Ward Surgery Dates
Denise and I will be holding an Advice Surgery on Wednesday 12th November at Hove Museum from 5pm until 6.30pm. No appointments are necessary.
In the meantime, if you want to contact me on this or any other matter, my email address is: brian.oxley1@mac.com
PCSO to attend Westbourne Ward surgeries
I am delighted to say that the new Police Community Support Officer for Westbourne – Alvin Lee – has kindly agreed to attend Ward surgeries with Denise and I to help with any problems you may have in respect of crime and anti-social behaviour in the community. This is a real step forward and shows the importance of the council and the police working together to tackle crime and disorder at a local level.
Future of the King Alfred
Councillor Denise Cobb and I will be sending out the following letter to Westbourne residents regarding the future of the King Alfred Leisure Centre site. If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us:
"We wanted to write to you to let you know that now we have passed the 9th November, the Council’s responsibilities, entered into by the previous Administration of the Council, regarding the proposed redevelopment of the King Alfred have lapsed.
This means the scheme as proposed with high-rise towers etc will not now go ahead.
As this watershed has passed, the Council will be undertaking some works which are needed in order to ensure the present sports centre can remain open. The Council Leader, our colleague, Councillor Mary Mears, will be taking a report about the long-term future of the sports centre to the Cabinet meeting on the 20th November.
We want to assure you that, as your ward Councillors, we will do everything within our powers to ensure that any future proposals that come forward are in-keeping with the area and the site.
As soon as we have any further information, we will be in touch again."
Coordinating roadworks in the City
I was recently contacted by a local resident asking me how the Council coordinates roadworks across the City. I have received an extremely helpful reply from the Councils Head of Sustainable Transport which I think is worthwhile reproducing here, more or less in full, as it explains what the Council can and can't do in this regard:
"Many of the roadworks within the city are carried out by statutory undertakers replacing or upgrading their plant, rather than being directly carried out by the City Council. All these statutory undertakers have a right to work in the public highway to maintain their plant and equipment. We have a duty under the Traffic Management Act to manage our highway network and we therefore work closely with these statutory undertakers and their contractors to minimise disruption and delays. However, ultimately we have no powers to direct when or how the companies carry out their works.
For larger schemes and more long-term works, the City Council holds quarterly coordination meetings with representatives from all the utility companies. This meeting takes into account all the works to be carried out and resolves any potential clashes. It also identifies opportunities for joint working (when two or more works required in the same location can be carried out at the same time, thus reducing the number of disruptions). The Council is keen to promote such joint working and there have been several successful projects carried out in the last couple of years, particularly in the city centre where Southern Water and Southern Gas Networks have worked together to replace their mains.
For any works to be carried out on the highway, the works promoter must submit a notice to the Council, which is to a standard format and in most cases is submitted electronically. The length of notice which has to be given depends on the type and duration of the works. From these notices the Council's Streetworks Team are able to coordinate works across the network. In addition to the roads where the works are to be carried out, the effects on any roads used as a diversion route also have to be taken into account.
The Traffic Management Act has recently extended the length of notice required for 'major works' to three months. This has greatly improved the scope for coordinating such works and compliments the coordination meeting process outlined above. Other types of works still require notices to be submitted but have shorter lead-in times, for instance Minor Works (works of not more than three days duration) require three days' notice. Whilst planned works can be coordinated, there are inevitably occasions when emergency works have to be undertaken, for example to repair leaks on water mains."