The Level best.

Following completion of the £2.3 million restoration project earlier this year the park has now been awarded a prestigious Green Flag, taking its place as one the finest parks and open spaces in the country.

The award brings the number of Green Flags flying in the Brighton and Hove parks to seven - the highest ever awarded in the city.

Easthill Park, Hove Park, Kipling Gardens, Preston Park, St Ann’s Well Gardens and Stoneham Park have also been awarded Green Flags for excellence.

St Ann’s Well Gardens in Hove flies the flag for the 15th year, while Preston Park celebrates a 14th successive year. Easthill Park in Portslade has picked up its 12th award, Hove Park is celebrating a tenth success while Kipling Gardens in Rottingdean has won its seventh award, while Stoneham Recreation Ground in West Hove picked up its fifth award.

All Brighton & Hove’s parks are managed in-house by the city council.

The national awards, handed out by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, recognise and reward the best parks and green spaces across the country. The Green Flags, which will fly in Brighton & Hove Parks, are only given to parks with the highest possible standards which are beautifully maintained with excellent facilities.

The Peacehaven Undercliff

If you are bored with the Blackrock to Saltdean stretch of undercliff, that at Telscombe and Peacehaven offers much of the same but is more peaceful and without the bikes.

It was built by Lewes District Council in the 1980s and has three access points from the cliff-top which are:-

At the west end, a ramp from Malines Av.

The Bastion Steps at Steyning Ave., 0.7 miles further east 

The easterly steps leading to Cliff Ave., a further mile east.

It is thus possible, by including the cliff-top path, to do a 4 mile figure-of eight walk from any of the three access points, all of which are on the no.12 coast road bus route.

Looking towards Brighton at the west end

Looking across Friars Bay at the east end

Between the Saltdean east end and Peacehaven undercliff is a gap of about 1.2 miles of unprotected cliff, and a similar gap exists between the east end of the Peacehaven undercliff and Newhaven West Beach. Presumably these sections will need coastal defence works eventually and it might then be possible to walk the 7.5 miles from Brighton to Newhaven along a continuous undercliff path.

Some luxurious vegetation.

The i360 construction begins.

This afternoon at the West Pier site the start of construction of the i360 viewing tower was marked by a Ground-breaking Ceremony.

L to R, Cr Theobald, Julia Barfield, David Marks

Leader of the Council Cr. Jason Kitkat 

Short speeches were made by the architect David Marks and the Leader of the Council Cr. Jason Kitkat, and, in the brilliant sunshine, it was impossible not to share some of the project vision of the former and the economic optimism of the latter. It was also intriguing to learn some details of the construction process which will involve landing the great sections of the tower on the beach from barges. These sections will be added to the tower at its bottom end, jacking up the previous assembly within a giant supporting steel frame. David Marks promised plenty of viewing points so whatever ones opinions about the tower walks along the seafront over the next couple of years will provide plenty of interest.

Ground-breaking.

The new seafront arches

The City Mayor, Cr. Brian Fitch, today cut a red tape to declare open for business the beautifully restored arches to the west of the West Pier site. The old arches were built out from the cliff edge over 100 years ago to bear nothing much heavier that a horse & cart. They have been reconstructed from scratch to cope with a 40 ton load, i.e. the weight of a modern lorry should, by accident or design, such a need arises.

Special bricks and woodwork were commissioned. Some of the arches are already occupied as art studios and similar.

Two of the arches provide new public toilets which look fairly inviting so far. Unfortunately they charge 30p entrance and in the Ladies a flush wasn't working.

Before the rain . . .