project Officer (EF) 

Observers/guests: 
Frances McKenna (FM), Office Manager for Dr Kieran Mullan MP 

Alice Nolan (A Nolan), Rother District Council Policy Officer/Executive Support

Christina Ewbank (CE), Eastbourne EDeal

Thomas Fitzgerald (TF), Rother District Council Regeneration

Apologies: 
Eleanore Gordon, Board Member (EG)– Apologies sent

Anna Evett – Head of Service – Corporate and Strategic Service (RDC) (AE) – Apologies sent

Katy Bourne, OBE, Police and Crimes Commissioner (KB)– Apologies sent

Dr. Binodh – Board member (BC) – Apologies sent

Item 1: Chair’s welcome and purpose of meeting; minutes of last meeting 

The Chair then reiterated the purpose of the meeting as follows:

• To discuss changes in membership following updated guidance from MHCLG

• To receive presentation regarding Proposed Community and Business Strategy and Plan.

• To receive an update and presentation regarding Vacant Units and High Street Rental Auctions in Bexhill Town Centre.

The Chair welcomed Adam Chugg, Bexhill-on-Sea Town Clerk to the Neighbourhood Board and also welcomed Alice Nolan from RDC who will be presenting information with EF later today.

Apologies were noted.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved and are uploaded on the Bexhill Neighbourhood Board website.

Item 2: Declarations of Interest for Members and Officers 

The Chair read out the statement on Declaration of Interests as follows:

In doing Neighbourhood Board business, it is essential that we follow strict procedures in declaring our interests. Members are reminded of the need to declare any financial or non-financial interests immediately prior to the commencement of the agenda item in question. Please could you bear this in mind as we go through the agenda today. Please also remember you are abiding by the Nolan Principles which I intend to ensure the Board stand by in all its business.

Item 3: Updated Guidance, Terms of Reference and Membership

The Chair and the Board shared their sincere thanks to erstwhile Councillor Ian Hollidge for his previous work with the Neighbourhood Board, including his extensive knowledge of Bexhill and his time given voluntary to community engagement and other Board activities.

Since the last meeting the guidance for Pride in Place Phase 1 Programmes has been updated, to align guidance for Phases 1 and 2 as much as possible (Pride in Place Programme: governance and boundary guidance - GOV.UK). The Board has been provided with updated Terms of Reference for their approval, which reflects the updated guidance.

One area of significant update, is the section on membership of the Board, with key points as follows:

• Phase 1 Boards are entitled to keep existing membership where is seen to be useful and well-functioning but need to consider the updated guidance before bringing in new members.

• The only mandated representative on the Board now is the local MP, although the Board is required to have one Ward Councillor under the updated guidance.

• More than one Ward Councillor can be represented, if this is useful to the Board in addressing its key priorities. However, overall, there is a direction of travel from MHCLG towards less political representation and more direct resident representation in the Pride in Place Boards.

• The guidance advises that if inviting other councillors on they should “parish, town, or community councillors, noting that numbers of elected representatives should be limited to promote community leadership.”

Following discussion, the Board agreed that:

• The updated Terms of Reference be accepted and instructed for these to be uploaded onto the Board’s website.

• Current work on developing a process for additional resident representation on the Board should be continued and accelerated to address MHCLG expectations for a community-led model.

• ESCC to be informed of the changes to the guidance and that the Board do not at this time intend to seek additional Councillor representation from ESCC. This may change in the future if/as the Board moves on towards larger scale infrastructure projects that require a strategic transport focus. However, the Board is keen to continue to work collaboratively with ESCC. Action: AR to inform ESCC that we are not seeking additional representation at this time but will continue to work towards effective liaison with Officers and Councillors of ESCC.

• The existing arrangements for representation of the Town Council should remain i.e. that the Town Clerk sits on the Board in a non-voting capacity.

• That the existing arrangements for representation of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner should remain, given the benefits gained for the Board in terms of in facilitating essential collaboration with the Police and with addressing Community Safety aspects of our first 4-year priorities.

Item 4: Action Log

AR gave a verbal update regarding the Action Log. The action log does not reflect the full capacity of work that is undertaken for Bexhill Neighbourhood Board, additional work behind the scenes is taking place. There were no comments.

Item 5: Community Engagement

EF/A Nolan presented the proposed community engagement strategy. Board Members discussed the following:

• Whilst the De La Warr Pavillion undertakes renovation works, the best possible schedule of events in the town centre is even more important, to retain community Pride in Place and visitor numbers.

• There may be opportunity to link up with other small funding sources for community engagement via the MP’s office and RVA.

• The materials budget needs to be sufficient for the purpose, and we need to make sure it is making the best use of our resources and promotional merchandise should be kept low cost. KR said RVA staff could sometimes help with stalls and similar engagement activity.

EF then updated on engagement including website/socials, integrating engagement into town wide or large events and the plan for attendance at upcoming events.

Board members responded positively to traffic light system for project updates and the use of micro grants to VCSE organisations for them to deliver engagement of behalf of the Board according to the Board’s specification.

Other comments:

• Revisit proposed wording for the traffic light system. The term co-design might not be familiar to all residents.

