Historic message from the Saltdean Lido Campaign

This really is a very brief email as more details and information will follow soon but the campaign group are delighted to announce that late Wednesday afternoon Brighton & Hove City Council finalised an agreement with the leaseholder to recover the lease.  The Council hope to have the keys back to the site this week!

As you will imagine we are delighted but a massive thank you must go to all of our supporters who really have helped drive the campaign with their continued support for the campaign's efforts. We will now move into the next phase which is for the community to take ownership of the lease so we still need your support to make this happen.

Next week all local households will be issued with a newsletter containing fuller details and this will also be available on our website.  There will also be extensive local press coverage starting with BBC Radio Sussex this morning at 8am where we will be giving our reaction to the news and discussing whats next for the site.

Thank you again so much and here's to the future of Saltdean Lido...if you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Kind regards, from all at the Saltdean Lido Campaign
 --
Rebecca Crook
Saltdean Lido Campaign
www.saltdeanlidocampaign.org 

Park table tennis

Preston Park

In addition to Preston Park, St Ann’s Well Gardens now has its own permanent table tennis table and more tables are planned for other city parks later in the year.

Visitors can borrow bats and balls from park attendants or bring their own equipment to play on the concrete tables. There is no charge to use the permanent tables or borrow the equipment.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Sports Development Team arranged for the tables to be set up in the parks. The tables were donated by the English Table Tennis Association.

Table tennis is gaining a keen following and the addition of these tables is set to boost ping pong playing in the city this Olympic summer (table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1998).

The new tables also provide a chance for people to test their skills in preparation for the city-wide event PING! taking place next month. PING! will see 36 standard ping pong tables set up around the city for six weeks from June 29 2012. The PING! project aims to see as many people as possible ping pong playing at locations including Jubilee Square, Churchill Square and the seafront.

Saltdean Lido Campaign - success at last!

Saltdean Lido is to be handed back to the council by the businessman currently leasing the Grade 2-star listed building.

The move follows months of legal discussions between the lessee and council, which owns the building.

A decision by the council to take back the property was made this afternoon at a special policy and resources committee (May 30).  The authority will accept the lessee’s offer to vacate the property in return for an undisclosed financial settlement.

It would mean the Lido being handed back to the council with immediate effect.

The move follows a lengthy campaign for the lease to be relinquished, by residents concerned at the deteriorating fabric of the building and its opening times.

Legal processes underway will result in the Lido not being immediately open. However the council is exploring possible temporary arrangements to ensure access is available as soon as possible. The library and community centre on the site will not be affected.

In the longer term the council is likely to put the facility out to tender, seeking either a new lessee with obligations to ensure the building and pool are well maintained and regularly opened, or a  contractor prepared to provide services to an agreed specification.

Councillor in charge of economic development and culture Geoffrey Bowden said: “I was determined to find a solution to this longstanding issue and am very pleased that we have. It was a very complicated matter, which has been resolved through the dogged determination of dedicated officers working carefully within the constraints of the law and recognising the rights of all sides at all times.  Local residents have demonstrated the depth of affection there is for this iconic 1930s building. Now that the building is about to be handed back to the  council, we will be working with the community to find the best way to ensure that this beautiful seaside Lido can be maintained and kept accessible for  local people.”

The change is still subject to legal agreement between the two parties.

Brighton station gateway

I believe this happened in the 60's and I wonder what failure of the then planning system allowed anyone to think it was a good idea to build a substation that blocks up half the pavement and the entrance to a staircase leading up to the station forecourt. This is especially the case when one realises that just to the left in the photo is the entrance to the disused cab tunnel and just to the right is a side street. Either of these places would have seemed a better site for a substation. Or am I missing something?

The staircase was not of great utility for passengers arriving at the station with suitcases but it was very handy for making a quick exit into the Trafalgar Street area. It would be even more useful nowadays with the burgeoning popularity of the North Laine area. Even some people needing to complete their journey by bus could find it convenient to walk down to the St. Peter's bus stops to catch north-bound buses. These factors would all help to relieve pressure on the forecourt area.

The council now has a consultation open on various options for improvements to the southern approach to the station. They all involve re-routing traffic, re-siting bus stops and taxi ranks and increasing the pedestrianised area, but two of the options also call for establishing a "new" south-eastern entrance and siting the taxi rank in Frederick Place. The question of re-opening the cab tunnel, which would be much easier for modern taxis to negotiate than it was for horse-drawn hansoms, has apparently not been considered.

Frederick Place

Patcham Village new elms

Patcham's five new elms are seeing their second spring in the village and look to be doing well.

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