Saltdean Lido Campaign calls for Council Chief to get involved.

After constant lobbying and campaigning over nearly 2 years the group have taken the decision to demand personal involvement from John Barradell, the Chief Executive of Brighton & Hove Council.  The Council are the freeholders and owners of the iconic building and legally could seek enforcement action to take the site back from the leaseholder who holds a 125-year lease, if they chose to do so.  In a report released by the Council this week, it states that Compulsory Purchase Order would be a last resort, despite plea's from the campaign group acting on behalf of local residents.

In a letter which was sent to Mr Barradell today the campaign group talk about a ‘blockage in the Council’ and go on to say there is ‘no cohesive plan of action or exit strategy in place’.  It is thought that the letter contains information relating to concerns about any health and safety matters at the site, operational concerns and the disrepair to the listed building.

Ms Crook, Chair of Save Saltdean Lido Campaign says: ‘Whilst we are encouraged by the efforts of some at the Council, there are serious matters that we have raised that it would appear the Council have chosen to largely ignore.  We believe that members of the public could potentially be at risk if using the site and are now demanding  personal involvement from Mr Barradell to investigate fully all the concerns we have raised.’

Ms Crook, goes onto say that ‘This a building of national importance, in fact it is 1 of only 3 seaside lidos still remaining and if the Council continue to have a laissez-faire attitude we will end up losing the building forever.  The Council have an obligation to ensure it is maintained to a satisfactory standard which by the omission of the Council itself is not the case, with 80 pages of major disrepair outlined on the last schedule of works.’

The campaign group will be speaking and asking questions at next weeks Culture, Recreation & Tourism meeting due to take place at Hove Town Hall on the 6th March at 4pm.  The Council will be providing an update on the situation verbally and there is a public gallery for members of the public who wish to attend.

More trees lost in Pavilion Gardens

Presumably elm disease marches on. The City is the holder of the National collection of Elms, several fine varieties of which are in The Pavilion Gardens. The collection will now be sadly depleted.

Further reading:-http://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/PDFfiles/Brighton.pdf

Outdoor table tennis

What a brilliant idea! Preston Park has acquired an outdoor table tennis table. It is extremely solid. It should provide an interesting game.

"Laine" or "lane" - Argus gets involved

See:- "Laine" or "lane" - Brighton Street name controversy 

The Argus makes the point that a new nameplate will cost £250. Of course a new nameplate is not strictly necessary, Once the Post Office has accepted the new name the old one will officially cease to exist. The existing nameplate could be left in position with the "i" painted out. It would be a good talking point for tourist guides to pause at.

The Argus also kindly provides a poll "Should Bond Street Laine be renamed?" Yes or No?

The Aldrington Basin (PortZed) plans refused

Visualisation looking west along Kingsway

The Planning Committee at their meeting on Wednesday followed the advice of planning officers and unanimously refused planning permission for this development on the south side of Kingsway, Hove. The eco-friendly features of the scheme had much to recommend it but these were outweighed by the height and bulk of the buildings proposed, visualised by the applicant in the picture above.

Chair of the council’s planning committee Cllr Phelim MacCafferty said:   “Clearly we don’t want to turn down schemes which deliver sustainable homes.  However, in this case there was too much in conflict and unresolved to be able to approve.  There was real concern about potential problems with noise from the wind turbines. There are limits in how far we can go with the height and bulk of buildings.  We cannot ignore the fact such a development would have a big detrimental effect on the neighbourhood. While we need green homes we can’t have them at absolutely any price – a price paid by the neighbours in this case.”

See also previous post: Aldrington Basin development

The view today