• We need to be honest with residents and businesses about timescales needed to plan and afford to undertake projects properly, making sure they are viable and done to a high standard.

• Bexhill Day (15 August 2026), Bexhill 100 (31 August 2026) should be added.

• AR explained that the evaluation of the engagement would be done by Board staff to avoid expense. However, some focus group facilitation could be external to maintain independence.

Item 6: Update on capacity proposal

AR updated the Board on proposals for adapting the staffing arrangements to support the programme, which all Members agreed.

Break and Networking 

Item 7: Focus on vacant unit reduction in town centre and high streets

Following the break, AN informed the Board that Christina Ewbank (Eastbourne Edeal) and Thomas Fitzgerald (RDC Regeneration) would be joining to present information regarding Vacant Units and High Street Rental Auctions focusing on Bexhill Town Centre.

Christina Ewbank (CE), Chief Executive of Edeal (Eastbourne Business Improvement District), presented the vacant units audit conducted for Rother District Council Regeneration Team. The audit found that Bexhill town centre high streets had slightly lower than average vacancy rates for the retail premises, but improvements could be made. Findings and recommendation from CE included, but was not limited to, the following:

• Key interventions should focus on addressing first impressions, including ways to colour, decorate and provide lighting to key areas.

• Greening, colour, lighting can help to smarten up roads and the whole town centre.

• Pop-up parks, live music and pop-up shops in key roads can bring in visitor footfall and more business for shops and café/restaurants. Market stalls should face towards shops, not block shops.

Regular updates on the audit would enable the Board to monitor the state of occupancy rates in the town centre.

We do need to consider capacity, budget and practicality as we move forward.

Pulling together a working group on high streets regeneration would make best use of resources. This should include discussion of how events can best be supported. Town Council, businesses, and RDC should all be involved. This can build on the work done by Bexhill Cultural Network, DLWP, Bexhill Museum and RDC for the Town of Culture Expression of Interest. AR/EF to take forward and report back to the Board.

Thomas Fitzgerald, TF, (Rother District Council, Regeneration) provided an update regarding investigations into High Street Rental Auctions. This is a recent power for Local Authorities and is at early stages of a long process. It is a complex area and important to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages before adopting. It is, however, potentially a tool that can be considered alongside the other ideas for High Street regeneration being discussed by the Board (see below). It can be adopted by Town or District Councils. The Regeneration Team are looking into the experience of other Councils to learn from.

AR introduced how a holistic way of approaching high street regeneration might work, with a range of options including:

• Help for businesses to tidy up their shopfronts in the high streets

• Vinyls for empty shopfront windows

• Good wayfinding

• Developing a coherent look to the town centre

• A strong schedule of events in the town centre as well as the sea front

• The value of a Town Centre Manager, working with the Town Rangers (BoSTC)

• The need for the Board, Town Council and RDC to work closely together to have the biggest impact

• An active Task Force to bring all ideas together

Several of these ideas are already reflected in the Bexhill Place Plan. Others have been tried and tested in other areas and shown to be successful.

It is important to note that it will probably be April 2027 before the Board will have sufficient funding to move forward with any of these programmes.

Key points to note from feedback were:

• There may be learning from Battle Marketing Group who promote their town events very successfully

• FM asked if there were any conditions that come with a business/residential property in a conservation area. TF to investigate further including relevant Bexhill Byelaws.

• AN highlighted the need to connect restaurants/businesses when events are going on.

• DO raised the possibility of sponsorship and closer links with the Town Council. FM talked about tree planting and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) which can also enhance the town centre as well as reducing flood risk.

• SD noted that Bexhill Central is also a very deprived ward; buildings include residential use that needs to be taken into consideration.

Overall, there was broad support for the strategy direction. BNB staff to take forward and report back at the next meeting.

Item 8: Project Updates

The Chair asked three working group members to provide a brief update regarding the progress of individual projects:

PW provided a verbal update regarding the station exits, included in the Board Regeneration Plan but at very early stages of investigation. PW chaired the first meeting of the working group on 12 May 2026. There are ongoing actions from this meeting with additional information to be provided to the Neighbourhood Board as it becomes available. The first stage is to pull together all the data we have available to make an outline case for the opening of exits to the side of the station. This will include data that is relevant to access for people with mobility issues.

FM updated the Board regarding the progress of the hotel working group. An invitation to conduct a feasibility study has been sent out to four suppliers recommended by the hotel companies we have spoken to. The deadline for proposals is 29 June. An update meeting for the working group is scheduled for early July.

DO shared that progress is ongoing to assess whether replacement of the seafront fountains is a viable project. BNB staff are working with RDC and BoSTC to determine next steps.

Item 9: Any other business

3G pitch match funding request- provisional. The Board staff have been included in preliminary conversations regarding the possibility of a new 3G pitch in Bexhill. This will be a medium-term project, starting in 2027 if it does go ahead. BNB staff to keep the Board updated of progress and any request for BNB match funding to enable the pitch to go ahead.

There was discussion about padel, which is very popular. Some Board members noted that it can be quite expensive and raised concerns about community affordability.

Next meeting of Bexhill Neighbourhood Board: 09 October 13:30 to 16:30 Bexhill Town Hall.