We would support any of the suggested options if the northern part of the site is incorporated into such a use or used separately for playing pitch/open space purposes.

This land offers an opportunity to provide additional playing fields, the need for which is identified in the recent Playing Pitch Strategy for Rother and Hastings.

The town of Bexhill is in desperate need of facilities to support the local football clubs who currently compete in the Southern Combination Football League. As part of the national non-league pyramid clubs must meet strict ground grading requirements - these cannot be met by our club who currently play at Little Common Recreation Ground as permission will not be granted to make the improvements required as the Recreation Ground is public open space and cannot be developed any further. The opportunity to develop the land at Northeye to provide a pitch and facilities which would enable ground grading requirements to be met could prove vital in order to provide Bexhill with a facility that meets the club's needs to be able to progress and will also provide excellent opportunities for those living in the town.

Our club has for many years prided itself on providing opportunities for the youth of the town to participate in organised football training and matches and currently has fifteen youth teams (under 6's to Under 18's) which feed into our two senior and Under 21 teams. As a club, we can no longer progress at our home ground at Little Common Recreation Ground and have been threatened with relegation due to our ground grading (this will be enforced at the end of the 2017/18 season by the FA) - this will have a catastrophic impact on our club and on the town as a whole as there are no facilities in the town that can currently sustain Step 5 & 6 football. Members will therefore leave and travel to the neighbouring towns of Hastings and Eastbourne in order to compete at the highest level possible.

We will therefore support any proposals which allow land to be earmarked for playing pitch purposes in order to develop a facility that would meet the strict ground grading requirements of the Football Association and allow local clubs to not only progress but also provide the best sporting opportunities for those living within the town of Bexhill.