1st and 2nd of October
As well as campaigning with young people for a new skatepark at the level, I went to Freshers Fair at Sussex University to meet students and spoke at Varndean College Politics Society.
It was a pleasure to meet students and hear their views. I think it’s important to celebrate the achievements of young people and stop demonising them. They are tired of the constant media stereotyping and deserve to be treated as equal citizens.
Tuesday 7th October
I have been working with the Graffiti Officer at Brighton and Hove City Council and Sussex Police to stamp out graffiti in Crown Gardens in St. Peters and North Laine. Once the graffiti was cleaned up, I organised a resident's meeting to bring everyone together and is working on a plan to wipe out graffiti, once and for all.
As you can see from these photographs, this home was covered in graffiti. I’ve been working with local Police Community Support Officer and the Council to clean up the streets. The graffiti vandals can expect tough action when we catch them.
Friday 10th October
I joined the ‘Mind Mile Walk’ in Preston Park this morning – you may recall that Mind held a competition earlier in the year to choose art installations that would mark a one-mile route around the park (I think the Sunflower won!) The idea is to encourage people to take light exercise to help with mental health issues.
A complete change of scene this evening, as I joined other volunteers to serve beer at the annual Hanover Beer Festival.
Wednesday 15th October
I am pleased that the Council Scrutiny committee have launched an investigation into the increasing number of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) and the issue of ‘studentification’ as it has become known.
I was on the panel at the meeting called by the Elm Grove Area Residents Action Group tonight to represent David Lepper MP and nearly 90 local residents attended to tell us about the problems of noise at night, rubbish, lack of external maintenance and the over-development of properties. Residents felt that the addition of loft conversions and conservatories to increase living space was intrusive.
The Action Group was keen to point out that they are not anti-student, after all, students often contribute to sustaining communities by using local shops, pubs and public transport. But residents feel strongly that their quality of life is being affected and want to see the situation managed. It is now essential that Brighton and Hove City Council develop a student housing strategy in conjunction with the residents, universities and private landlords.
The recent government report on HMOs outlines possible responses. The Council can prevent new enclaves by considering changes to the Use Classes Order planning rules allowing for HMOs to be brought under greater council control. This has already been adopted in Northern Ireland. They can cap and control the distribution and the dispersal of HMOs by using the local planning system to set up 'areas of restraint', which have been shown to help balance communities. Nottingham has already established a threshold of 25% per neighbourhood.
I met with the Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP, in September when she was Housing Minister to discuss this issue and she was determined to do resolve the situation, even if further legislation was required. If the Council’s existing powers are insufficient they owe it to residents to tell the government what they need and quickly.
Thursday 16th October
Was pleased to take the Fair tips campaign to the national press. Here's my comment in The Mirror.
Thursday 23rd October
We were honoured to have two Ministers visiting Brighton today – the Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, Secretary of State for International Development and the Rt Hon Hilary Benn Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. David Lepper MP hosted Douglas Alexander and I went along to the lunchtime session to meet him.
Hilary Benn came down in the evening and I took him to meet Environmental Protection UK, a national charity based in Brighton. We found out more about their work on air quality and climate change, noise and contaminated land – click here to find out more.
Friday 24th October
It was a pleasure to be invited to the Prestonville Community Association today. Tracey Hill from ‘Another London Road’ campaign group was there to talk about the campaign.
A new development is being planned for London Road including a two-storey Tesco superstore of over 100,000 square feet. This is almost five times the size of the new Sainsbury’s which recently opened in the adjacent New England Quarter. A 950-space car park will be built underneath the store, and the traffic flows redesigned.
The Another London Road (ALR) campaign group has been formed by local residents who do not believe a major new superstore and car park is needed or desirable. With the help of the Government’s Planning Aid, ALR are consulting people who live, work and shop in London Road to determine what they really want from the area. ALR plans to show what an improved London Road could look like – without the need for knocking down and rebuilding such a large part of it.
I believe that when re-developing the London Road area, we need to avoid creating another homogenous high street and we need to stand united to achieve this. We must protect the independent shops and businesses that are people's livelihoods and an essential part of our community. I'm worried that a huge Tesco development would simply wipe them out.
To have your say, visit the ALR website at http://anotherlondonroad.googlepages.com, or the Facebook page “Another London Road”. There is a regular stall on a Saturday morning on Ann Street outside Costa Coffee.
Tags: campaigning, updates
Posted on October 31, 2008 in Out and About in Brighton.
