I was delighted this week to be officially handed the keys to the new Sidley Hub after years of planning and hard work.
The building, which will be leased to Heart of Sidley to run, will be a great facility for the community providing first-class sports changing facilities, accessible toilets and a café, as we space available for hiring.
Our contractor BMR Construction has done an amazing job in bringing the plans to life and the facility looks fantastic.
As with all schemes of this size, it’s a result of some great partnership working and I would like to thank the Heart of Sidley for their commitment to provide a focal point for their community for generations to come.
I should also mention and thank the Government for the funding that made this £3.4 million building possible.
I’m looking forward to celebrating the new Sidley Hub at the special event Heart of Sidley have planned for the end of June.
The Town Hall is always an extremely busy place with multiple major projects running simultaneously.
The urgent repair and refurbishment of the Colonnade has been one of these projects which has required a great deal of work from Rother District Council officers.
It was great to see the Colonnade partially reopened over the Easter holidays and we are planning a full public reopening in early summer.
The remaining kiosks are due to open over the coming weeks and I can’t wait to see the buzz return to the seafront.
There have recently been suggestions that the district council were offering some units free of charge. I want to reassure residents that this is completely untrue and hope that they will support the new businesses when the Colonnade fully reopens.
At the time of writing the sun is shining and we are promised a period of warm weather. With such forecasts comes an influx of visitors to our beaches.
Our coastal team works closely with the RNLI to ensure people stay safe when visiting Rother’s beautiful coastline during the summer season. While lifeguards are operating at Camber Central daily and at Camber Western at weekends, they will not return to Bexhill beach until September.
I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage those heading to the beach to enjoy the warm weather over the summer period to take care in and around the water. Even with the patrols and lifeguards, open water can be dangerous. We want people to visit our beaches and support our local economy, but we want them to do so safely.
Ends.
Published: 29th May 2026
