A visit to the South Downs

Brighton film director - Ben Wheatley

Films:-
Down Terrace 2009
Kill List 2011
Sightseers 2012
The ABCs of Death 2012
A Field in England 2013

Grant to restore the Pavilion Saloon.

James Tingle after Augustus Charles Pugin

A landmark project to conserve and restore the Royal Pavilion Saloon has received a significant boost, with grants of £100,000 from The Monument Trust, and £50,000 from the J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust. This means that the Royal Pavilion & Museums Foundation is now well on its way to achieving the project’s fundraising target. A public appeal is planned for this Autumn. The Saloon is the centrepiece of the Royal Pavilion. This project will fund vital conservation work, and recreate the Saloon’s dazzling decorative scheme in gold, silver and crimson.

Completed in 1823, King George IV wanted the Saloon to inspire a sense of amazement and awe in his visitors. The impact of this restoration will be that, once again, the Royal Pavilion’s 350,000 visitors per year will step into a room of breathtaking beauty, and experience a rich sense of its history.

The 1823 etching above with aquatint, printed in colours and hand coloured is in the Royal Collection having been bought by George V for £42 in 1928.

Cycle 'hub" for Brighton Station

Plans for a 3-storey Cycle Hub in Mangalore Way have been approved by the Planning Committee. (Application no. BH2012/03872). It will be built above the embankment shown in the photo above with a floor for secure cycle parking level with the Station concourse above. 420 extra cycle spaces will be created. 

On the top floor will be showers, changing rooms, a cafe and a north-facing terrace. Also at the north end will be stairs and a lift large enough to hold a bike or a wheelchair to give access to the station concourse from Mangalore Way. 

The application also mentions re-opening the staircase shown in the photo but it is not made clear where this will lead to.

Views before & after looking south at concourse level.

The Hub will also accommodate a cycle repair shop. Building equipment will be situated in a lower ground floor in the space created by the slope of the existing bank.

Football parking at the Racecourse

Plans have been agreed for land at Brighton Racecourse to offer park and ride facilities on a permanent basis to up to 700 cars for Brighton & Hove Albion FC matches and other outdoor events at the AMEX Stadium at Falmer.

The land has been used in this way for Albion games on a temporary basis for the last two years. The Council’s planning committee has stipulated that the park and ride should not take place when there is a race event or other large scale event happening at the racecourse.

This seems excellent news as far as the Racecourse is concerned. It is 230 years ago this month that the Duke of Cumberland, Marquess of Queensberry and Earl of Egremont organised the first meeting on Whitehawk Down. Over the ensuing years it has become an iconic Brighton asset and anything that improves its profitablility and prospects is welcome.

The benefits of this parking facility to the environment, traffic, residents however seems far less clear. What is thought to be its catchment area? Will cars be driven across Hove, Brighton to the Racecourse? Or from Whitehawk, Woodingdean, Peachehaven etc. only to retrace part of their route by bus. What was the point of locating the Stadium on a railway line and a dual carriageway bypass if the railway cannot cope and the Stadium has minimal parking available on site?

The chair of the council’s planning committee seems not to agree., Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, said: “This is a tried and tested solution that will really help fans and residents alike."