Saturday 26th April
I attended the London Road re-development exhibition organised by St. James Investments. It was encouraging to see so many local people taking part in the consultation but I was concerned about proposals for Tesco to be the ‘anchor store’ and clearly so were lots of residents!
I suggested more facilities for young people and disabled people on the site as well as good local transport links to reduce the need for people to use their cars. I went home and wrote to the Council to see whether planning permission had already been granted and to what extent the Council were involved in the plans. I’ll let you know how I get on, meanwhile, you can find out more by visiting their website.
www.brightnewlondonroad.co.uk
Sunday 27th April
Following the success of our petition for longer opening hours at the Jubilee Library, it was great to go along to the first Sunday opening this morning. Here I am with a local resident who signed our petition. Now I’d like to see the library opening later on Saturdays too. I met lots of residents over several weekends who arrived after 4pm to change their books only to find the doors closed. Let me know if library opening hours work for you.
After popping home to collect my home-made cakes, I zipped off to the ‘Spring in the Patch’ festival to join my local Labour Party members from Hanover and Elm Grove Ward on our stall. Sadly, the weather was not kind to us and the rain stopped many people from coming. This was a real shame as the organisers had put so much work into the event, so we all huddled together in the ‘bring and share’ picnic tent to eat the cakes. Here we are when it brightened up a bit, with the Labour Party balloons proving as popular as ever. The Patch (aka William Clarke Park) has an interesting history and you can find out more by visiting their website.
Monday 28th April
An early start today when I joined the newly-formed Hollingbury Local Action Team (L.A.T) to help them deliver the first edition of the ‘Hollingbury Hello’. Then it was straight on to meet David Lepper MP to meet residents in the Ditchling Road area. Just time to get back to the office and catch up on some letters and emails before catching the bus down to Brighton Women’s Centre to give the group an update on what Labour women have been doing to tackle the growth in lapdancing clubs across Brighton and Hove. I took along a copy of my letter published in The Argus and let everyone know that Celia Barlow MP and Councillor Gill Mitchell, Leader of the Labour Group had been to see Licensing Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe MP to discuss the problem. I finished off the evening by meeting local Labour Party members from Hollingbury and Stanmer Ward to discuss their forthcoming ‘month of action’.
Posted on May 1, 2008 in Out and About in Brighton.
