Cough up for road improvement

Businesses on Bell Park who fail to contribute money for repairs to Bell Lane in Uckfield should be named and shamed according to one leading trader.

Ted Lansdowne, joint owner of Green DIY, said: 'It should be made public if companies don't pay the recommended 2,000 per business and peer pressure is the only way the money will be pledged. We need to name and shame those businesses.'

He was speaking at a public meeting on Monday called to discuss the funding of improvements to Bell Lane, which serves the industrial estate and which is currently unadopted.

East Sussex County Council and Bell Lane Improvement Group have worked out it will cost 240,000 to get the road back into shape and up to adoptable standards, at which stage the council will take over the road and its upkeep.

The figure includes road improvements and drainage as well as putting streetlights along the road. East Sussex County Council have already offered to pay half of the sum, as long as the businesses pay the other half. If the businesses do not commit by the end of August the council's offer will be withdrawn.

By the start of Monday's meeting only four businesses had said they would pay the 2,000 and one business, not on the estate, had pledged 1,000. By the end of the meeting people representing nine companies from the industrial estate and the surrounding area said they would give money.

These pledges totalled only 27,000 and it was agreed BLIG would have to go out and knock on doors to get the message across that everyone should give what they could.

Doug Spickernell, the other joint owner of Green DIY, said: 'Would it not be better if some of the smaller businesses pay less, whilst the larger ones who could afford it could possibly pay more?'

Councillor Sylvia Tidy, from Wealden District Council, answered: 'We have decided on 2,000 per business, but will accept any offer from any business whether they are on the estate or not.'

She added: 'If there is a shortfall by the end of August, then we may ask the bigger businesses to give a bit more.'