Rother says "yes" to Xmas switch-on

It will pay for them itself. But it will cost the average Bexhill Council Taxpayer just 0.994p a year.

It took Rother council 10 minutes last night to approve a 100,000 Bexhill special expenses charge-funded scheme to light the town centre this Christmas, vote out a Liberal Democrat amendment to reject a 16,000 Rother-funded scheme for new Christmas lights for the Town Hall and agree 750 worth of lighting aid for Little Common and Old Town.

In that time the record over the Chamber of Commerce's refusal to become involved in financing a further scheme was set straight.

But the clock is now ticking for contractors to meet the tight deadline for a new column-based system designed to overcome the shortcomings of the old cross-street design which proved vulnerable to Bexhill's notorious sea winds.

Rother cabinet ruffled town traders' feathers last month by criticising Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and Tourism for declining to bear the burden of a new lighting system.

Cllr Deirdre Williams reminded Monday's council meeting that it was Brian Storkey, Rodney Gadsden and Phil Morris, members of the former Town Centre Action Group on which she served, who fronted the appeal five years ago which funded the last system - and town traders and the public who subscribed to it.

Column-mounted lights would be less vulnerable to the wind and she hoped members would approve the scheme, funded from the Bexhill special expenses charge over a three-year period.