Hove Civic Society May 2015 newsletter

Dear Members,

Once a year we try to have a debate about some key

issue which affects all of us living and working in

Hove (and Brighton). This year we invited three of

the local parliamentary candidates - Graham Cox,

Christopher Hawtree and Peter Kyle - to debate the

issue of affordable housing and energy. We had a

superb introduction to the issue by Andy Winter, the

well known Chief Executive of Brighton Housing

Trust and also by Kyla Ente, the Chief Executive of

the Brighton and Hove Energy Services Company

(BHESCo). A vigorous debate of almost two hours

ensued and in spite of the length there was much

praise for the quality and interest of the debate

afterwards. You will find more information about

BHESCo and a summary of Andy Winter’s

contribution later on in this newsletter.

The essence of his

contribution is that we

need more housing,

much more housing, but

that we need somehow

to manage the access to

that housing if it is going

to benefit those who

need it most. This is a

huge and complex issue

and much of it can only

be controlled by central

government action.

What can be done

locally at the moment is

largely confined to the

supply side and Andy’s call for build, build, build

would need a fairly fundamental shift in attitude

locally, in the Town Hall and in the minds of both

councillors and officers.

As I have said many times before we are missing

many opportunities and inward investments into the

city. This is not least because of an over-cautious

approach by planners fired on by an extremely

vociferous opposition to virtually any new

development in the city. The debate over the City

Plan, which has been raging now for several years

(and where the inspector now has called for yet more

submissions to be with her by the 13th May)

demonstrates how emotional the

debate has become. I am sure that

the inspector will be less than impressed by the

Council’s refusal to grant planning permission for an

urban fringe development in the Rottingdean /

Ovingdean area.

Our planning advisory group tries to keep a cool head

in all this and since the last newsletter we have

commented in favour of the proposed Medical Centre

at Holy Trinity Church, the proposal to provide an

access to the new Hannington Development at 15

North Road and the two proposed wind turbines at

Shoreham harbour. We have also urged the Council

to reject the proposal at Goldsmith Lane, as we

believed it constituted underdevelopment, the

proposal to change from offices to residential at 136-

140 Old Shoreham Road as we did not believe that

the proposed residential units would be fit for purpose

and the renewal of planning permission for the

Brighton Ferris Wheel as we believe the temporary

permission granted for this development was

intrinsically linked to the i360 and was to be

dismantled once the i360 was ready for business. We

try to post the letters of support or objection on our

website for members to read.

There has been some very good news that I would

like to share with you:

We have finally managed to make a breakthrough in

terms of securing funding for the Hove Plinth.

Following hot on the heels of an Arts Council Grant,

we have now also had a pledge to construct the

foundation and core of the Plinth. Together with some

additional pledges on the engineering side and

founder and founder members pledges we have now

managed to raise some £55,000. It seems as we are

not just in the foothills, but have climbed half the

Chairman’s letter

House building © Ian Britton. Licensed for reuse under the Creative

Commons Licence

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Thank you to everyone who has paid this year’s subscription

to Andrew. If you have not done so, and I know how easy it is to forget, please

could you do so as soon as possible? If you do not yet pay by Standing Order

please consider it as then you do not have to remember! If for any reason you

are discontinuing your membership (I hope that will not be the case) please

would you let me know at angelahamish@btinternet.com or 01273 417303.

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: If you have an e-mail address and are happy to receive

communications from us in that way and have not given it to me please send it

to me at angelahamish@btinternet.com. If you are not receiving

communication from me via e-mail and have given us an address please send

me another e-mail as it may be that I do not have a correct address for you as

several are sometimes ‘delivery failed’. If you have changed your e-mail

address, please let me know so that I can update my system.

A message from the Membership Secretary

Hove is where the art is

2015 is all set to be another year of exemplary quality and variety from our

award winning artists in Hove Arts.

