Gray’s primary school in Newhaven was visited recently by Jason and Jim Paice MP, the shadow Agriculture Minister.

They had come particularly to see the vegetables, flowers and herbs grown by the children, in tractor tyres supplied by Roger Foxwell, a local farmer. The tyres are a convenient and safe way of holding the earth in sufficient quantity to grow plants.

Roger also highlighted the publication provided for schools by the NFU which encourages schools to source local ingredients and promote healthy eating.

Jim said: “All too often, children believe that food is produced in plastic bags in supermarkets. These children loved getting their hands dirty and also enjoyed eating the crops that they’d grown.” Jason added “It’s great seeing local farmers taking the time and trouble to help in school projects. Gray’s is an attractive and dynamic place to learn, and our local farmers are helping to make these children’s education even more outward looking and inter-active.”

After twenty years of the current flood defence scheme, the need to continuously shore up and move the shingle around Seaford Beach is now starting to cause widespread local concern in it’s accessibility and safety for users.

In short, Seaford Beach is a shadow of what it once was and is undoubtedly now starting to undermine both Seaford’s and the wider Lewes District’s future economic prosperity.

Seaford Beach has no artificial protection from the full fury of the sea, and due to Newhaven West Arm blocking replacement shingle from the west, is slowly but continuously losing shingle. This means that at least twice every year huge diggers and lorries are brought in to try to reshape the beach at considerable and increasing year on year cost.

Jason recently visited the beach to see for himself the problems.

Jason said “It was really helpful to see the beach problems and talk to local people who are very concerned about the future of the beach. It is becoming hazardous now for users and often parts of the beach are so steep it cannot be used by swimmers, fishermen and walkers easily and safely. My concern is that unless a proper long term solution is found someone could be trapped or injured. It is a nonsense to employ huge diggers and lorries at least twice every year to try to reshape the beach. This strategy should no longer be considered acceptable.”

Jim Skinner, a resident of Newhaven and Seaford for over 45 years, who has taken a great interest in the beach problems, particularly over the past few years, explained the problems to Jason. He explained that the beach now consists of two parts. A top compacted unwashed part used twice a year by diggers and lorries as a means of moving the shingle around, and a mobile lower part. Each is separated by a steep escarpment which only the fittest can safely negotiate. The elderly and young families in particular are increasingly finding it hard to use the beach in safety.

Unless a more permanent and robust sea defence strategy can be found it will always be necessary for shingle repositioning and replacement to be undertaken at an ever-increasing cost.

Jim has started a petition calling for a proper investigation into the problem to find a cost effective safe solution, which returns the beach to an all year around community amenity it once was. The petition already has in excess of 1100 signatures. Jim said “I am very pleased that Jason and local Conservative Councillors responded so quickly and positively to my request to become involved in this issue which is so important for Seaford.”

Jason has joined local people from Seaford in the fight to prevent the Environment Agency destroying the beautiful and iconic Cuckmere Valley.

The Environment Agency plans to flood the Cuckmere Valley by breaching the embankments allowing the incoming tides to swamp the valley with seawater and by non-clearance of the river mouth, which will cause flooding upstream and will endanger the A259. When visiting the site Jason Sugarman said “This deliberate flooding will mean the loss of four footpaths in the beautiful valley which will decimate the local tourist trade. These age old meanders are a recreational and educational resource for generations of students and local families, that will be lost under mudflats.”

Charles Peck the East Dean District Councillor on Wealden District Council persuaded his colleagues on the Environment Scrutiny Committee to oppose the Environment Agency’s Plans. He said, “One of the most photographed views in the Country will be lost forever, and for what? The EA must recognise that they have a duty to protect the Environment – not destroy it”

On her visit to the Lewes constituency Theresa Villiers, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, visited the site of the disused railway link between Lewes and Uckfield. She came to Lewes at the invitation of Jason to discuss key transport priorities for residents of Lewes, Newhaven and the surrounding area.

A proposal to re-open the Lewes to Uckfield line is the subject of a Reinstatement Study to assess the feasibility and business case for the link and is due to report in the first six months of this year.

Theresa Villiers told a Conservative meeting later that the transport experts put Lewes-Uckfield in the top five of disused lines most likely to be brought back into operation. Speaking during her visit, Theresa said

“The increase in passenger numbers in the years since rail privatisation mean that there is now a pressing need for extra capacity on our rail network. The Government is simply not taking this issue seriously enough and the result is chronic overcrowding on many lines. With passenger numbers expected to carry on increasing, this problem is set to get worse. In these changed circumstances, the case for reinstatement of lines like Lewes-Uckfield is much stronger than it has been in past years. This is an issue that I have raised in Parliament and will continue to do so. It was good to hear directly from residents what a difference reopening the line would make to their quality of life and we are all waiting with baited breach for the results of the Reinstatement Study.”