Suffragists or Suffragettes - who did most for Brighton?

Waterstones Brighton are hosting a fundraising evening for the Brighton Suffragette Blue Plaque Campaign. The main event of the night will be a panel discussion with Helen Pankhurst (writer, women's rights activist and great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst), Jean Calder (former Brighton councillor, journalist and community activist) and Frances Stenlake (author and historian). The evening will be chaired by Caroline Lucas (Green Party MP for Brighton Pavillion, author and campaigner).

Tickets for this event are £3 and include a glass of wine on arrival. There will be a collection at the end of the evening to raise money for the Brighton Suffragette Blue Plaque Campaign. Tickets are available online from the bottom of this page, by emailing events.brighton@waterstones.com, by calling 01273 206017 or by talking to the ground floor booksellers.

Dispossession - The Great Social Housing Swindle.

An important documentary.



Coming to the Duke of Yorks on August 23, 2017 at 8.30 pm followed by Q & A with Caroline Lucas.

Petition: Affordable housing - developers should come clean

Require developers to make their viability assessments public if they claim they cannot meet council targets of affordable housing in new developments.

Current planning law states that if a developer will make less than 20% profit on a new development, they can ignore a council's regulations about building affordable and social housing.

Leaked documents from several developers have shown that the maths they use to work out their profit margins are purposefully misleading, allowing them to claim they will make less than 20% profit on a development by undervaluing the prices of the houses they will sell and over-costing the labour.

To combat this Islington, Greenwich, Lambeth and Bristol councils have introduced a policy that forces developers "viability assessments" to be made public.

By bringing these dodgy maths into the public domain, Councils, campaigning groups and individuals will be able to hold developers to account and force them to use more honest maths.

Sign petition here:- https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-housing-developers-be-transparent-in-insert-your-town-city-here-44

Caroline Lucas talks policy and policing in Brighton

BHCC - The Budget.

Battle of the flags (and pamphlets)

These protests outside 'Ecostream' on the corner of Hampton Place have been going on since the shop was opened in August 2012. The business is owned by 'Sodastream', an Israeli company based in the West Bank.  On Saturday the Palestinian supporters had more flags; the Israeli supporters a slightly more convincing pamphlet. The irony is that demos like this, replicated worldwide and supporting and promoting polarisation, probably make a peaceful solution less likely rather than more..

As far as Brighton is concerned I declare a draw.

Left; the Brighton BDS pamphlet. Right; the Sussex Friends of Israel pamphlet.

Hove vs Gove

On the field, from L to R, Cr Ruth Buckley, Caroline Lucas MP, Lou McCurdy, Polly Strauss

From an article in today's Independent:-

"Michael Gove, as Education Secretary, has picked his fair share of fights. From Jamie Oliver to the National Union of Teachers, the Information Commissioner to the schoolchildren of Tottenham in north London, opponents of the Secretary of State for Education have variously described him as “arrogant”, “belligerent” and a “real life villain”.

Now he has a new nemesis: the city of Brighton and Hove. A Department for Education (DfE) plan to concrete over playing fields to make way for a new free school has residents, teachers and even a local Conservative MP up in arms. Under the banner of “Hove vs Gove”, a group of campaigners has vowed to save their “village green” – known as Bhasvic Field – and has accused Mr Gove of once again riding roughshod over a community’s wishes in pursuit of his free schools policy."  Read on.

Petition to save a green lung

Brighton Come the Revolution

"When the Revolution hits Brighton there will be no more estate agents, no more luxury holiday flats, and homelessness will be a thing of the past. Empty lots will become free adventure playgrounds, the seafront’s amusement arcades will be bulldozed and replaced with sandy beaches, and toys will be shared collectively – or so argues Brighton Voice, the radical local newspaper in circulation 1973-1989 (making it one of the longest-running alternative papers in the UK)."

Complete article: Brighton Come the Revolution « Royal Pavilion & Brighton Museums

Electric car for City Mayor

New Mayor Councillor Bill Randall will take to the road in a clean, low cost, electric powered vehicle.

The Fluence Z.E. car has been provided free of charge by Renault and will be used to take the Mayor to hundreds of community events across the city.

Renault is providing the free car for six months, with the possibility of an extension. The council will cover the insurance and running costs.

"This is great news, not just for the environment, but for the taxpayer too as the electric car won’t cost them a penny,” said Cllr Randall.

