Minutes of West Hove Forum AGM and meeting
Tuesday 26th March 2024 at Lawrence Art Studio, Kingsthorpe Road
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), Amy Allison (Trust for Developing Communities), Lizzie Beckett (Hangleton & Knoll Project), Mike Gibson (Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum), Ann Forster (Friends of Wish Park), Cathy Biggs (Hove Beach Hut Association), Anna Smith (Friends of Davis Park), Tracy Stuart (Neighbourhood Watch), Peter Reeves (KAWHRA), PCSO Kristian Page (Wish ward), PCSO James Verney (Westbourne ward), PCSO Sophie Hughes
Apologies: Cllr Julie Cattell & Cllr Leslie Pumm (Westbourne & Poets Corner), Cllr Paul Nann (Wish ward), Angie Starnes (Friends of Hove Lagoon), Chrissie Hogarth & Jane Eleini (Secret Garden Group), Rich Wheeler (Community Engagement Officer), Monica Harding (Off The Fence), Sam Dracott (St Leonard’s Church), Sylvia New (Wish Park Surgery PPG), Helmut Lusser (Hove Civic Society)
Edward welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.
Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
Mike said he had missed the last meeting but was very interested in the information on carbon footprints from Simon Maxwell of Climate:Change. Mike thought that everyone should calculate their own personal carbon footprint and report back. (You can do this at https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/.)
Community safety issues
The new Westbourne PCSO, James Verney, and Wish ward PCSO Kristian Page introduced themselves.
James comes from Haywards Heath, so he’s working out what’s going on in the area. There are some drug issues and he’s keen to work out where the hotspots are.
Kris said that they are both still in training – there has been a reshuffle of personnel.
Anna reported that as Davis Park is totally enclosed, there is a lot of drug dealing in there. The gym, which had been a hotspot for anti-social behaviour, is looking good now, however, as it has been taken over by Hove Fitness Club.
Ann said that Wish Park is relatively quiet at the moment, as it’s considerably waterlogged.
Cathy commented that the main issues currently for beach hut owners are ASB, graffiti, people cycling and dogs running loose. It’s fairly quiet at the moment; there’s more trouble at the eastern end of Hove Lawns. When the new skate park opens opposite the bottom of Braemore Road, the police will need to look at that.
Sophie said that the police are looking at a more tactical deployment of officers to stop ASB happening in the first place. Sussex Police’s Youth Team can identify youngsters who are causing problems. The police have no powers to deal with dogs off leads, though, as that’s a council by-law.
Edward said he’d heard reports of ASB by young people in the Secret Garden as well as problems in Stoneham Park. He had also witnessed four people doing 25-30mph on electric bikes on the seafront.
Martin reported that shoplifting was the main community safety issue for Portland Road businesses. There’s a good What’s App group for traders, which Martin could use to relay any information from the police.
You can contact the PCSOs at:
James.Verney@sussex.police.uk (Westbourne ward)
Kristian.Page@sussex.police.uk (Wish ward)
Introduction of new community development worker
Lizzie Beckett was introduced by Amy Allison of the Trust for Developing Communities (TDC). She will take over from Amy in April as our community development worker. She works for the Hangleton & Knoll Project – the TDC was originally formed from the Hangleton & Knoll Project.
Lizzie will only be coming to the AGMs, as she has just three hours per week to cover the “West” area of the city and will be mainly supporting Portslade Together. She hopes to link us more to other expertise from the Hangleton & Knoll Project and she will put us all on the mailing list for their newsletter.
Lizzie’s colleague Claire Johnson (claire.johnson@hkproject.org.uk) deals with the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund.
Edward commented that Hove Beach Park is a facility which is intended for a much wider area than West Hove, so it would be a good thing to have community involvement from a much wider group than Wish and Westbourne. Members of WHSAG could come from Hangleton & Knoll or Portslade Together.
Annual General Meeting
Minutes of last AGM and matters arising
The minutes of last year’s AGM were accepted.
The meeting was just quorate, despite the bad weather.
Chair’s Report
Edward gave a report on the forum’s work over the past year. His full Chair’s Report is at the end of these minutes (Appendix 1).
Everyone at the meeting was happy with Edward’s suggestion for the de-concentration of work in the roles of chair and secretary, as detailed in the Chair’s Report.
