Access to Burton family memorial closed on safety grounds
A landslip on the cliff face below the Burton family memorial garden in West Hill Rd, St Leonards means the memorial has had to be closed for safety reasons.
James and Decimus Burton designed and built St Leonards, and the Burton family tomb is in the shape of a small pyramid, looking out to sea and is where James Burton, his wife and several other members of his family lie.
Councillor Maya Evans, lead councillor for the natural environment at Hastings Borough Council, explained: “The small memorial garden is licensed to HBC by the Lord Bishop of Chichester, as the church own the land.
“The licence allows the council to maintain the land and the Burton memorial in good condition and to allow public access to the gardens. However, because of the recent landslip and the possibility of further slippage, we are having to close access for the public, to the memorial garden on safety grounds for the time being.”
Formal acceptance by the council that global warming exists and we all have a responsibility to do something about it sure throws up some paradoxes. Here it is recognised, entirely sensibly, that we cannot hold back the sea or the natural process of the cliff face tending towards its natural slope. And yet, just along the road many millions of public money are to be spent building houses on flood plains. I wish someone could explain this contradiction to me.
This sounds like a serious and sad situation when there is a known fault line along that cliff face from Undercliff very near to the back of Caves Road. The closed church is a result of the same problem as is the Sussex Steps from West Hill Road to Caves Road. That was closed off fifteen years ago. Even Decimus Burton realised that stretch of land had stability issues and never built on it.
The serious collapse near by is the Undercliff deserted development site. Where HBC gave planning permission after a previous landslip in exactly the same placein the early 70’s and abandoned by developers. That was despite many objections from local residents (as I did ) on the grounds the site was not safe. Just history repeating itself. Now the site is Bona Vacantia -owned by the Crown.
Many properties have lost parts of their gardens due to the developers having planning permission to build on this site.
It is astonishing that the council gives planning permission to those that wish to build above caves road.
Right next to the collapsed sussex steps there is a site on the south side of west hill road where permission has been given to build.
One has to ask what benefits are accrued to the council or its members from giving permission on such sites.