Ward Advice Surgery for December
Because of a glitch on this system I was not able to mention the Westbourne Ward surgery this past Saturday at the TalkShop in Tamworth Road.
However, our next surgery is on the 13th December (a week tomorrow) at Hove Museum and runs from 5pm until 6.30pm. No appointment is necessary.
If in the meantime you wish to email about any issue please do so on:
Parking latest - signage in Zone W
Denise and I continue to recieve expressions of concern about the way the parking signage in the light touch scheme area of the Ward is worded. I took this up recently with the Council and the response is reproduced below. Denise and I will continue to work with those affected to try to find a way forward.
Response to enquiries about signage in Parking Zone W:
Dear Councillor Oxley
Thank you for your e-mail of 13 November, which has been passed to me for response. I am sorry to hear that some of your constituents are finding the signage for the parking scheme confusing.
This signage does, however, conform to legislation (the Traffic Signs
Regulations and General Directions 2002). Any re-design of these signs would require approval from the Department for Transport, which is often alengthy process. There is also the question of the cost of changing the signage, and if we were to undertake this, it would have to be at the expense of something else. However this is something we could consider should the light touch parking scheme be extended westwards.
As you are aware Environment Committee in December 2005 agreed the programme for new parking schemes and reviews from 2006 onwards. The programme assumed that within reason schemes and reviews would be delivered to the agreed time scales. However, parking issues elsewhere in the City have led officers to re-consider the way that residents parking schemes are progressed.
Predominantly residential areas of the city that are less central require a more complex, joined-up approach to get the right scheme in place and to avoid displacement issues. Learning from experiences of the last year, a revised timetable has been drawn up which looks at bigger, joined-up schemes, taking into account the impact on a whole area, rather than the smaller and more isolated schemes that were originally proposed. This revised parking timetable was agreed by Councillors at Environment Committee on 9 November 2006.
This revised timetable also included a proposal to consult residents in
Wish & Stanford wards, just outside the recently-introduced Westbourne parking extension, and to extend the scheme to cover these areas if residents agreed.
As a result of all these factors - Central Brighton, the extra areas and
the new thinking behind parking schemes, the timetable now looks very different to that of December 2005. However, this should enable resources to be concentrated effectively on areas which have been waiting a long time for solutions to their parking problems.
As you know, the majority of the Westbourne area has recently been reviewed and residents within the existing scheme were happy with the way that it was running. Following the Committee decision to change the parking timetable, it is not intended to review the Westbourne parking schemes implemented in September. However pay & display parking for visitors to local businesses and services and the signage issues will be considered in the current light touch parking scheme as part of the proposals to extend this scheme westwards.
Regards
Carolyn Dwyer
Assistant Director, Sustainable Transport
Sackville Hotel - survey result
Some weeks ago Denise and I wrote to around 600 residents in the vicinity of the now demolished Sackville Hotel regarding what should replace the building when the site is redeveloped. We suggested that a traditional-style building should be rebuilt which should be used as a hotel - the orignial design and use of the site.
By a ratio of 30:1, the residents who replied agreed with this proposition.
I am writing to the Council's Planning Department to advise them of these findings.
Street lights
I wrote some time ago about the problems there has been with street lights in the Sackville Road/Pembrokes area of the Ward and I had rasied this with the Council's Environment Director. Not only was there a problem with the lights being out but also how long it took to get them back on again.
Last week, we had a meeting of the Full Council and I raised the issue during Councillor's questions. Here is my question and the answer I received from the Chair of the Environment Committee:
QUESTION:
“Does the Chair of the Environment Committee have any plans to discuss the management of the street lighting contract with EDF?”
ANSWER FROM COUNCILLOR MITCHELL
“I know this is a source of real frustration for many of us, Councillor Oxley, so thank you for your question. The Brighton &
EDF has a statutory responsibility to provide the mains electricity supply but the Council does not have a contract with EDF. However, EDF are theHowever mains provider in the city and are therefore responsible for the cables that bring the supply to our street and highway lighting, as they would be for bringing the cables to residential premises and homes in the city.
The Council’s street lighting service has regular meetings with EDF and we have had some success in negotiating improvements, and in responding to and resolving problems. Any complaints/problems with street lighting are reported directly and immediately to Colas who then, if appropriate, liaise with EDF to resolve the problem.
As a general principle the Council works very hard to work in partnership with EDF, although there will always be issues.”
Ward Surgery
The Westbourne Ward Councillors' Ward advice surgery is due to be held on the 13th December from 5pm until 6.30pm. No appointment is necessary so please do come along if you have anything you wish to raise.
Otherwise, you can email on: brian.oxley1@mac.com
Poets Corner items
I reported elsewhere on this blog recently that I had held a meeting with the Director of the Environment Directorate. During that discussion, I raised the possibility of cleaning up some of the ceramic street signs located on the walls of buildings in Poets Corner. I am told Cityclean are looking into this and if it is feasible some action should be taken shortly.
I also raised the condition of the underpass at Aldrington Halt. Aldrington Underpass is the responsibility of Network Rail. An officer at Cityclean has emailed them to advise that this needs cleaning. This will be monitored and chased if it's not done in the foreseeable future.
Tenants' Meeting
One of the biggest issues facing the Council at present is the issue around whether the Council's council housing stock should be transferred to a new, local, housing association.
I went along on Saturday morning to the meeting for tenants that was held in the Church Hall in Blatchington Road. The meeting was fairly full and after a presentation from Tony Bird, from the independent TPAs organisation, questions from the floor were invited.
A lively discussion then ensued.
The matter will be discussed by the Full Council on the 11th January.