Stunning exhibitions, working studios and curated shows provide inspiration

and delight for all ages, and children's interaction with the arts is encouraged

with the Hove Trotter Children's Passport.

We are open weekends and both Bank Holidays in May and are thoroughly

looking forward to another fantastic year of exhibiting in delightful homes,

gardens, studios, workshops, a gallery and even a hotel.

Look out for the Hove Arts banners outside each venue and welcome in!

mountain towards our

funding target. There is a

detailed account of where we

are going next later on in this

newsletter. By the time you

read this we should have

received proposals for the

first sculptures for the Plinth

and be busy preparing

a shortlist. All this would not

have been possible without

the incredible effort by the

sculpture group.

Our proposal to improve

Church Road has now been

included in the Local

Transport Plan 4, which had

full Council blessing in

April. Although it is unlikely

that anything will happen in

2015/6 we will be pushing

for work on the scheme to

start soon afterwards. A big

thank you to Mike

Weatherley and our local

councillors for supporting

the idea.

Finally, we are now working

with residents in

Shakespeare and Coleridge

Street to raise funds for street

tree planting there. We have

also received a small grant

from West Hove Forum and

will work with them to

develop a planting scheme

for Portland Road. If

successful, this could be our

largest scheme so far.

It always strikes me that

there is so much scope to do

things locally, which can be

achieved given enthusiasm

and dedication and a little bit

of funding. The more we are

the more we can achieve – so

please join in our efforts.

With best wishes

Helmut Lusser

Chairman’s letter (continued)

Exciting progress has been made on the Hove Plinth

project, bringing us ever closer to our goal of

establishing new sculpture on the seafront.

We are very pleased to report that the Arts Council /

National Lottery approved a grant of £10,000 to help

fund our call to artists for sculpture proposals. This

support is particularly valuable, in part because it

helps promote confidence in the project and our

ability as an organisation to carry it out.

Contributions and pledges from the public total over

£10,000 so far and we plan to appoint a fundraising

volunteer to help generate further investment.

We are also thrilled to announce that a local

company has pledged to undertake the basic

construction of the Plinth pro bono, which will be

worth £24,000 in kind. This gives the project a

significant boost and we are very grateful for the

support. We are already receiving engineering

consultancy from another local firm with a pledge to

continue - this will amount to approximately £9,000

in kind.

So a big thanks to all who have contributed so far!

There is a long way to go and you can all be part of

this amazing project by donating at:

www.justgiving.com/hovecivicsociety

All contributions are welcome! And don’t forget to

tick the gift aid box if you are a UK tax payer, as it

will add another 25% to your gift. There is also

opportunity to become a founder member and / or to

sponsor particular aspects of the project. Please

contact karin@hovecivicsociety.org.uk if you want

to discuss this.

We are now looking for sponsorship of £42,000 for

the stone work and cladding. This needs to be very

high quality and we are using Romanstone,

Big steps forward for the Hove Plinth Sculpture Project

a limestone similar to Portland Stone and suitable

for a marine climate. We are also looking for

sponsorship for broadband cabling (£7,500), cabling

for power supply (£6,000), installation of lighting

(£7,000) and landscaping (£3,000).

A specific appeal for contributions to sculptures will

go out in the summer, once we have chosen the first

sculptures to go on the Plinth.

The call to artists to submit their sculpture proposals

went out in March, which was widely reported in the

press, including BBC South East, Latest TV, The

Argus and Brighton & Hove Independent. It was

great to see such positive coverage and involvement

of the local community in publicising the next stage

of the project.

Information about the artists’ brief has been sent out

to numerous arts organisations, from the Royal

British Society of Sculptors to the Brighton & Hove

Art Commission. Artists had until 4th May to enter

their proposals and we will choose a shortlist of ten

from those submitted.

