Ship Street Gardens & Hove Town Hall

An article in today's Argus reports that residents of this lane are clamouring for it to be gated every night between 11pm and 7am say, to reduce the incidents of rowdyism, vandalism and anti-social behaviour. This lane is a very useful shortcut and, while I have every sympathy with the suffering residents, it seems very unfair that the law-abiding public should have a long-established right-of-way barred to them because of a few drunken louts. Surely the answer is more active policing, at least for a while; and I disagree with some commentators that this would necessarily be too expensive. The occasional appearance of a uniformed police officer at random times during the critical hours might do wonders. The frequency of patrols could then be gradually scaled down. It should at least be tried.

Many people might not know, or have forgotten, that when the new Hove Town Hall and multistorey car park opposite were built an under-road tunnel was provided linking the two so that in inclement weather people attending functions at the Town Hall could arrive dry and unruffled. This was rapidly colonised by drug-dealers and rough-sleepers and was promptly closed. A prime example of society's misfits degrading life for the very people whose taxes they depend on for their weekly handouts.