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Newsletter 217 - December 2006

In this issue:

• New Year Breakfast
• The i gets the ok
• Sundial Square?
• Ho(s)tels?
• Let there be...
• New Life for Dead Lamps
• Lock up your bottles!
• Welcome to our new secretary!
• And a big "Thank you" to John Gavin
• Roof Terrace in Clarence Square
• Long Memories
• regencybrighton.com gets a new look
• Happy Christmas from the Society committee to all members

New Year Breakfast

If you can manage to be up and about by 10am on Monday 1 January 2007, why not stagger down to the Regency Restaurant on the south west corner of Regency Square for the Society's New Year Breakfast?

It's very informal. Just take a seat at the big table. Order and pay for your own meal. The cooked breakfast is around a fiver.

Good company and local gossip come free of charge!

The i gets the ok

The Council has approved plans for the i360 viewing tower on the landward end of the former West Pier.

Work is expected to start this coming spring and to be completed in the second half of 2008. It will include removal of the wreckage of the former concert hall, which is currently lying on the sea bed.

The planning permission will have a "section 106 agreement" associated with it. This means that the Council can impose conditions on the developer, including contributions to local infrastructure projects.

Sundial Square?

The Society is keen to persuade the Council to use some of this section 106 money in Regency Square.

One idea is based on the fact that the i360 will be directly south of the square and will therefore cast a shadow which will move round the square through the day.

The pavements around the square could have the hours of the day set into them, turning Regency Square into a huge sundial.

Let us know what you think of this idea, and any other suggestions you have about how to use i360 money to improve the square. (Comments to www.regencybrighton.com or TEL: 01273 321794)

Ho(s)tels?

The Council's hostels in Regency Square don't go away; nor do people's worries about them. Perhaps the main worry is that other hotels in the area will be turned into similar houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

Planning approval for the existing hostels was obtained by default because they had been operating as HMOs for several years without anyone making a formal objection. The Society is determined to prevent this happening again.

We will remain vigilant and if there are signs of a hotel becoming an HMO we will ask the Council's planning officers to investigate whether it needs planning permission for its new activities.

If you are aware of any local hotels which might be converting to hostels, please let us know.

Let there be...

Society committee member Brian Smith recently met with the Council's community safety officer, Henry Christie. The meeting was the result of concerns about recent attacks involving broken bottles in the vicinity of the Regency Tavern.

Brian showed Mr Christie around the area. He concluded that generally lighting levels were satisfactory but some additional lights would be useful in Russell Square and near the Regency Tavern. There is also the possibility of using white, rather than yellow lights to improve visibility.

Unfortunately he could not promise action in the near future - something to do with "budgets."

New Life for Dead Lamps

Often the street lights that we do have don't work. There is one in Clarence Gardens that has been dead for some time.

Committee member, Diana Dunn was recently pictured in the Argus with a report that the Council would be unable to get the light working until the New Year. The reason is that the electricity company needs one month's notice for their part of the work.

This is absurd! This is the only light in Clarence Gardens and residents' safety is being put at risk by bureaucracy. Is there no way of prioritising work?

The Society reports faulty street lights to the council whenever we find them. If you know of a faulty light in the area please contact Ros Boulden (Tel 323690) who will make sure the right people are informed.

Lock up your bottles!

The Council's safety officer was also concerned about the storage of glass bottles in bins on the pavement. He spoke to the manager of the Regency Tavern and asked him to fit a lock to the bin that is used for empty bottles.

Or better still, keep them off the streets!

The Society's view is that trade refuse bins should not be stored on the pavement in the first place. We have raised this issue with the Council and are awaiting a response.

Labour councillor Roy Pennington has supported our view, commenting that "planning officers require buildings to have adequate private space for refuse storage". Liberal Democrat, Dawn Davidson also shares our concerns and has written to council officer Gillian Marston about the issue.

Welcome to our new secretary!

Society member Rhidian Hughes, who lives in Regency Square, has answered our call for a volunteer to take over as secretary.

Rhidian has been co-opted as a committee member and acting secretary. He will stand for election at the AGM in March.

And a big "Thank you" to John Gavin

We have been without a secretary since the AGM in March when John Gavin stood down because he was moving to Hove. He has continued to fill the role in an "acting" capacity since then. His fellow committee members have been very grateful to him for doing so, and for all the work he has done for the Society since he was first elected in 2002.

He is still a member of the Society committee and represents us on the Council's Conservation Advisory Group.

Roof Terrace in Clarence Square

The Society has objected to an application to build a roof terrace on a house on the eastern side of Clarence Square.

We believe that in a conservation area, buildings should be kept in their original form, as far as possible, and not have modern features added.

Long Memories

It was back in 1983 that the Society helped residents of Preston Lodge in Little Preston Street win a court order against the casino on the ground floor of their building.

The case arose from a ventilation system which included a large duct running up the north side of the building. Vibration from this duct caused continuous and very disturbing noise in several flats.

After unsuccessful attempts to persuade the casino to do something about the problem, residents went to court and won an order requiring the system to be switched off.

Memories of this bit of history were revived recently when plans were approved for two new town houses to be built in Little Preston Street on land adjoining the north wall of Preston Lodge. There was a suggestion that the plans would involve turning on the old ventilation system again.

The Society raised this concern with the Council's Environmental Health department. They have investigated and assured us that "there is no change to the internally fitted extractor fan."

Anyone who is suffering from noise can contact the department on 01273 292409.

regencybrighton.com gets a new look

The Society's website has had a comprehensive makeover and has a snappy new look.

From its humble beginnings the site now has nearly 350 pages of local information/history/facts/trivia/miscellania etc.

We get visitors from the four corners of the globe including some countries that you might find quite strange, but they come and they keep on coming.

Keep up to date with the i360 plans on the website at http://www.regencybrighton.com/pier/archive

If you are looking for local information, try our local links page for links to local amenity groups and a variety of other useful organisations: http://www.regencybrighton.com/guide/local

Happy Christmas from the Society committee to all members

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