Dear Friends

https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/hastings/

As many of you will know, the Bexhill Hastings link road in Hastings is spawning no fewer than three other new roads locally.  One of them, the Queensway Gateway, would run right across the middle of the Hollington Valley local wildlife site, which would then be obliterated completely with a business park.

The planning application for the QGR was passed in Feb 2015. Shortly afterwards, a local resident, Gabriel Carlyle, brought a legal challenge which resulted in Hastings Council agreeing that the air pollution levels caused by the road would be unlawful, and that the permission should be quashed (http://tinyurl.com/j7hthe6).

Subsequently, developer SeaChange Sussex manipulated the traffic figures - citing 'methodological errors' with the original figures - and resubmitted the application, claiming that the air pollution levels would now be lawful. Planning permission was granted again in December. However, Gabriel's lawyer has advised that there remain serious issues with air pollution, as well as with habitat destruction, and so he is bringing a second legal challenge to the road.

He has been granted legal aid but is required to raise a community contribution towards the costs, and has just launched a crowdfunding appeal through the crowdjustice website, with a target of £2,500.

If anyone was able to make a donation, however small or large, towards this, it would be very much appreciated. It's a really important case, which has implications not just locally but nationally in terms of roadbuilding, climate change and biodiversity.

Also, any help you could offer in terms of letting people know about this would be very much appreciated.

The link is here: https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/hastings/

More information on Coombe Haven Defenders blog.