Treasurer’s Report – Martin Lawrence
The main thing to point out is that the grant money has been reduced from £3,000 to £2,350, but we managed to spend £2,500 as there had been a bit of an underspend in the previous year.
The forum’s closing balance on 31st March 2024 was £4,024.59.
Election of Committee
The following members were re-elected to the West Hove Forum committee: Edward Clay as Chair, Angie Starnes as Co-Chair, Martin Lawrence as Treasurer, Jane Galvin as Secretary, Ann Forster as Healthy Neighbourhood Fund Co-Ordinator; Cathy Biggs as a committee member. Anna Smith was elected as a new committee member.
Mike Gibson stood down from the committee but will try to get someone else from HSNF to join the committee in his place.
Jane Galvin agreed to stay on as Secretary for another year, as the workload would be lightened by the creation of a new role of Healthy Neighbourhood Fund Co-Ordinator.
Members voted to thank committee members for their efforts over the preceding year.
END OF AGM
New leisure centre update
Cathy’s son plays for Portslade Cricket Club. She said there had been further consultation about where the cricket club could move to. The talk is now that the club might not go to Greenleas, but it could go to Wish Park or Victoria Park. All the consultations are currently being collated.
Peter was concerned about a change in council governance from a committee system to a cabinet system, as it could be more difficult to find out who’s really accountable. Residents can spend a lot of time in liaison groups for projects such as Kingsway to the Sea and the A259 cycle lane only to find that everything gets changed at a later date without consultation.
Edward said that he had received no response from the council to his letter on the business case for the King Alfred redevelopment. He wondered how in the future we would relate to the council and councillors, as in the past councillors had attended West Hove Forum meetings on a more regular basis and it has been a long time since there has been such a dominant council.
Members at the meeting asked Edward to request a response to his letter as soon as possible.
Mike commented that the council had a majority for the first time in 20 years and most English councils are run by the cabinet system, so he wants to give that a chance. The change to a cabinet system will shift power from officers to councillors. Ward councillors need to more effectively represent their wards and the HSNF are pressing for that. Councillors can do more as they won’t have so many committee meetings.
Edward suggested a joint meeting of the West Hove Forum and Hove Station Neighbourhood Forum could be about this issue. Mike will put that suggestion to his committee.
Neighbourhood Plan referendum – implications for West Hove
93% of voters supported the Hove Station Neighbourhood Plan in a referendum. Mike reported that people in the area are about to get 1,000 new neighbours and there would be implications for local investment of developer contributions.
There is also a lot happening behind closed doors concerning the rest of the Conway Street area, but the HSNF want a seat at the table. They want S106 money for the Neighbourhood Plan area – maybe a tree planting scheme in the Poets Corner area. Another big development is coming up in the north of the Moda development.
Kingsway to the Sea
Cathy reported that Kingsway to the Sea is on track, but they are still trying to sort out the issues of governance and maintenance.
Round Robin
Peter said it had now been nearly 21 months since the Aldrington Wharf planning application was submitted and KAWHRA haven’t heard a word from the developers. It’s not on the Planning Committee agenda for April.
Anna reported that volunteers meet in Davis Park every Sunday morning. People are making good use of the two benches bought with the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund grants.
Cathy said that all beach hut owners have had to sign a new licence under duress, with a big increase in transfer fees to be paid to the council.
Dates for the diary:
The West Hove Seafront Action Group will be holding their AGM at The Gather Inn on Tuesday 23rd April at 7pm.
Appendix 1
Chair’s Annual Report to the West Hove Forum, 26th March 2024
I’m going to try and briefly mention highlights of the 7th and another exceptional year in which I’ve been your Chair and Jane Galvin has been our wonderfully resourceful Secretary for 6 meetings. There have been 3 face-to-face meetings, including this evening, in Hove Methodist and Lawrence Art Studio and 3 virtual meetings were hosted by Ann Forster.
First, my apologies if I’m again saying things with which most of you are familiar, but regard this as our opportunity to reflect on evolving issues as these concern our community.
As most of you are aware, the Forum grew out of the initiative to have Local Action Teams or LATs that would liaise with and could be consulted on issues of community safety. But the Forum broadened its remit, as reflected in its constitution, to include community health and development with the related maintenance and improvement of our public spaces as it affects West Hove, which includes the two council wards of Westbourne and Wish.