Exhibitions to display the shortlisted sculpture

proposals will take place at Jubilee Library from

8th-13th June and Hove Central Library from

15th-20th June. We are also planning a weekend

exhibition on the seafront, at the planned site of the

plinth 20th-21st June. These exhibitions will enable

the public to get involved in the discussion, and

contribute to the decision on which sculptures will

finally be commissioned for the Plinth. Our selection

panel will meet at the end of June to make the final

selection of three sculptures and to commission

small scale models (maquettes) of these.

We have also been working with students at the

University of Brighton’s Digital Media Art course

regarding the digital capabilities of the Plinth, and

they have now come up with an excellent range of

technological possibilities for us to explore - watch

this space.

We are very much

looking forward to the

next phase of the project

and would like to thank

everyone for their

continuing support.

Karin Janzon

There are few who would deny that we have a

housing crisis unlike anything we have experienced

in our lifetimes.

In Brighton and Hove, house prices are ten times the

average income which increasingly excludes people

on middle incomes from the city. The City Plan

identifies just 13,200 new homes to the year 2030

against a housing need of 24,000. In 2013 rents went

up five times faster than salaries.

Brighton and Hove is one of the top ten areas for

house prices in the UK. The average rent is beyond

the reach of anyone on benefits. The average one

bed flat is now £850 per month, while the Local

Housing Allowance (the amount that housing benefit

will pay for such a property) is £612.

Shelter says that just 0.1% of homes in Brighton and

Hove are affordable to first time buyers and in the

south east, only three out of every 100 homes on the

market are affordable for a single person on an

average wage. Four out of five homes for sale in the

south east are unaffordable for a couple without

children on average wages.

This isn’t a new issue, but the problem is now worse

than ever.

I want to focus on three issues:

The requirement to build, build, build.

The economic consequences of this crisis.

A personal view about one way to stop the

crisis getting worse.

Build, build, build

In a recent debate on housing broadcast on BBC

Sussex one contributor asked: “Who will have the

guts to build on the greenfield?”

Of course people are concerned about the

countryside, and people like me can be accused of

wishing to concrete over the south east. In case we

forget, all developed areas were once countryside

but were developed to meet housing need.

If you have ever flown into Gatwick, you can’t have

failed to notice the number of golf courses in

Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Kent. The defence of

the countryside is often more about protecting

golfers!

89% of land in England and Wales is still green,

completely undeveloped. If we developed all the

homes we need to meet current need, and then did

the same again, more than 88% of England and

Wales would still be green.

Of course we must build on brownfield sites, but

they are just a small part of the answer.

I would want to qualify my call to build, build,

build: I have no interest in building more homes for

the DfL’s – those moving Down from London. And

I think the increasing practice of Buy to Leave

(where investors leave homes empty before

profiteering from increases in capital values) is an

abomination and should be outlawed.

I would want to see 80% of new build homes

reserved for rent. The scale of the crisis requires

extraordinary measures and incredible courage

by politicians.

Build, Build, Build

The scale of the crisis

requires extraordinary

measures and incredible

courage by politicians.

© Nigel Mykura. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence

Economic Consequences

There are tens of billions of public subsidy going

into housing, mainly into paying for housing benefit,

the Right to Buy, and Help to Buy.

The majority of public subsidy used to go in

investment into bricks and mortar, thereby allowing

social rents to be changed while an asset was created

for current and future generations.

That changed in the early 1990s

when councils were no longer

allowed to develop and

housing associations had

to rely increasingly on

private finance. The

subsidy moved from

investment to ongoing

revenue support, year

in year out.

It was an economically

illiterate decision which

was not reversed by the

later Labour government and

accelerated by the Coalition

government. We are paying the price today.

In 1991/92, the housing benefit bill was £8.6 billion.

By 2012/13 it was £21.5 billion and will increase to

over £25 billion unless there is great vision and

incredible courage by our politicians.

It will require borrowing, something most politicians

will not consider. A survey, carried out by Ipsos

MORI for the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH),

published in April, found that 54% of adults in

England would support government borrowing to

fund more affordable homes for people to buy or

rent. Only a fifth (21%) were opposed.

