Please, let's have a decent debate

Who bothers today to stand as a mark of respect when someone in official office enters a room?

Long gone are the days when the mayor of the town, the chairman of the local authority or anyone else attending a public function wearing their chain or badge of office was accorded the courtesy.

Worse, most public buildings, from hospitals to police stations, now find it necessary to carry notices in prominent positions warning that staff are not required to endure verbal abuse or threats of violence.

Such warnings are shameful - but necessary.

Now comes a worrying indicator of a further and totally unacceptable fall in standards of behaviour.

De La Warr Pavilion director Alan Haydon has found it necessary to write to the Observer to place on record his disgust at the treatment meted out to his staff by some people attending the public consultation exhibition there on the Next Wave seafront proposals. He has been shocked at the anger and rudeness directed at his staff.

That public feeling over Next Wave runs high has been evident by the flood of opinion on the Observer's letters page.

That residents should express themselves properly in this way and have turned out in such numbers for the opening of the exhibition is wholesome evidence that democracy is alive and well in Bexhill. It is in marked contrast to the apathy which has greeted previous consultation exercises.

But rudeness and outright aggression have no part to play in what should be informed and intelligent debate.

That such rudeness should be directed to the Rother officers and councillors who were at the pavilion stage of the exhibition is unfair and lowers what should be sensible discussion on a key town issue to the level of a gutter brawl.

That the ire of a section of the public should have been directed at pavilion staff introduces a still more worrying element for it discloses that those responsible have little grasp of the situation.

The pavilion, long since run by an independent trust, was simply hosting the exhibition. The pavilion trust is not the author of the disputed Next Wave proposals '“ still less are its staff.

The actions of an ill-mannered faction attending the exhibition risk debasing the views of those people in the town who feel that the Next Wave proposals are flawed but who are capable of arguing their case courteously and without recourse to personal rancour.

Meanwhile, Rother should be congratulated on its success in becoming one of only two authorities in a highly-competitive field to have obtained the maximum 1m grant funding under the Sea Change programme.

Given the big turn-out and feedback for the Next Wave exhibition and the 1m grant '“ which must be spent in 18 months '“ what the Observer would like to see now is a period of sober reflection tempered with flexibility.

Among Next Wave proposals which have aroused such feeling there are elements which are positive and practical. Pre-eminent among these is the need to re-house the town's top-achieving Rowing Club. Another is improving access to the seafront '“ though not to the extent of the grandiose Boulevade suggestion.

The town's primary school children have highlighted that there is little for young people on the present seafront. There will be even less if features like the Rotary Club human sundial are swept away.

Let's have a considered, courteous, debate which results in amended proposals which the majority of the public can support.

Please ...