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Newsletter 201 - February 2005

In this issue:

• Meet the Manager
• Your Society Needs You
• The Trust Struggles On
• A Policy for the Pier
• The Bins are Coming!
• Make your voice heard
• Regency Square Area Society - Annual General Meeting
• Do you get it?
• Stumped again!
• Which way out?
• A Flood of Leaflets...
• Kingscliffe Society - The Changing Face of Brighton
• Don't delay - renew today!

Meet the Manager

The Society's annual general meeting will be held at the Hilton Metropole Hotel on 17 March at 7:30pm.

Our guest for the evening will be Derek Maddison who is manager of the Churchill Square shopping centre. He will tell us a bit about how the centre is run and any plans for the future.

If you have any views or questions about Churchill Square, this is your chance to talk to the man in charge.

Put it in your diary now!

Your Society Needs You

Our committee has eight members at present. We need more to share the work of running the Society and bring in new ideas. Can you help?

We meet once a month for between one and two hours.

If you would like to know more or to be nominated for election at the AGM, contact the chairman, Roger Hinton (01273 321794 - email hinton@clara.net)

The Trust Struggles On

The Brighton West Pier Trust has to be given credit for not giving up.

Their plans to save the pier by putting large new buildings either side of it were on the point of becoming a reality. Then two fires and a change of policy by the National Heritage Lottery Fund changed everything.

In his latest newsletter, the Trust's chief executive GeoffLockwood announces bold new plans. He recognises that any new scheme will largely need to be funded privately. This means that the original aim of restoring the pier as it was in the 1920s has been abandoned.

In its place is a plan for a "new pier combining world class 21st century architecture with heritage retention." The amount of commercial space needed to finance the plan'will be greater than that envisaged previously, but, says Lockwood, "much of it could be sea-based". Some land would probably need to be transferred to the Trust by the Council.

Of course this plan will only work if a commercial organisation can be found which wants to put up the money to finance it.

Two questions:

1. Why is a charity (the Trust), whose aim has always been to restore the original pier, now planning to build a new one as a commercial venture?
2. Given the Trust's past record in dealing with commercial partners, what chance is there that it can succeed this time?

As neighbours of this potential new "world class" structure, we must wait to see the detail when a planning application is submitted.

A Policy for the Pier

In the meantime the Society has been doing some thinking about what we believe should happen. Many thanks to those members who have contributed views.

We have put together a "draft policy statement" which we hope represents a broad consensus of members' views. Here are the main points:

1. The West Pier Trust should be wound up and ownership of the site passed to an appropriate public body.
2. Attempts to restore the pier with the help of "enabling development" should be abandoned.
3. The remains of the central section should be safely removed as soon as possible.
4. The new owners should consider possibly retaining the far end as a memorial to the old pier and a nesting place for starlings.
5. The decking at the landward end should be retained and cleared of temporary buildings; its use as a car park should be stopped.
6. The businesses operating on and around the Pier, such as the Rock shop and the market stalls, add life to the area and should continue.
7. The lower promenade-either side of the pier should be brought up to the same standard as the areas nearby.

You can read the full policy statement here. It is only a draft at this stage. What do you think? You can give us your views on the web site, at the AGM or by contacting any committee member.

The Bins are Coming!

It seems that the Council is determined to put communal rubbish bins and recycling units in our streets. At the end of January the Environment committee approved a proposal to extend the scheme into more areas, including Regency Square, subject to consultation with residents. (We are trying to find out what consultation means.)

The scheme involes four communal bins and six or seven re-cycling units in Regency Square alone, with many more in other streets and squares. We are against these bins because we don't need them: the Council is not introducing them to improve the collection of rubbish, which is better now than it has been for many years. Their aim is to save money.

Make your voice heard

There is a Brighton wide campaign against the communal bins. If you are unhappy about them please let people know. A copy of the campaign poster is enclosed. Please put it in you window (even if you are above ground floor level!). You can download the poster from the campaign web site if you want more copies (www.brightonbeautiful.com).

Regency Square Area Society - Annual General Meeting

7.30 pm, Thursday 27 March 2005 Osbourne Suite, Hilton Metropole Hotel
Guest speaker: Derek Maddison, Manager of Churchill Square Shopping Centre

Refreshments

Do you get it?

We're talking about City News, the free newspaper issued by the Council. A lot of people in this area have not been receiving it in recent months so we contacted the Council who told us that we are supposed to have it.

However, there has been a change in delivery agent recently. As a result of our enquiry the matter has been raised with the new agent and some members are now receiving deliveries again.

If you have not received the February edition give us your address and postcode (01273 321794) or email the Council (Linden.Barnett@brighton-hove.gov.uk)

Stumped again!

A tree stump in Clarence Square was featured in a photo in a recent newsletter. It has now been cut right down. The roots are probably still in there.

Which way out?

Visitors trying to get out of the Metropole car park at the bottom of Queensbury Mews must find it difficult to know which way to turn. We have made some suggestions to the Council for improved road signs.

A Flood of Leaflets...

...or if you prefer a different metaphor, we are planning to blanket the area with membership leaflets in the next few weeks. Apologies to existing members if you get one through your door - you could always use it to recruit a friend or neighbour into the Society!

Kingscliffe Society - The Changing Face of Brighton

An illustrated talk by Malcolm Dawes, Chairman of the Brighton Society
3pm - 5pm Sunday 27 February
Hampshire Lodge, Hampshire Court, Upper St James St.
£2 at the door (includes tea and biscuits)

Don't delay - renew today!

Many thanks to those members who have renewed their subscriptions already. If you haven't renewed yet, please help the Society by doing so now.

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