Build, Build, Build (continued)

How to stop the situation getting worse

We must end, not extend, the Right to Buy. It does

not address housing need. It sees a reduction in

social housing numbers. It benefits those who are

already well-placed. It could cost up to £11.6 billion

according to the National Housing Federation.

The Right to Buy doesn’t help private renters.

It doesn’t help people on council waiting lists.

It doesn’t help young people living

with their parents. It does nothing to

address affordability. The £11.6

billion subsidy could achieve so

much more.

57% of voters think that

extending the Right to Buy

to housing association tenants

is the wrong priority. This

includes 44% of Conservative

votes, according to a poll

carried out in April by

YouGov.

The large housing associations

are doing little to provide

homes for rent. In fact, housing associations are

planning to develop less than 20 homes in Brighton

& Hove at social rent levels in the next 3 years.

That is a scandal and must change.

We need politicians with vision and courage who

will build, who will invest in house building, and

who will end the Right to Buy.

Andy Winter

Chief Executive

Brighton Housing Trust

Above © Diane Parkhouse / Below © Monam. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence

Having a local community energy group to act as an

intermediary on behalf of the customer yields

benefits in terms of quality assurance, optimizing

power generation and conservation, after sales care

and customer service. Members of our co-operative

may receive this service at a discounted price.

Residents of Brighton & Hove who are attracted to

the idea of generating their own energy, creating

their own power supply and therefore, having more

control over their energy costs over time may

contact us to see how we can help.

Some of the other benefits of being a member is that

BHESCo can recommend local installers, monitor

costs and optimise investment performance.

At present, BHESCo does not manage domestic

projects, however, we can help our customers

achieve better economies of scale by joining people

up with their neighbours in a buyers club model.

For more information, please contact us :

Website: www.bhesco.co.uk

Phone: 01273 737080

Email: info@bhesco.co.uk

Twitter: @bhenergyservice

Facebook: BHESCo

Brighton & Hove Energy Services Co-operative

Brighton & Hove Energy Services Co-operative

(BHESCo) was formed two years ago to fulfil a need

in our community for affordable heat and electricity

from a trustworthy source.

BHESCo project manages the installation of

renewable energy and energy efficiency systems for

businesses, charitable societies and public buildings

across the city. Because we are an independent, not

for profit society, we give impartial advice,

providing a valuable service as intermediary

between the end customer and the supplier that

optimizes value received for money spent

in everything we do.

After two years of work in the community, working

with neighbourhood groups developing projects,

studying the feasibility of the different types of

technologies available for both renewable energy

and energy efficiency systems, including

programmes to combat fuel poverty, we have

launched a fund raising drive to finance the

construction of our first projects.

These projects will include some of the technologies

that are well suited for our built environment

including solar electricity (photovoltaics, or PV),

biomass (wood pellet fuel), heat pumps, insulation,

for cavity walls, external walls and internal walls,

and low energy lighting

projects. Our investment

criteria is that they must

deliver savings, or a net

benefit (both economic

and social) to the customer

over their useful lives.

We are continually

investigating the benefits of

other technologies such as

micro-wind, bore holes and

combined heat and power in

district heating.

© Community Energy South. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence

© Christine Westerback. Licensed for reuse under the Creative

Commons Licence

© OpenClips. Licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence

Blue Plaques in Brighton and Hove

Doreen Valiente © Topham Picturepoint. Licensed for reuse under the Creative

Commons Licence

John Constable © National Portrait Gallery. Licensed for reuse under the Creative

Commons Licence

Ken Fines © Pam Blackman Licensed for reuse under the Creative

Commons Licence

I have the pleasure of representing Hove Civic Society on the City’s

Blue Plaques panel. We consider applications and the research

supporting them. The Council funds one plaque a year (£1000); others

are funded by the applicants. The Regency Society has a Blue Plaques

trail leaflet available.

