Reclaim Newhaven West Beach

[circesfeast at yahoo.co.uk]

Re-open Newhaven West Beach!       (East Sussex)

A demo being organised at Newhaven West beach. It is on Thursday July 
23rd, meeting at Fort Road @12.45pm before making its way to the beach. 
Protestors are being encouraged to bring drums, horns and banners. They want us 
to make as much noise as possible. The demo is timed to arrive at the beach at 
about 2.00pm, when the tide is right out, so that the media will be able to get 
good pics of people enjoying this spot, which generations of Newhaven - and 
Lewes and Brighton and Sussex and London et al - folk have 
enjoyed.
 
The march is being organised particularly for young 
people, but all adults are being encouraged to attend, too. The 
Primary Schools are all making placards and banners, and Tideway Comprehensive 
is coming along, too, as is the towns Young Persons Mayor.
 
The contact is Maurice Langham on Bton 510 955. His 
email is mhlangham at tiscali.co.uk  He is a 
Newhaven town councillor.
 
The beach has been closed by the harbour owners, Newhaven Ports and Properties, subsidiary of Conseil General de Seine Maritime, for 
2 years now - pleading safety concerns - and the Town Council is 
running a campaign to have it designated as a 'Town or Village Green', which 
will make public access a statutory right and protect it from development. 

 
Newhaven harbour, the undercliff, and the cliffs 
and fort are one of the most delightful seaside spots in Sussex. The cliffs, 
clifftop and undercliff are of national importance for their rich geology. Their 
invertebrate assemblage - of beetles, bees and wasps, and other groups - is also 
of national importance.They are also mineral and fossil 
rich. The bird life is wonderful, with 
Kittiwake, Fulmar, Peregrine, Gannet and much more. In spring the cliffs are a 
delight of colourful wildflowers, including many rarities, like Sea Clover and 
Fenugreek.
 
The whole cliffland and seashore is 
threatened by a deadly combination of neglect and development, despite 
its pile of protective designations: - SSSI, SAM, LNR, RIGS, 
SNCIs.
 
The cliff Downscape has been left out of 
the proposed South Downs National Park, despite all its in-your-face 
gorgeousness. Newhaven is, after all, largely a poor community, and the urban 
fringe Downland of poor people has often been excluded from the Park's 
protection.
 
Let's get down there and show our support for these 
folk and this lovely area,
 


 Local councillor Carla Butler, who is campaigning to keep the beach open, says: “The West Beach
is very popular with local people and is used by thousands of people.
The decision to close the beach yet again is a real blow for Newhaven.
It has been clear for a long time that NPP want to close the beach.
They have not been prepared to adequately address the health and safety
issues and have chosen to prevent public access instead.  When it was
re-opened last year they said they would provide a warden but this was
not realised. We recognise there are safety concerns, but with a bit of
goodwill these could be addressed.”
  
Newhaven MP Norman Baker says: “This is a backward step. NPP may own the beach, but the people of Newhaven see it as theirs.
Of course we are in this position because the Conservative
privatisation programme of the 1980s took this area out of public
control. I will be strongly campaigning against the decision to close
the beach.”
    



	 
	
	








	


	
	


      
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