A meeting will be held to discuss the proposed gates to Farman Street on Monday evening, 8 February. The meeting will be hosted by Simon Bannister of the City Council and will review the evidence collected so far, the proposed design, and the next steps.

It is vital that all those who are interested attend the meeting, which will be held in the private function room of the Robin Hood at 7pm.

Posted && January 2010

The next meeting of the Brunswick and Regency Neighbourhood Action Group will take place at 7pm on Wednesday 17th February in the cafe area of the Cornerstone Community Centre, Hove.

The agenda will include news that a little more funding is available to distribute to local health projects. Please contact Graham Allen* on 272767 if you would like items added to the agenda.

* Community Worker, Serendipity

Posted 28 January 2010

The Old Market Trust was finally wound up on January 20th after HMRC took them to court over £240,000 in unpaid taxes. The OMT, which is a charitable trust, has struggled with a heavy debt burden for many years.

However, it was announced that a new company has been formed to manage the Arts Centre. Barclays Bank, to whom the OMT owed over £1M, have taken ownership of the building and the new trust will lease it back. The management team remains in place and the program of events will continue uninterrupted and existing bookings will be honoured.

EBRA heartily welcomes this news, jobs will be saved, but at the expense of suppliers, many of them local, who will be paid a small part of what the OMT owes then, if anything. But most important, the building is now in the care of a major bank, and with the Arts Centre carrying on, our fears about the future of this landmark building are considerably lessened.

However, a doubt remains. The trust has more than once claimed that it makes a small profit on the Arts Centre operations. But EBRA has reviewed the accounts of the OMT for the 5 years up to 30 September 2008, the latest available, and they reveal a troubling situation; the OMT lost over £0.5M in 2008 alone and almost £1M over the 5 years. While some of this will be due to the debt burden, this was a fundamentally unprofitable operation.

Another 15 months has gone by since the last accounts were published, but that profits should have since recovered in the middle of a deep recession is a little hard to believe, but time will tell.

Posted 23 January 2010

The Argus reports that more than half of the councillors and senior staff at Brighton and Hove City Council believe it disregards the outcome of consultations with the public.

An "action plan" to improve things was discussed at a meeting of the Council yesterday.

Posted 13 January 2010

An interview in the Argus in support of Estate Agents Boards has met with derision! Of 17 comments on this, only one supports the Agents. Will they get the message?

Posted 14 January 2010

An objection has been made to the proposal to ban Estate Agents' Boards from the city centre. But Brighton and Hove Estate Agents' Association have objected on the grounds that the area is too large.

There will now be a hearing of the case at Hove Town Hall, and the City Council, who are behind this initiative, have asked us all to give our support.

If you have yet to write to the Secretary of State then do so now!

The address to write to is: Secretary of State, c/o C Kearney at Communities and Local Government, Floor 1/A1 Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU.

The closing date for comments is 8 February so do not delay! It might be a good idea to mention the historic nature and beautiful streets of Brunswick Town!

The City Council have a web page where you can comment directly to them on this subject. It is most important that you all do this if you support the ban. Responses must be in by the end of February.

A public hearing will be held at Hove Town, Norton Road Wednesday 9 March at 10.00am.

EBRA have campaigned long and hard for this and it would be tragic if this opportunity to rid at least some our fine streets of this ugly plague! We need you support, so please act now.

If this initiative fails it will be a very long time before another opportunity arises.

Posted 8 January 2010

Last month Imaad Khan, 21 and director of Amber Foods was charged with 26 counts of contravening hygiene regulations, 2 counts of selling out of date produce and 3 counts of blocking the public highway.

He was due to attend a hearing at Brighton Magistrates court on the 23rd December but failed to appear.

An arrest warrant was issued and Mr Khan was arrested and spent Xmas Day in custody. He appeared in court on 4 January and was fined over £4,000 including costs. A full account appears on the City Council Website.

