FOLLOWING a town-wide campaign, I was delighted to join residents for the grand reopening of the Fun Pool at the Sovereign Centre to mark the Spring period!
On behalf of our town, I had the honour of reactivating the wave machine – the same one that brought me so much joy as a child! It was amazing to see and hear the cheers of children and families enjoying the pool once again. This victory was a team effort.
Thank you to 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 for listening and negotiating a deal with the new operator to keep the pool open.
Thank you to 𝗚𝗟𝗟/𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 for working round the clock to bring the pool back into action, and who – together with EBC – will be investing £1m in the Sovereign Centre.
Thank you to 𝗠𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 for allowing me to raise the Sovereign Centre in the House of Commons five times to help fight our community’s cause!
However, the biggest thank you goes to local residents, whose passionate campaigning helped protect this much-loved facility.
Our community’s passion and persistence helped preserve this vital community asset, even as over 160 council-run pools across the UK have closed since 2015 due to funding pressures.
As the BBC put it, this was a “blueprint” for how communities can turn difficult situations into positive outcomes — one that others should follow.
Our seafront is also looking more vibrant than ever. The Big Wheel is now up at the Redoubt, adding a new perspective and attraction East of the Pier. There’s much more to look forward to this summer.
The Eastbourne Carnival is just around the corner on Saturday 24th May — let’s make it a day to remember!
And of course, Airbourne returns from 14th–17th August, with the Red Arrows expected across all four days.
Tackling anti-social behaviour and crime
As summer approaches, we often see a rise in anti-social behaviour. I’ve been working closely with Sussex Police, Eastbourne Borough Council and other local organisations with the aim of cracking down on anti-social behaviour and crime across our town.
I recently joined local PCSOs on a walkabout in Hampden Park, and it was heartening to meet several residents who told me how pleased they were to see officers ‘on the beat’.
Community policing is a local, proactive, and collaborative approach which focuses on preventing crime rather than just simply reacting to it.
Police numbers have been stretched to breaking point after years of cuts by the previous Conservative Government. In too many neighbourhoods, the familiar “bobby on the beat” has become a distant memory. This is often because Safer Neighbourhood Team officers are regularly redeployed to emergency response teams to plug gaps.
I want to see more officers on the beat, not stuck behind desks or just on a hamster wheel of emergency responses. I’m also calling for more investment in PCSOs, who often act as the eyes and ears on the street, but who too often lack the recognition or resources they deserve. Over the last decade, PCSO numbers have been cut by 4,500.
I’ve recently written to the Chief Constable of Sussex Police, Jo Shiner, urging her to move more operations from their Hammonds Drive base on an industrial estate to their Town Centre Hub on Grove Road, whose building now has extra capacity for potential additional police personnel due to the departure of DWP operations from the building. This would bolster their town centre policing presence, a current hotspot.
As someone who’s spent years supporting young people out of crime in my career before becoming our town’s MP, I’ve seen the impact that well-funded youth services can have. The loss of youth centres and support groups has left a dangerous gap. These spaces help young people build the pro-social values — teamwork, communication, empathy — that steer them away from the margins and towards positive futures.
I’ll keep campaigning for more investment in crime prevention, and for the policing presence our town deserves.
