LETTER: Hideous homes ruin the view

Admittedly the Dukes of Devonshire were instrumental in the creation of Eastbourne as a resort back in the 19th century but that was then and this is now.

Nowadays, the Chatsworth Estate has gone straight ahead and, against the wishes of practically everybody in the town, built on Pococks Field.

In a lot of cases, this might be considered ‘progress’, but the building work has been over the top, the houses are hideous and they’re built far too high.

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Some comfortably-off people live on the Rodmill Estate. Some have worked all their lives to buy some of these properties and some are housebound and, up to a couple of years ago, one of their only pleasures was to be able to look out on the view over the fields towards Langney, only to have that view completely ruined for the sake of sheer bloody-minded profit.

If the Duke of Devonshire is happy to have his name associated with such inconsiderate planning, then maybe it’s time Eastbourne stopped showing such blind deference to his title.

I suggest renaming anything named after the Dukes of Devonshire (including the pub) to philanthropists whose good work continues to benefit the people of Eastbourne. Let’s rename Devonshire and Cavendish Places after some of our other philanthropists like William Leaf, Gilbert Foyle and more recently Patricia and William Venton.

Maybe if we were to take this drastic step, the Dukes may start considering the wishes of the people of Eastbourne and won’t allow companies like Chatsworth Estates to go ahead with abominations such as Pococks Field in their name.

DAVE POOLE

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