Health and Equalities
An early start to the week with a Monday morning meeting with Chairs and Chief Executives of the NHS Trusts covering Brighton and Hove. Part of the discussion was on how services previously provided in hospital are now being moved into local communities, making them more accessible and responsive to patients and their families. Where the media talks about closures, the reality is often a reprovision of services from an often remote hospital into modern local clinics alongside GP services.
This afternoon I was happy to fill in for council leader Simon Burgess, who was representing the city at the Local Government Association conference, at the Equalities Forum. Topics covered today included what the Children and Young Peoples' Trust (run jointly by the council and the city's NHS Primary Care Trust) are doing to combat homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools, how council buildings are being made more accessible for people with disabilities, and the national recognition the council has received for being a good employer of people from the LGB and T communities.
Manor Road Gym relaunch
Looking forward this week to the re-launch event of the Manor Road Gym, which has had a major refit / refurbishment funded by eb4U and backed by the city council. It is and important local resource which should enable people from all ages from Manor Farm, Kemp Town, Whitehawk and the Bristol Estate to engage in some healthy activities. The re-launch event is this Wednesday from 12 till 4.
Kemp Town parking
Along with my ward colleague Councillor Gill Mitchell I met with senior transport officers last week to discuss feedback we have had from Kemp Town residents following the changes to parking controls around the Royal Sussex County Hospital. It does look like there may ne more disabled parking bays along Eastern Road and roads directly south of the hospital than are needed. The hospital itself has a number of bays within it's own car parks which seem to cater for demand. This will be reviewed over the coming weeks with the aim of freeing up more space for resident parking if possible. The review will also take in some of the 11 hour bays in roads to the west of the hospital site to see if again things can be improved to allow residents more space.
Safe As Houses domestic violence project
I am hopeful that a proposal from the Labour Group to give £150,000 to the Safe As Houses domestic violence project, as part of our budget being voted on at Budget Council this Thursday, will be agreed by the other parties.
Safe As Houses is part of the Women's Refuge Project, and was set up to help survivors of domestic violence in East Brighton in 2004 with money from the regeneration partnership eb4U. That funding comes to an end next month, but is also bidding for lottery funding to continue its' work.
It is essential this project carries on and if possible expands its' work, and at the Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum we have taken a very close interest in how domestic violence affects so many other areas such as education, homelessness and anti-social behaviour. I was involved in a project to give days out to children from a women's refuge when I was at university, and dealt first hand with those who suffered violence and abuse whilst I worked for the police.
New Deal for Carers
As the councillor responsible for carers, I am pleased to see that new measures and funding have been announced by the Government to help those who care for friends or family members at home. You can read details of the announcement on the BBC website here.
Crime Prevention
After attending the citywide Community Safety Forum on Monday, today I chaired the monthly Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum at the Valley Social Centre. The news that the council has secured the future of domestic violence project "Safe As Houses" through funding agreed in the budget last week was well received.
On a totally unrelated subject, I've been invited along to Whitehawk FC's FA Vase quarter-final on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to.