There is a repeated call for a swimming pool in Battle; please ignore these calls. It takes a population of approximately 50,000 to make a pool economically viable and I have no wish to see Battle grow to that size.

You correctly identify the 'dumb-bell' shape of Battle as a constraint on growth. One way to ease this constraint is to accept it and locate new developments on both sides of the 'neck' of the High Street. So rather than extending Battle and Langton School, which is already too large, a new school needs to be developed east of the centre, either on Blackfriars or at Starrs Meade. The government has decided that all four year olds should be in school; growing Battle and Langton to meet the population implications of the plan means a school of 650 to 700 pupils; what parent would willingly put their four year old child into a school of 700? Small children need small schools, as all the educational evidence shows.