Over the last year representatives of more than twenty community groups, non-government organisations and local small businesses attended our meetings, as well as our four councillors and, as they are able, our PCSOs.
Community safety:
We regularly discuss safety issues and the police, as they are able, also attend these meetings. There have been some nuisance, vandalism and drug related issues but apparently far less significant than in some parts of the city. We are delighted that this evening our PCSOs have provided us with an update on community safety issues as these concern West Hove.
Sea safety: the Council provided, despite funding issues, during the summer holidays lifeguards on the West Hove beach which we as well as Friends of Hove Lagoon and WHSAG had lobbied on. We would welcome an update from the Council about sea safety especially for the school holidays in 2024.
Community health issues:
The Healthy Neighbourhood Fund is on-going, and we think the grants are a small but worthwhile contribution to improving our public spaces and the greening of West Hove. The grant from TDC was reduced from £3000 to £2350 for 2023 but drawing on an underspend from 2022 the Forum made 5 grants of £500 to the Friends of Davis Park, the Friends of Hove Lagoon, the Friends of West Hove Infant School, Hove Junior School PTA and the Secret Garden Group. We’ve been informed that oversight of the HNF programme for the western Wards is being transferred from TDC to the Hangleton and Knoll Project team.
Development in West Hove:
The Forum meetings now play a useful information exchange role. It is making a more organised contribution in informing local groups and in enabling them to have an input into the planning process. This has taken on increasing significance as the Council made proposals under central government schemes for development funding that affects the whole of West Hove including: the extension of the second bicycle lane on the A259 west from Fourth Avenue to Hove Lagoon, Kingsway to the Sea, on which work recommenced after funding issues mid year, and there was also the Mini Holland pilot project proposal, which we assume failed to obtain funding.
A fourth development issue that will have profound implications for West Hove is planning for the REDEVELOPMENT of the King Alfred Leisure Centre. Updates on these projects are separate items on the agenda for this evening’s meeting. The Forum also organized the only community wide meeting on which the responsible persons with the Chichester Diocese explained how they were going about the disposal after the closure in October of St Philip’s Church.
Networking: West Hove is better informed with local community groups, NGOs and our Councillors coming to meetings, and then Forum members disseminating information to residents through their own groups and also the Hovarian which is edited byJane, our excellent Secretary.
Thanks also to Martin Lawrence as our diligent Treasurer and other committee members for giving their time and playing an essential role in scrutinising the applications for Healthy Neighbourhood Fund grants. It’s really good that members from 20 local groups and businesses, as well as our three new in May Councillors have managed to find time to attend some of our face-to-face and virtual meetings.
De-concentration of Roles within WHF
Jane’s decision to stand down as Secretary and a Member of the Committee because of too many demands on her time has highlighted an issue, which I think the Forum needs to address. Over the period that Jane has been Secretary, 9 years, and indeed since I became Chair and Martin the Treasurer, the responsibilities involved in being Secretary, Treasurer and Chair have expanded substantially. The list of activities that Jane has compiled makes this too clear (see below). As almost all of us on the Committee and indeed members are involved in other community activities, it is probably now unreasonable to expect two individuals to take on the full range of these responsibilities as Secretary and Chair.
So what I am proposing, with the full support of the Committee, is that we should look at ways of dividing up these responsibilities on a trial basis for one year in a way that members of the committee feel able to take these on and perform them effectively whilst continuing with their other roles in the community.
- Secretary:
Invite two persons to take on:
- Secretary for Information and Minute taking roles
- Coordinator for Healthy Neighbourhood Fund
- Chair:
Instead of a single Chair, we would have a Chair and co-Chair
- Chair/Co-Chair with responsibility for community interest and development as this affects West Hove especially open spaces, S106 & CIL; chairing 3 meetings a year with a theme that the Committee agrees is of interest to the membership.
- Co-Chair with responsibility for chairing the two meetings a year concerning the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund in liaison with the HNF Coordinator and the Info & Minutes Secretary.
I am hoping that the election of officers and the Committee will enable the Forum to have a team that can continue our networking role with the community. Looking forwards, there are going to be many challenges already confronting West Hove and our city and the combination of face-to-face and virtual meetings will again provide the best way for us to meet in the coming year.
Thank you!
West Hove Forum 