Bugger Hastings

Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2001/11/03/bugger_hastings/

Time waits for Norman

Posted in Bootnotes, 3rd November 2001 08:46 GMT

Kieren, "it is a nightmare to get to", surely that's the point, why should we be "getting anywhere" when we could work from where we are?

Strangely, Hastings was in the first round of towns to have ADSL so perhaps the Government is pulling a fast one and will claim this as a policy success already!

Kind Regards
Steve Hardy

I am the technical director of a small IT firm based in St Leonards on Sea, right next door to Hastings.

Firstly we already have ADSL - we're using it for our Internet access. Admittedly it took ages to get it installed, but that seems to be the case wherever you are. It seems to work pretty well.

Secondly, why shouldn't a deprived area of the country benefit from government investment? We were denied the bypass intended to create local jobs, this would be a greener way to regenerate the area.

Lastly, the state of the rail and road links between Hastings and London is a reason to improve the digital connectivity - making it less necessary to travel.

Perhaps you need to turn your cynicism generator down a notch or two.

Regards

Andy Taylor
Technical Director, Optology Limited

I live near Hastings and at the moment things couldn't be worse. What the govt needs to do is spend money improving the infrastructure of the area and sorting out the current problems instead of adding in new ones.

Totally agree. Good piece.

Matt Corby

And if you believe that, then pigs might just fly....As you quite rightly point out, Hastings is at the arse end of a poor railway line where new rolling stock should have been deployed in the late 90's and it has still not been deployed. The A21 'snail trail' main "drag" to/from London is just that. Brighton along the coast is 40 miles away, 72 mins on a fast train and quite often more by car.

So, if Hasting did become this e'city, how the hell are we going to move. The local workforce around. Bexhill to Hastings (4 miles) during peak times is a 30+ minute crawl.

Now, the local workforce to operate this e'city... Where are they going to come from considering that a good percentage of the local population are unskilled in most things.

Now, you may think I have a downer on Hastings (just as a side note, I have lived in Hastings and Bexhill since 1966) and in some respects I have when it comes to tin-pot ideas as this one. Now't is going to happen in Hastings until there is a MAJOR transport infrastructure change and the 'bleeding heart' liberalists get out of the way along with the bird fanciers, spider savers and green grass growing watchers to let those who want to change things do so. When I say MAJOR, I mean MAJOR. Proper trunk routes west, north and east of Hastings.

A proper train service and a bus service that actually runs to a timetable and on routes where people live. It seems that some people who do the route planning have this idea that everyone lives in the town-centre or the local hospital.

So what could the e'city bring us...? Yes, it is a good idea, there some people in Hastings who could make this work but unless British Telecom, Stagecoach, RailTrack/Connex, Dept of Transport, Dept Of Education get off their collective pontificating arses, then this is a waste of time and money.

Peter Burnett

Pontificating arse? That reminded us of the gag by Sister Mary Immaculate, who once asked - "did you get to kiss the Pope's ring?"

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