Value of village life

"Following on from the article in the Observer of January 12 on the Sustainable Communities Bill which had its second reading in the House of Commons last Friday, I would like to add that being fortunate to have lived most of my life within Rother I feel, as do many others that we know the exceptional value of the village shop/sub post office and all that they bring to the quality of life to the residents that they serve.

"We are immensely lucky to live in an area of outstanding natural beauty and long may it remain so, but the down side is that many of our villages are not served well if at all by any public transport also there are many residents that are without transport of their own, making it a real and worrying problem for our residents, to access many of the services provide by the post office/ local shop, if they have to travel.

"Over time many shops, pubs and sub post offices have closed in the rural area of Rother, with the loss of not just another shop, but the loss of a place to buy post office services, a terrific range of groceries and provisions, shops that serve the residents and are often open long hours weekdays and weekends, staffed by hard working and dedicated people that are part of the community these shops are part of the heart of our communities together they are the eyes and ears and if you want to know what's happening within the area go to the village shop.

"The principle of the Bill is bottom up rather than top down. It requires central government to respond to and be driven by the will of local councils and local communities.

"Local sustainability means four things-local economies (facilities, services and jobs), local environment, social inclusion and democratic involvement.

"The Bill allows local councils and people to inform Whitehall how they want it to use central power, influence and resources in their area to promote local sustainability.

"The Sustainable Communities Bill has cross party support and our Battle and Bexhill-on-Sea, MP Greg Barker is a sponsor of the bill, also I believe that this Bill is not only for today its also about the future, we all want our young residents to remain in the villages but there must be something for them, this is why I'm firmly in support of the Bill, at this period of time the outlook appears to be very poor. I would like to invite all Rother residents to also support the Bill and hopefully start to reverse the closures."