Patricia ‘Paddy’ Stephenson: public benefactor

With an admirable spirit, she fought for local improvements, and saved Robsack Wood for future generations.  Bernard McGinley remembers an intrepid fighter and friend.

One of St Leonards’ most spirited campaigners, Mrs Paddy Stephenson, died in early May, of a non-covid illness. Paddy was a fearless advocate of a better Borough.  Her causes and comments were many, but she was always polite and to-the-point. Responding to the news, Peter Chowney, until recently the Leader of the Council, said:   

I rather liked her.  She took an avid interest in her local community and although she was often critical of the council and of me, she did also say when she thought I’d got something right too.  I shall miss her.

Don’t grumble — campaign!

If Paddy had had a motto, it might have been the line above.  She was always open about the way in which poor decisions (questionably made) affected her for the worse as well as the environment, and said so in many letters and emails.       

There was no shortage of decisions – or actions or inactions – of the local planning department, or Planning Committee, that provoked her.  

Among them were the proposals to fill the Archery Ground with ‘units’.  (For those not around to remember, the first plan was a real shocker.)  Similarly the treatment of bat-roosting sites and of trees engaged her — especially trees in ancient woodland, or supposedly protected by Tree Protection Orders. In the summer of 2013 she objected to the proposals for a gypsy and traveller site near Crowhurst Road, as elderly residents were being bullied. 

Another tussle involved the development of 123 West Hill Road, the former Malmesbury House. The developers cited permission from 1988, and there were many wildlife abuses in clearing the site.  (The police Wildlife Officer took the peculiar view that the gulls had removed any evidence of dead wildlife.) Eventually Paddy filed a complaint with the Ombudsman, unsuccessfully, but the site remains unbuilt on.

The abandoned building sites at the northern end of Fern Road are indirect testimony to her concern about the threats to Hollington Stream and the local water table. She asked how permission for small houses somehow led to overbearing ones.  (How many minor amendments does it take to become a major amendment?) The developer is believed to be in receivership.

Paddy kept up with reforms, such as how Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) sidestepped traditional requirements.  Also, she queried the wisdom of the Council getting involved in the commercial property market long before coronavirus led to economic fears.  Earlier this year she was sceptical of the Bulverhythe Recreation Ground proposals:

Surely this merits further publicity?  A recent statement by the Environment Agency has issued strong warnings about building homes on flood plains . . . and Bulverhythe is a notorious flood plain.

From London to the seaside

None of this should suggest that Paddy was a whinger. Far from it. She sought the best and thought that the Council should too. 

Paddy grew up in Ealing, West London, and lived there much of her life — but with her husband and four children she lived in Jamaica for a while until she was suddenly widowed. She was the chief officer for Age Concern Ealing for 16 years until her retirement in 2003. The unfairness of elderly, sometimes confused people, struggling to fill in complex application forms was an abiding concern.

For several years in succession she won the local Ealing in Bloom private garden competition. In later years, after visiting various hot faraway places in the sun (India, the Maldives, Kenya, Greece, Cuba, Jamaica again), she was content with a life sunning it on the beach or in her woodland back garden, watching badgers, foxes, birds, squirrels or seagulls at play.

Paddy moved to St Leonards in  2006. She retired here, but did not enjoy it as much as she hoped to, partly because of the local planning department. Instead she got busy. The lines from the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper seem right:

I’m taking the time for a number of things
That weren’t important yesterday.

     (Fixing a Hole)

She could be critical of the meekness of local people in the face of bad decision-making, and deplored the situation     

if the residents of this town cannot be bothered to stand up and make a stand but leave it to the few.

However she wasn’t always agitating. A beach hut in Bulverhythe was one consolation, and sea-breezes and trees and the glories of nature.  

Robsack Wood

In the Council’s Development Management Plan (2014) there were proposals to put 32 units on Site GH1 (near Church Wood Drive), and expand access through the ancient woodland.

There were hearings at Horntye about the Plan, held by the Planning Inspectorate.  With some pessimism, she went and made detailed representations to the Inspector.  Following a site visit, Inspector Hollox in 2015 issued his Modification that the site  should not be built on. Pessimism turned to delight. When the Labour Party manifesto in 2017 claimed as an ‘Achievement’ the saving of Robsack, she was understandably not amused, as the statement was the reverse of the truth. Following legal delays she wrote to the local paper, and earlier this year she wrote crisply to the Council:

The campaign to save this section from development was successful thanks to the local government inspector’s decision and the 200 strong campaign group seven year fight to save this important biodiverse site. It was under threat of development until the campaign group along with the local plan inspector managed to halt this shocking plan.

Robsack is now part of the Church Wood and Robsack Wood Local Nature Reserve.  Recently the Council made the final confirmation of its new status. The Local Nature Reserve, shaded green in the map, was extended to cover the red-shaded area. 

Her friend and a former St Leonards resident Richard Heritage said: 

We first met 12 years ago.  Paddy has just got started on her mission to save the wonderful Robsack Meadow from development by HBC. We worked together, among others, for seven years until she finally convinced the Planning Inspector to remove it from the Local Plan. During that campaign and after we paired up on some other local environmental/ecological issues. A fantastic lady with such qualities of determination, tenacity, perseverance, perspicacity and strength. I used to call her the “Boudicca of Robsack” in her mission to save it. A pleasure to have known and worked with her.

There is no doubt that Paddy Stephenson, as a friend and activist and campaigner for a better Borough, will be missed. Robsack will permanently remind us of her.

 

 

 

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