These most recently unveiled plaques are very diverse.

St Mary’s Hall in Eastern Road, Kemp Town was a private school for

girls founded by Rev. Henry Venn Elliott for the education of

daughters of poor clergymen in 1836. Recently the RSCH has taken

over the site.

Doreen Valiente lived in Tyson Place, Grosvenor Street, off Eastern

Road. She brought witchcraft into the 20th century, and the Mayor

welcomed pagans from many countries to the unveiling on the Summer

Solstice. The celebrations began by the Old Steine fountain with

spectacular drumming by the Pentacle Drummers resplendent in red

and green face paint and costumes. Local high priest Ralph Harvey led

a ritual in Doreen’s memory, then everyone processed the plaque where

a Morris side, Hunter’s Moon from Eastbourne, entertained us.

Unforgettable!

John Constable’s plaque is set at 11 Sillwood Road where he stayed in

the 1920s. His local sketches include West Blatchington windmill. He

also brought with him unfinished canvasses and wrote, “I am looking

for a month’s quiet here….. What a blessing it is thus to be able to

carry one’s profession with me”

In 2014 five more plaques were unveiled. Brighton Town Hall is the

site of Brighton Police Station where Henry Solomon, distinguished as

the first Jew to be Chief Constable of Brighton Borough Police, was

murdered in his office.

The Beautiful Regency church at the bottom of Waterloo Street was

designed by Sir Charles Barry, better known perhaps as the designer of

the Palace of Westminster and St Peter’s church, Brighton.

At Brighton station plaques were unveiled for David Mocatta

(architect) and John Saxby, who invented the signalling system still in

place today.

Above Infinity Foods, on the corner of North Road and Gardner Street,

is the Plaque to Ken Fines the planning officer for Brighton Borough

Council. In the 1960s the area was threatened with demolition, but Ken

fought successfully to save it and North Laine Conservation Area is

now a thriving community of independent shops and desirable cottages.

What a hero! What a year!

Elaine Evans BEM

Keep in touch... Join our mailing list: info@hovecivicsociety.org

Visit our website: www.hovecivicsociety.org

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Tel: 01273 325667

Hove Civic Society is involved in several projects

that are only possible because of generous member

donations. We have Founders and Founder members

for the Plinth, Tree Angels and Cherubs for our

Street Tree Programme and receive general

donations form time to time for other activities.

The membership fees we receive only just cover

the costs of running the Society such as insurance,

newsletter distribution and our lecture programme.

We would ask members to consider becoming a

Founder (£2,500) or Founder member (£500) for

the Hove Plinth to help us complete the funding

necessary to allow us to start construction. So far

we have raised more than £55,000 for the project.

We also need more

Tree Angels and Tree

Cherubs especially if

we are going ahead on

Portland Road. Tree

Angels pay for a

special membership

of £250 per annum,

which, with Gift Aid,

will pay for one street

tree. Tree Cherubs

make a £125 per

annum contribution,

which will support ½

tree each year. So far

we have been able to

support more than 60

street trees under

this scheme.

We are planning to launch a competition later on this

year for proposals to smarten up the on-street waste

and recycling container sites. This is something

much needed in our conservation areas in particular.

We will need prize money and any donations for this

will also be most welcome.

Please contact us for more information and

thank you for all your support!

From small acorns….

an appeal for funding support

Former Hove MP Mike Weatherly

tree planting in Stoneham Road 2013

For the Hove Plinth project:

Karin Janzon: kjanzon.1@gmail.com

Download a donation form from here:

www.hovecivic.org.uk/shaping-future/

public-sculpture/hove-plinth-our-vision

For Street Tree Heritage and

general environmental schemes:

Helmut Lusser: helmut.lusser@globaltolocal.com

Download a donation form from here:

www.hovecivic.org.uk/shaping-future/

street-tree-heritage