EBRA have now heard that the premises at 17 Western Road are being advertised for sale or lease.

Posted 8 January 2010

EBRA have just heard that Imaad Khan's uncle, Amir Khan, who runs the Taj food stores in Western Road and 2 other locations, is hoping to open a further branch shortly.

The Taj is an excellent business very popular with our members. One word though, please don't put your nephew in charge Mr Khan!

Posted 6 February 2010

A row has broken out in the Regency Society over their support for the Old Market Penthouses project.

Apparently an attempt is being made to oust the two members of the Society, Delia Forester and Audrey Simpson, who supported the OMT and another development project at Brighton Marina.

Many residents of Brunswick Town now feel that the Society, once highly respected in conservation circles, has totally lost credibility and is in sore need of a makeover.

EBRA of course takes no position on this, but members and residents can find a full account in the Argus.

Posted && January 2010

Residents have complained about cars being parked illegally in Brunswick Street East by the car mechanics that operate there. It gets worse! Vehicles are actually being worked on while illegally parked!

We have sympathy with the businesses concerned; they have very little space in which to operate. But they ought to play by the rules. Parking restrictions are there for good reasons. EBRA is following the matter up.

Posted 23 January 2010

The severe weather in December resulted in our streets being clogged with packed snow and ice. The City Council then failed to grit or clear large areas which resulted in dangerous conditions for days on end.

EBRA and others applied pressure and as a result Celia Barlow wrote to the leader of the City Council in the strongest terms and at last action was taken. We are delighted to quote excerpts from Celia's email of 22 December:

"I have been contacted by many constituents over the last few days concerning the lack of gritting of roads and more importantly the pavements in Hove and Portslade during the recent spell of inclement weather. Pavements...have been covered in sheet ice for days which were extremely dangerous... I understand that there have been many accidents and injuries.

"Under the previous administration during the snow, the local authority had snowploughs and gritters working flat out. Where were these when the bad weather had been forecast for days previously? Why was the Council not prepared?"

Why not indeed! The Council is there precisely to provide essential services to the city! One thing Celia wrote caught our eye.

"I have also been told by one of my constituents this morning that the road sweepers turned up for work today expecting to get out there and grit only to be told that under the Health & Safety Act it was too dangerous for them to work.

We would have laughed, except that this is just ridiculous! EBRA thanks Celia for her intervention, but extends an icy finger in the direction of the City Council.

Posted 8 January 2010

Celia Barlow has been the Member of Parliament for Hove and Portslade since 2005, and is a strong supporter of EBRA and has worked with the Association on a number of community issues facing the area.

Celia said, "EBRA is an important part of the Brunswick community and has fought its corner for local residents and businesses, achieving positive results.

"When there are contentious issues EBRA is always at the forefront in protecting the unique heritage of the area and have been happy to participate in their events and support their aspirations."

In December, Celia was instrumental in persuading the City Council to clear packed snow and ice that had been allowed to lie on the roads and pavements of Hove for days.

News has reached us that Paul Elgood, one of our two councillors for Brunswick & Adelaide has been selected as Lib-Dem candidate for the Hove parliamentary seat at the next general election.

Paul stood in 2005 and doubled the Lib-Dem vote, but he has a hill to climb, Celia Barlow, the sitting Labour MP polled double the Lib-Dem vote.

EBRA is non-political but we can say this; Paul takes a special interest in East Brunswick and has served the community well as councillor and EBRA thanks him for that.

Posted 7 December 2009. Source The Argus.

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hove & Portslade and a member of EBRA, was recently asked about community groups.

He commented "EBRA is an example of a successful community programme working for the residents of East Brunswick. Dialogue is important and associations, such as these, give a greater voice to residents' interests; the results EBRA gets are testament to its success."

Mike recently donated a tree to the Community Garden - something he has taken an interest in from its inception, and believes community projects are vital to social cohesion. Further comments about the importance of community focal points can be seen in the web video on his web site.