Happy new year to you all. I hope you had a fun and fulfilling Christmas.
Before we all powered down for the festive break, I had the pleasure of visiting the Colonnade to see the work taking place to safeguard the building for future generations.
Rother District Council was fortunate to be able to secure the services of DBR Southern, experts in heritage buildings, to carry out the extensive work necessary to address structural issues.
The Colonnade was built in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of King George V and has been a focal point of our seafront ever since.
As well as being an extremely interesting visit, with DBR Southern representatives explaining the work that was underway, it was reassuring to know that the historic building is in safe hands.
Work continues and is expected to be completed in the spring. You can follow the progress and find out more about the project by visiting Colonnade Refurbishment – Rother District Council
Just a stone’s throw from the Colonnade, the De La Warr Pavilion celebrated its 90th anniversary in December with the news that its restoration project had been given £7.6 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund on top of the Levelling Up funding already received through Rother District Council.
Our planning committee approved the repair plans and refurbishment work at the Grade I Listed venue back in the autumn, and I look forward to seeing them come to fruition as the year progresses.
We’ve been able to support a number of projects in the past year that will see new facilities for the community.
Once finished, The Sidley Hub will offer first-class sports changing facilities, a café and spaces for hire by local groups, whilst Battle Pavilion will provide the community with a cafe and community space.
This year we will be consulting on our local plan, which helps to shape development in the district, ensuring it’s appropriate and addresses the needs of the area.
A new proposed element of the plan could see the introduction of 20mph speed limits in all new housing developments in the district.
At a full council meeting in December, full council voted unanimously to consult on the road safety plan when the Local Plan goes out for public consultation this month.
We will share details of how to share your views when the consultation launches, and I would encourage people to have their say when it does.
At the same meeting councillors formally declared a nature emergency in recognition of the urgent need to reverse the decline in nature in our district.
As a result of this decision, we will be setting recovery targets to achieve by 2030 by developing a strategy, working with local communities and building on our climate change success and ongoing work.
We face some big changes and tough challenges this year, but I want to assure residents that we will continue to do everything we can to protect our district and our residents.
Ends.
Published: 9th January 2026