Kept at Kings House, the car can be charged at the many electric car charging points in the city, and even plugged into a normal domestic socket!

The existing Mayor's car, a hybrid Toyota Prius, which was due for replacement, will be put up for sale.

Running costs for the Fluence are expected to be lower than the Prius, which switches between an electric motor and petrol engine, depending on driving conditions.

The six month loan of the car will enable to the council to look at the viability of replacing the Prius with an electric car once the loan period is over.

Latest TV - "The Vote"

"The Vote: Brighton & Hove is Latest TV’s answer to Question Time!

Three heavyweight politicians – Lord Bassam of Brighton, Council
Leader Bill Randall, and Mike Weatherley MP – look out over the city
and debate the big political issues in Brighton and Hove. Your referee
for the event is Frank le Duc and as you might expect it makes
exciting viewing.

We also feature a film on Occupy Brighton, and Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas MP is interviewed about new local energy from wind farms and the launch of The Eco Technology Show 2012 in Brighton and Hove.

The Treason Show’s Mark Brailsford adds the essential government
information."

Fares protest at Brighton Station

Caroline Lucas, Brighton Pavilion MP and leader of the Green Party, joins a protest against fare rises at Brighton Station this morning.

The bandstand - before & after

2003

2011

The Brighton Society campaigned for 30 years for the restoration of the Bandstand. In the city council election year 1997 a local pressure group of Hove residents added their voice, and a new Conservative administration came to office promising to take action where the previous administration had failed. The restoration was duly carried out at a cost of nearly £1M, whereas if the job had been tackled years before, the cost would have only been of the order of £200K.

The surrounding area was also reorganised and refurbished and the mosaic paving abandoned in favour of resin-bonded coloured glass. The bandstand was officially reopened in 2009.

The Greens came to power this year, although without an overall majority, promising to restore and enhance the Valley Gardens area. It will be interesting to see if they can follow through.

Earlier posts:-
The Bandstand restored.
Brighton Bandstand.

The new GREEN City Council

Appointments made at the Annual Council Meeting on 19 May 2011, following  the local elections on 5th May, were as follows:-

Council Leader:-
Cllr Bill Randall, Green Party, Hanover & Elm Grove.

Cabinet Members:-
Cllr Amy Kennedy, Green Party, Preston Park. Deputy Leader (Executive). Planning, Employment, Economy & Regeneration.
Cllr Ian Davey, Green Party, St.Peters & North Laine. Deputy Leader (Non-Executive). Transport & Public Realm.
Cllr Jason Kitcat, Green Party, Regency. Finance and Central Services.
Cllr Liz Wakefield, Green Party, Hanover & Elm Grove. Housing.
Cllr Pete West, Green Party, St.Peters & North Laine. Environment and Sustainability.
Cllr Rob Jarrett, Green Party, Goldsmid. Adult Social Care and Health.
Cllr Sue Shanks, Green Party, Withdean. Children and Young People.
Cllr Geoffrey Bowden, Green Party, Queen's Park. Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
Cllr Ben Duncan, Green Party, Queen's Park. Communities and Community Safety.

Caroline Lucas and landlords

A letter from Caroline:-

"Many thanks for your recent email and for letting me know about Shelter's campaign for national landlord accreditation. I have long called for proper regulation of letting agents and landlords, so this was one of the issues I pledged to take up with the Government if elected.

One of the first Early Day Motions I signed was about regulation of the private rented sector and it reads as follows:

That this House notes with concern the Government's decision to abandon plans for a national register of landlords and further regulation of the private rented sector; recognises that the private rented sector plays a significant role in supporting the housing market in the UK; believes that rogue landlords and letting agents continue to pose a threat to consumers in the private rented sector; further notes the statistic from the Office of Fair Trading that the number of complaints against rogue landlords and letting agents is on the rise; and calls on the Government to bring forward proposals immediately to create a national register of landlords and to propose further regulation of landlords and letting agents in the private rented sector.

I have followed this up with a number of letters to the Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, about landlord discrimination in particular and the need for tenants to be better protected.

Good landlords and letting agents have nothing to fear from regulation and as a Co Chair of the All Party Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency group I am also at the forefront of the campaign to introduce mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented homes. A quarter of private tenants live in fuel poverty and twice as many private rented properties have the worst energy rating compared to the owner-occupied sector, so this is an essential element of securing better living conditions for tenants.

