Burgess Hill Town Council Refuse To Debate Future Of Stone Egg As Tensions Threaten To Boil Over

A councillor has accused Burgess Hill Town Council of having 'no will to debate anything or do anything' after they refused to discuss a motion regarding the stone garden in Church Walk this past Tuesday evening.

Cllr Janet Smith (Labour) of the Meeds Ward worked closely with Cllr Janice Henwood (Lib Dem) to put forward a motion where the stone garden in Church Walk could be dismantled and relocated within the town, a new feature would then been installed to give the entrance to the town centre a refreshing new look. It would be funded by section 106 money of which the town council have in plentiful supply for this sort of project.

Janet and Janice thought they had the support of fellow ward councillor Anne Jones (Conservative). However, at the meeting, Anne Jones failed to back to motion and sided with her own political party who refused to debate the issue.

After the meeting an understandably frustrated Cllr Smith spoke to BHU:

"I'm disappointed that the majority of councillors did not open their mouths to express one opinion on the stone garden.

"I'm also disappointed that Cllr Anne Jones promised to support the motion but did not, instead she agreed with Andrew Barrett-Miles and Ian Simpson that it should not be debated.

"It's now being put to the customer services key area group, I believe it is being sent there to be buried and forgotten about.

"I was told that if they allowed my motion then all sorts of subjects would start being put forward for discussion at full council. God forbid we should ever have a discussion!

Last autumn. Burgess Hill Town council actually cancelled a meeting as they didn't have enough items to discuss. Speaking on her plans, Cllr Smith added:

"There is plenty of money to do what I wanted to do, if the motion had been passed the officers of the council had identified areas in the town where the stone garden could be relocated.

"That stone garden will be there in 30 years at this rate when we could have had a garden area, there is no will at council to debate anything or do anything"


What Do You Think Of The Stone Garden?

What do you think of Councillor Smith and Cllr Henwood's proposals to replace the stone garden in Church Walk?

It was installed the best part of 20 years ago, is it now time for a change? What would you change it to? Perhaps you're actually fond of the garden and would like to see it stay? If the egg were to be relocated in Burgess Hill, where'd you like to see it moved to?

Do you remember when the stone egg was famously daubed with graffiti when it was first installed with people joking that it had been sent by Aliens?

Let us know your thoughts at the bottom of this page.

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
Would you like to see the stone egg and 'garden' replaced with something else?
If so, what would you like to see? Also, what do you make of our councillors not wanting to discuss Burgess Hill issues?