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Newsletter 236 - October 2008

In this issue:

• Benches on the Green
• Views of the Past
• A Visit to the Little Theatre
• A New PCSO
• Weather or not?
• Rubbish Collection
• How many said "Yes" ?
• So, when do we get the bins?
• Keep it Hidden and Lock it Up
• Trade Waste Bins
• Message to graffiti artists...
• Kingscliffe Talks

Benches on the Green

Following a request from the Society, the Council has replaced two benches which had disappeared from the top green in Regency Square.

One was originally bought by the Society in memory of our first chairman, Eddie Edwards. The other was bought by a society member in memory of his late wife. Both disappeared without trace, in spite of having memorial plaques on them.

The new benches have been fixed to concrete bases so hopefully they will be less likely to wander.

They should also stand up to the weather better than previous ones, since the slats that make up the seat and the back are made of a very tough plastic, rather than wood.

The other older benches in Regency Square are in serious need of repair or replacement. We have asked the Council if there is any chance of them being improved.

Views of the Past

Society member Suzanne Hinton has been looking at the James Gray photographic collection, particularly the volume covering this area. She has offered to show us some of the pictures at our winter social event. It will be at 7:30 pm on Thursday 4th December in the Fishermen's Vestry at St Paul's Church in West Street.

There will be refreshments, a raffle and then Suzanne will present the photographs and tell us a little bit about the history of our area. Put the date in your diary now!

A Visit to the Little Theatre

It's easy to forget that we have our own theatre in Clarence Gardens. We are organising a group to see the next production, "Happy Families" by John Godber. It will be at 7:45 on Thursday 13 November and costs £7.50 per ticket. Full details at www.the-little.co.uk

If you would like to join the group, send the money for your ticket(s) to Ros Boulden, 8 Abbotts, 129 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2FA, to reach her by 1 November. Include your name and phone number.

A New PCSO

We have a new police community support officer. He is PCSO Anthony Dellow. He will cover our area and some of the streets and squares to the west.

You can contact him - for non emergencies - by phone (0845 60 70 999 ext. 26994) or by email (anthony.dellow@sussex.pnn.police.uk).

Weather or not?

There was much criticism of the recent "restoration" of the war memorial in Regency Square. Now that the autumn weather has started it is looking even worse.

The Council did tell us that the paint used on the metal parts was designed to "weather" to produce a natural metal appearance. So what's happening? Is it weathering as intended, or is it just a mess?

Time will tell, but in the meantime, what do you think?

Rubbish Collection

You may have received a leaflet recently telling you that there will be a change to the day that your rubbish is collected. The odd thing about this leaflet is that for most people in this area the "new" collection day is Monday, the same as the old one. Properties in Kings Road have had a real change to Tuesday.

The Monday following the distribution of this misleading leaflet saw chaos as far as collections were concerned. No collection on Monday morning, then a collection of bags from the pavements in some areas by a small truck in the evening.

We asked the Council's Cityclean department what was going on. They replied as follows:

"We have changed collection days for 122,000 properties this week. Whilst we have endeavoured to plan for all eventualities to limit any disruption to services, teething problems may occur such as the delay with your collection, this is due to operational difficulties. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and may I assure you that everything is being done to keep this delay to a minimum."

Fine words, but unfortunately rubbish lay uncollected in the streets again the following Monday.

How many said "Yes" ?

The Council consulted residents about replacing house to house rubbish collection with communal bins. As we reported last month, the majority of those responding were in favour. We have now obtained detailed results.

	Number responding	Number in favour	% response rate
Regency Square	69	37	35
Russell Mews	4	2	31
Russell Square	17	16	18
St Margaret's Place	2	2	15
Stone Street	4	3	29
Queensbury Mews	4	4	11
Preston Street	4	4	9
Little Preston Street	7	6	19
Clarence Gardens	3	1	50
Castle Street	6	4	17
Cannon Place	3	2	14
Totals	123	81	24

Note: No figures were provided for Clarence Square.

So what do the figures tell us? In our area about a quarter of the people questioned sent a reply. However, it's worth noting that those living in large blocks of flats like Sussex Heights and Abbotts were not included. Although they will not be using the new communal bins they should surely have been given a say about their impact on the area.

Overall the figures for our area show that 66% of those responding were in favour of the bins. Almost every street showed at least half the respondents in favour.

So, when do we get the bins?

The Council is not planning to introduce the bins until next summer.

Meanwhile the Society wants to talk to the Council about some of the fine detail of the plan. For example, we are thinking of proposing that the bin which is currently proposed for the north west corner of Russell Square should be moved to the link road between Russell and Clarence Squares.

There is also a suggestion that the bins should be a different colour from the black of those used in the pilot scheme; the unsightly stickers could perhaps also be removed to make them a little less ugly.

If you have any views about how the proposed bins should be implemented in our area, please let us know.

Keep it Hidden and Lock it Up

Crime in central Brighton is on the decline according to figures provided by Sussex Police. However, there are some exceptions.

Burglary is on the increase. Basement flats are particularly at risk. So don't leave tempting items like computers where they can be seen from the street, and keep windows and doors securely locked.

Likewise with cars. There has been an 18% rise in vehicle crime. Car parks, like the one in Regency Square, are popular with thieves. So don't leave anything on view in your car when you park it.

Trade Waste Bins

Bins which were blocking the pavement at the top of Cannon Place have now been moved onto private land thanks to action by Council officers following a complaint from the Society.

However, there are still lots of other places in the area where businesses are using the public footpath to store their waste. There are now also bins outside two houses in Regency Square which have been converted to flats.

We are continuing to press the Council to take action against these misuses of public space.

Message to graffiti artists...

... don't waste your time. New graffiti in our area is likely to disappear almost as soon as it appears.

The first "paint out" took place earlier this month in Russell Square. Our photo shows society member Steve Buettner contemplating a fine example of the graffiti genre, before covering it in a thick coat of green paint, kindly supplied by Sarah Leach of the Council's Cityclean department.

Kingscliffe Talks

The Kingscliffe Society has organised two Sunday afternoon talks, both at 3pm in Hampshire Lodge, Hampshire Court, Upper St James Street. On 19 October lan Gledhill will give an illustrated account of the trams of Brighton and beyond. On 16 November David Arscott will talk about the Sussex Coast. More details from Sue Paskins.

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