I have asked the Government  to set up an online ratings website for private renters to provide feedback on the conduct of their landlords too, and Greens have called on the council to bring relevant organisations together to drive forward improvements in the city's private rented sector in order to deliver a fairer deal for tenants.

I have added my name to Shelter’s petition and will continue to do what I can to press for national landlord accreditation, as well as for Brighton’s own scheme to be improved and made compulsory."

Best wishes,
Caroline.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

The effect of AV in Brighton

With the aid of a new website you can now find out how a change to the alternative voting system would affect the power of a vote in your constituency. In Brighton Pavilion, for example, voter power would increase by 31%.  This would leave the seat a "fairly safe" one.

In Kemptown the change is similar at +30% but the seat goes from marginal to very marginal.

In Hove the change is only +11% and the seat stays at very marginal.

Analysis from nef suggests that switching from First Past the Post to the Alternative Vote would have the following effects across the UK:

• An increase in the average power of UK voters from 0.285 of a vote to 0.352 of a vote (where a score of 1 is a fair vote).
• An increase in the number of very marginal seats from 81 to 125, an increase of 44 seats.
• A reduction in the number of very-safe seats from 331 to 271 a reduction of 60 seats.
• A small reduction of inequality in the power of votes with the most powerful fifth of electors going from having 21 times the power of the least powerful fifth down to 18 times.

Greens call for National Park office

On Friday, 1st April 2011 the South Downs National Park Authority officially took over the running of the Park and the project that had ebbed & flowed for over 50 years became reality.

In their election manifesto the Brighton & Hove Green Party have recognised the importance of this event for residents and visitors alike by declaring their intention to:-

" Provide an office for the South Downs National Park in the city as a source of information and starting point for visits to the Park."

Many people think that the ideal location for this office would be Council-owned Patcham Place situated at Brighton's gateway to the Downs and on the main London to Brighton Road.

Although it might be uneconomic to use the main building, this project could provide the impetus to restore and convert to a sympathetic use the old stable buildings at the rear of the house, at present looking sadly neglected. 

Other related items in the Green's manifesto are:-

• Designate all council owned land as Open
Access Land.
• Develop a city centre Downland Interpretation
Centre.
• Promote health and economic benefits of tourism
in the South Downs National Park.

See also:- Brighton & Hove News: New authority takes control of South Downs National Park

Caroline Lucas & Offshore Drilling

In a letter to today's Times the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion refers to "the serious weaknesses' in Government policy and the "shocking complacency"of the oil industry exposed by a Select Committee's report on deepwater drilling.  She calls for an immediate moratorium on new deepwater drilling off our coasts, at least until regulations can be strengthened, in order to avoid the kind of environmental catastrophe that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

She concludes by calling for more spending on renewable, job-creating technologies, in order to lessen our dangerous dependence on oil.
(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Reform of the Banking System

Early Day Motion, DM 1141, proposed by Pavilion MP, Caroline Lucas, 06.12.2010.

"That this House notes that the bank bonus season is beginning; is outraged that whilst people suffer cuts to their services and brace themselves for the forthcoming rise in VAT, the banks are back to business as usual; condemns the proposed payout of nearly 7 billion in City bonuses this year and further notes that 7 billion is more than the first wave of public spending cuts being made in the wake of the banking crisis-driven recession; welcomes the increasing number of grassroots public campaigns springing up in 15 nations as part of the fast-growing counterweight to the power of the banks, including the New Economics Foundation's Take Back Our Banks campaign; and calls for radical change in the banking sector, including the separation of retail banking and speculative activities, the introduction of country-by-country reporting to ensure banks disclose information for every location in which they trade, the introduction of a Robin Hood tax, a more ambitious bank levy and permanent new controls on bankers' bonuses."

There were 47 signatories.

Councillor's letter update

This letter (see yesterday's post)  . . . has  been removed from the list of Council Press Releases but  I do not know if the Argus has now printed it.

I suspect something of a political gaffe was made, perhaps by an over-enthusiastic press officer, in using the Council's website to imply criticism of the local press.

David Miliband in Brighton

The Public Meeting at the Brighthelm Centre this evening could have been described as a "sell-out" if they had been charging for entrance. Should be interesting; and encouraging that people are still willing to turn out in numbers for political meetings. Perhaps it is indicative of a new spirit abroad amongst the grass roots of the Labour Party.