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Newsletter 180 - December 2002

In this issue:

• A Few Local Questions
• Planting for Spring
• Into the Millions
• Rubbish - the fight goes on!
• Don't miss the breakfast
• No to Nightclub
• A Visit to St Paul's
• Proposals for Castle Street
• When is a conservation area not a conservation area...?
• A happy Christmas and best wishes for 2003 to all members

A Few Local Questions

The Havana Club in Regency Square was the venue for the Society's Brighton Quiz. Five highly motivated teams competed fiercely for the winner's title. The prize eventually went to the team which had obviously given themselves an advantage by their choice of team name: "the Wonderful Winners"! They took an early lead by playing their joker at the right time.

The number two position went to "the Senior Moments" who fought hard to catch the "Winners" and at the end were only three points behind. "The Muppets", "the Late Ones" (named after their arrival time), and "Boozers anon" fought hard for the remaining places.

Thanks to Suzanne and Roger Hinton for the questions (especially the easy one!). Thanks also to those who provided the food and to Simon at the Havana Club for making us so welcome.

Planting for Spring

On November 21st, in spite of atrocious weather, three hardy members put on their gardening gear and ventured forth into Regency Square.

Ros Boulden, Diana Dunn and Enid Gavin planted 200 tulip and daffodil bulbs in a bare patch of earth behind one of the seats in the top section of the square. They were very grateful for help from Stella Richardson from Brighton and Hove Council, which had provided the bulbs.

Keep your eyes open for the results when spring comes around!

Into the Millions

According to the Argus Property Supplement there was a hotel for sale recently in Regency Square for £1.1 million ... is this the first million pound property in the square?

Rubbish - the fight goes on!

Matt Easteal, the Council's enforcement officer has thanked us for comments in the last issue about his efforts to stamp out illegal refuse dumping. He says that the credit should go to the team from the depot who support him and to the staff who do the day-to-day checks.

Notices have now appeared around the area announcing when the collection day is. Matt has also promised extra inspections in the month up to Christmas.

He also says "Your members' reports of others dumping rubbish and graffiti are valuable and help us to direct cleansing resources where residents want them, rather than where the council decides they should go. I hope that they continue to keep in touch with me and that your members can enjoy living in a rubbish free square."

Thanks again to Matt and all his colleagues who are working to solve our problems.

You can telephone Matt Easteal on 292152 or email him at Matt.Easteal@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Don't miss the breakfast

Society members and friends will be meeting for breakfast at 10am on Sunday 29 December at the Regency Restaurant, in the south-west comer of Regency Square.

Everyone is welcome. It's very informal. You can order a good breakfast for under a fiver.

Bring your neighbours!

No to Nightclub

The Council has refused permission for developments at 12a Regency Square which would have included a bar/nightclub in the basement.

A Visit to St Paul's

Following our successful visit to St Nicholas' Church earlier in the year we have organised a similar event for the New Year. We will be visiting St Paul's Church in West Street.

The church has recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. It is a fine Gothic building with a massive tower which has a unique wooden octagon on top. Inside, the most striking feature is the magnificent set of windows designed by Gothic Revival artist August Pugin. The east and west windows have recently been restored to their original splendour.

Father 0'Loughlin, who recently retired as vicar of St Paul's, will take us on a guided tour.

The visit will be at 2pm on Saturday 25th January 2003. The cost will be £2.50. The tour will be on the level and disabled access is available.

If you would like to come please send your name and telephone number, together with £2.50 per person to Ros Boulden, 8 Abbotts, 129 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2FA.

Proposals for Castle Street

If you walk along Castle Street from Preston Street you will find an archway entrance at the far end. This leads into a small site which used to be used by the Council as a depot for road sweepers.

The depot has been closed and the site sold for development. A proposal has been submitted to the

Council for development of 8 flats for use as social housing. The scheme is linked to the Medina House site in Hove, under the new regulation which requires developers to provide a proportion of social housing as part of any new residential development.

The Society has objected to the scheme. We would be happy to see a residential development on the site. Our objection is to the design of the proposed building. It is a square four-storey block which is entirely unsympathetic to the site and would overshadow neighbouring houses and the Little Theatre which backs onto the site.

We believe that buildings around a courtyard would represent a far more sympathetic use of the site. We also believe that a mixed development would be better than one devoted entirely to social housing. This is surely one of the purposes of the regulation requiring social housing to be included in new developments.

When is a conservation area not a conservation area...?

...When you start to allow property owners to demolish their listed buildings because of the cost of restoring them.

This is in effect what will happen if a planning application for 128 Kings Road is approved. The building was allowed to fall into disuse and disrepair by its former owner. As a result it is now nothing more than a shell held together by scaffolding.

The new owners want to demolish it and create a modern block of flats on the site. Their argument is that it is not cost effective to restore the original building.

The Society has objected to the application. The proposed building is too big and is not in keeping with the historic conservation area. It also attempts to cram too many flats into the space available.

We believe that if the remaining structure cannot be restored then a replica should be constructed. Alternatively replica front and rear facades could be constructed with a newly designed interior within the original footprint.

If permission were given for the proposed development it would be a slap in the face for owners of other listed buildings in the area, many of whom put large amounts of effort and money into maintaining their properties.

Many of the houses in this area would be worth more if they could be demolished and rebuilt as modem blocks of flats. But they can't be - and rightly so - because it is a conservation area. The same principle should apply to number 128.

A happy Christmas and best wishes for 2003 to all members

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