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Hove Civic Society May 2017 newsletter Matters have been fairly quiet on the development front Chairman’s letter during the last couple of months. We have continued to support the proposed development by Matsim in Conway Street (Hove Gardens) and hope that it will go to planning Dear Members, committee soon with a positive recommendation. In my last letter I explained that a small group of your The consultation response on this development has been committee was going to look at how a local society astounding in that it has also attracted significant support like ours could work effectively to mitigate some of the from the Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum, Regency impacts of public sector cuts. We are particularly worried Society and the Conservation Advisory Group, with only about the continued cuts to environmental and neighbour- 10 objections, against the 4000 objections to Anston hood services. House, which received planning permission late last year. It is not only Brighton and Hove City that is affected. The The new proposal for the Sackville Hotel site is a great Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) states improvement to the previous tower proposals and we are that spending on local services such as bin collections, happy to support this. The Toads Hole Valley draft brief parks, roads and libraries has fallen by £3.1bn between is out for consultation and you will find a summary of our 2010/11 and 2015/16. It seems there is a disproportionate comments later on in the newsletter. reduction of such services – spending on neighbourhood services fell by 13% while spending on social services in As far as Hove Plinth is concerned, for which funding is contrast increased during that period by £2.2bn. now secured, we have had a borehole survey carried out during the Spring. The results suggest that there are no The report makes a clear connection with local obstacles to building the plinth. We are now embarking prosperity and states ‘there is an urgent need for local on the fundraising for the first sculpture and Jonathan councils and government to recognise that neighbour- Wright, the artist, will facilitate a number of workshops to hood services are a driver for local prosperity’. We saw help us decide on the eight items to put on the sculpture. complaints by the tourist industry about the state of the I am delighted that we have got this far and look forward local environment during last winter, which of course is to the inauguration of the sculpture. More later on in the of great concern to us all as visitor attraction is one of newsletter. the key economic drivers of the city. Our concern is that such complaints will not get fewer, not least as we haven’t Finally an update on our planned programme of Street seen the last of the cuts yet with this year’s £25m cuts to Trees in Portland Road. We will be planting 14 disease be followed by £15m next year and £11m the year after. resistant elms in total and are currently engaged in talking to local traders with a view that they adopt the trees to Our Forum on the 27th April made this our subject of the give them the necessary TLC during their first years. This year. Under the title: Improving our Townscape – for a has worked successfully with all our street tree planting better environment for Hove, we explored what we as a in residential streets and I believe such commitment is society could do. We had an excellent array of ideas critical if we are going to help improve our local presented to us by Nick Lomax and James Farrell and environment. you will find a brief summary of the event later in the newsletter, as well as a summary of the ideas we have With best wishes come up with. We’d welcome your comments, ideas and participation on this journey. Helmut Lusser Brighton & Hove traffic-free during the Brighton Marathon, photo credit Niklas Lusser Please note it is still very important to fill in the Membership subscriptions accompanying form at the time of paying so that we have up to date details for you including your most recent email address for correspondence. This is a call-out to the few remaining members who have not yet paid their 2017 subscription. Helen Phillips Membership Secretary Please could you ensure that payment is made within the next fortnight. Fees remain the same as last year with £12 for a single membership and £20 for a couple. ubscriptions please! S Please visit our website which gives details of where to £12 single send your cheque or find details of the HCS account for bank transfers. Follow this link: £20 per couple http://www.hovecivicsociety.org/get-involved HCS Discussion Forum April 2017 Improving our Townscape – towards a better environment for Hove The 2017 Forum was well attended and several members raised important issues about maintaining our public realm, especially in these times of reducing resources and increasing demands. There was a panel of three experts and a respondent from the local authority. Members of the HCS committee who work regularly on environmental issues maintained the focus on what we have already achieved and what we suggest for moving forwards. As the leading architect of Hove Gardens, the first preferred development proposal in the Hove Station area, Hove Town Hall in 2050? Copyright Emilio Ambasz Nick Lomax presented the principles underlying the construction of new buildings and the public areas Helmut Lusser, HCS Chairman, drew together our aims between and around them, all illustrated with slides of and achievements so far, as well as the directions we are the area now and the vision for living and working in the working on. He echoed the feelings of many of our mem- Conway Street area in future. bers concerning the need to halt any degradation of our buildings, streets and other public spaces within Hove. Nick spoke of local consultations and Council His illustrations included our vision, approved in principle requirements, and of the compromises to be made about by the Council, for improvements along Church Road – the use of space and resources. For example, the need Hove Boulevard, and in the area of Hove Town Hall. for ‘affordable housing’ or enlarged public spaces; for small improvements that also follow established He spoke of our well established ways of working with regulations, such as children’s play areas, roof-top trees local residents to restore or introduce street tree planting and pedestrian-only areas. Vision can be undermined by across Hove, and about our Hove Sculpture initiative other considerations. Nick has worked on inspiring de- which is becoming a reality, welcomed by the public, the velopments across the City and he showed us images of business community and the local authority. However, developments that have been restricted: the facades and Helmut spent time on the new ideas being developed shapes of some proposed new developments, the within the Society for reversing some of the blights on our continuing traffic along Francis Street by the Open streetscape. Market, and the lack of trees in Jubilee Square. These include lobbying in favour of a fair share of resources for Hove, a new visitor contribution to help maintain the areas they enjoy, car free days or even a ban on chewing gum. We also plan to continue our strategic involvement in partnership with the local authority, businesses and creative industries to share our enthusiasm and work towards shared goals for our public realm. Nick Hibbert (BHCC) responded to questions from the point of view of the Council’s aims for use of limited revenue resources and competing challenges. He reminded us that capital funding, although scarce, has been sought and awarded to Brighton and Hove. He was positive about continuing to work in partnership with Hove Civic Society and welcomes our involvement. LCE architects: Rooftop Plan Hove Gardens Clare Tikly Spot the missing trees The benefits of integrating vegetation with development was explained and quantified by James Farrell, who co-founded the charity, “Building Green”. His slides began with Brighton’s Madeira terraces, as they were built to include abundant vegetation from as early as 1888, and how recent environmental policy can insist on high levels of cultivating green walls, roofs and gardens within urban development areas. James’ illustrations included the truly inspiring new buildings and open spaces in the Victoria Station area of London to several of a growing number of green roofs and walls in Brighton and Hove. Innovation can be both led by individuals and directed by public policy. The advantages are increasing diversity of wildlife, improved insulation of buildings, reduction in air pollution, avoidance of surface water and flooding, and increased feelings of wellbeing amongst those who live and work in these environments. LCE Architects: Jubilee Library HCS Forum 2017: Suggestions by our committee What can we do to help maintain and improve the environment in Hove? Lobbying: caring for our street tree heritage is as important as caring for our old buildings and have therefore run our 1. Lobby for a fair share of resources going into Restoring our Victorian Street Tree heritage campaign environmental and traffic schemes for the city – the for several years. We want to develop this and work with proposed improvements for Church Road, now in the other organisations to make sure we do as much as we local transport plan, are a good example; can to maintain and increase our numbers of street trees in partnership with local residents and businesses. 2.

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