Minutes of West Hove Forum meeting
Wednesday 24th January 2024 via Zoom
Attending: Edward Clay (Chair & Wish Park Surgery Patients’ Participation Group), Jane Galvin (Secretary & Kingsway & West Hove Residents’ Association), Martin Lawrence (WHF Treasurer and Lawrence Art Supplies), Ann Forster & Des O’Dell (Friends of Wish Park), Angie Starnes (Friends of Hove Lagoon), Cathy Biggs (Hove Beach Hut Association), Helmut Lusser (Hove Civic Society), Margaret Hallah (Friends of Davis Park), Peter Reeves (KAWHRA), Chrissie Hogarth (Secret Garden Group), Rich Wheeler & Millie Wallace (Community Engagement Team), Simon Maxwell (Climate:Change)
Apologies: Cllr Paul Nann (Wish ward), Cllr Leslie Pumm & Cllr Julie Cattell (Westbourne & Poets Corner), Mike Gibson (Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum), Cathy Ferguson (Hove Beach Croquet Club), Sam Dracott (St Leonard’s Church), Sylvia New (Wish Park Surgery PPG), Monica Harding (Off The Fence)
Edward welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.
- Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
The minutes of the meeting on 23.11.23 were accepted.
- Chair’s Report – Edward Clay
At the AGM in March, Jane will be standing down as secretary after 9½ years due to family commitments. The committee are looking into a replacement – if anyone can help, please let us know. The role could be split into two. (Ann has since offered to take on the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund administration work.)
The council consultation on changing light touch to full parking schemes has now closed.
- Climate:Change think tank – Simon Maxwell
Simon Maxwell is a Brighton resident who has worked in international development; amongst other roles he has served as a Chief Scientific Editor of the UN Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report. He is the Co-Chair of Climate:Change, a new independent, non-party-political think tank on climate change in Brighton & Hove: www.climatechangebh.org.uk / @climatechangebh
Simon gave a presentation on the aims of the think tank, to bring people together to identify priorities and build consensus around climate change solutions. They are not a campaigning organisation and are always keen to hear from people who would like to lead on different topics.
He showed the meeting ward maps which show the carbon footprint per capita. Much of West Hove is a red area, with much higher emissions than, for example, Moulsecoomb or Bevendean. (You can find the map at: https://www.carbon.place/#10.98/50.831/-0.0654)
There are a lot of assumptions made, eg the flight data is not localised.
Simon is astonished at how much great work is going on in Brighton, but there are some issues to sort out. He was sceptical about the council setting a 2030 target for net zero emissions, when the national target is 2050.
Questions and comments:
Helmut commented that councils have inadequate powers. Shoreham Power Station could drive a district heating system but the council doesn’t have the power to do this. Successful cities like Copenhagen, which has the world’s largest district heating network, can show you what can be achieved. We are left only with looking for individual change of behaviour. He asked how the culture battles should be handled.
Simon said that there are some great people in the council who are doing very interesting work. Climate:Change would like to help them articulate their claims to central government.
Regarding Shoreham power station, the Greater Brighton Economic Board can look at that.
Simon is a great enthusiast for carbon footprinting. People can benefit a lot from taking responsibility for their own carbon footprint. His own carbon footprint calculation was about the national average. (You can try this at: https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/) You can also get household carbon footprint calculators.
Peter pointed out that the population total in the planet has doubled since climate change got under way. Simon said that it’s the rich people who are emitting the most. One reason is that they are more likely to be frequent flyers. (See the Emissions Gap Report: https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2023)
Edward asked what the West Hove Forum could do to help, as a networking organisation, apart from circulating Simon’s PowerPoint presentation.
Simon suggested that people should go onto the Climate:Change website, sign up to the newsletter (www.climatechangebh.org.uk) and come to the meeting on food on 29 February at the Brighthelm Centre (6pm). After that there will be events on different topics and people can contribute.
Edward remarked that West Hove was selected by the council for a Mini Holland study, but that seems to have sunk without trace. He said change would involve losers as well as winners and that needs to be taken into account.
- New leisure centre update
There is a council consultation on replacing the King Alfred Leisure Centre which runs until 2 February. There are two options on where to site the new leisure centre: the current site or land to the south of Sainsbury’s car park at the junction of Old Shoreham Road.
Cathy reported that she had been to a consultation event at Portslade Library with representatives of Portslade Cricket Club who currently use the second proposed site and would have to move to Greenleas Park. They would have to reduce what they offer and are incensed. They were due to hold a meeting on Monday 29th January to hear about the proposals.
Ann said that she had also been to a consultation event at Hove Library. She was disappointed by the event, where there was a very small display board. She said that football clubs also use the green space near Sainsbury’s.
Helmut said that the council should have evaluated the net impact of each location – many more people can get to the current location on foot.
Edward commented that it was a very poor process of public consultation and more of a box-ticking exercise with a lot of losers.
Rich said he could feed back some of these comments to the council.
- St Philip’s Church update
When asked for an update on the future of St Philip’s Church, Scott Ralph of the Diocese of Chichester gave us a brief written statement prior to the meeting. He said that they have had strong early interest in the building, which they are exploring. The interest is all from charitable organisations who want to keep things confidential until they have done some due diligence.
- Community safety issues
Jane reported that we have been unable as yet to get contact details for the new Westbourne PCSO, Elliot Munto-Stevenson, to invite him to our meetings. Rich said that he would try to find out.
- Kingsway to the Sea
Cathy reported that Vicki Linton-Crook, the project manager, is leaving. In the short term, Sophie Sargeant is the new point of contact; she’s also involved with the plans for the new leisure centre. The consultation to name the new park is open until 6th February.
Work is progressing and they are now working on the Lagoon toilets. A substation is being put in east of Rockwater, so there are limited footways at the moment. There was due to be a meeting later that day on the purpose of WHSAG once KTTS is up and running.
Angie commented that the future governance of the park was to be discussed, but WHSAG have no idea how much authority there would be. It was suggested that it could come under the West Hove Forum but Angie thinks this would be too big and unwieldy.
Peter said it was highly improbable that the council would give any group decision-making powers on how the money is spent.
Helmut said he had volunteered to draft a couple of points. It’s a huge area with possibly quite a substantial income and they are looking at different models of governance.
Edward reported that he and Sue Johnson had been approached by a Brunswick group for advice as they want to set up a similar group for the Eastern Lawns.
Des reported similar issues with governance in Wish Park.
Edward said the relationship between the council and community groups was an important issue.
- Round Robin
Helmut reported that the person who has organised the public art at Moda, Hove Central was to give a lecture at Ralli Hall that evening. It’s a bit of hope, as there will suddenly be quite a bit of public art in the Moda development and on the seafront. There is starting to be a bit of a trail.
Des said that an online petition about the neglect of facilities at Wish Park had been signed by 1,770 people. The petition was presented to the Full Council meeting in December and an action plan was agreed, but he is disappointed that there has been no progress. They are in contact with Sussex County Cricket Club to see if they can get an artificial pitch.
Peter thought that the recent light touch parking consultation over Christmas and New Year had been a poor exercise. KAWHRA are still waiting for the Aldrington Wharf planning application to come to the Planning Committee.
Cathy reported that a new contract for beach huts owners was to be forced through at the end of March. The beach hut owners felt that the council hadn’t listened to them during the engagement process.
Edward commented on the theme that we are increasingly unhappy with consultation processes. He said the council’s desperation to raise revenue was influencing their decisions.
Next meeting:
The next West Hove Forum meeting and AGM will be on Tuesday 26th March, 7pm, in the Lawrence Art Studio, Kingsthorpe Road.
West Hove Forum 