The multi-use games area at Hangleton Park has reopened, completing one of the council’s most innovative recycling projects.
The old pitch, which was nearing the end of its useful life, was removed several weeks ago and has been replaced with a ‘nearly new’ facility that was previously installed at Moulsecoomb Hub.
I’m pleased that the games area looks great and is already proving popular with local football and basketball players. Moulsecoomb will soon benefit from a new pitch, as part of the housing and hub development. I’m proud to lead a council that puts its money where its mouth is on recycling!
An official opening ceremony will take place next year.
The west of the city is also seeing food waste collection rolling out this week, following the successful launch of the new service starting in the east earlier this autumn.
And last week, your Labour council’s plan for a new sustainable swimming pool at Withdean was approved at the planning committee, with building work to begin this coming spring.
We know that there is huge demand for this new facility.
Responses to our ‘Your Sport, Your Vision, Your City’ consultation, undertaken in 2020, showed that 85 per cent said a new main swimming pool should be the top priority for any new facility, and reports have also shown that Brighton and Hove currently has the lowest provision of water space per 1,000 population than the surrounding authority areas and significantly less than the south-east region and England.
As a seaside city, we must ensure we’re providing the pools our residents want, and I’m proud we are delivering on this.
We’re also delighted to announce that a lease has been signed for the refurbished Maclaren Pavilion at The Level, which includes responsibility for managing the public toilets.
We understand the new owner is planning a soft launch before fully opening in the new year.
This is brilliant news and means that not only will visitors to the Level be able to enjoy the new café, but they will also benefit from the much-needed toilets.
While the local Green Party closed restrooms when they ran the council, we, by contrast, have been refurbishing and reopening them regularly – this is the difference that Labour in power makes.
We’re also cleaning up the mess the Greens made of the old Velo Café building at The Level.
A planning application will be submitted shortly, which will then lead to grant applications being made for a new project which a charity would like to deliver on the site.
This is an exciting time for the Level, and it is great to see such positive developments at what is a popular and thriving city centre site.
And in more good news last week, our Labour government confirmed a new £38 million a year fund for the new strategic mayoral authority that we are establishing for Sussex and Brighton next May.
This is money that we would not have access to if it weren’t for the deal that we, along with East and West Sussex County Councils, did with the government earlier this year.
It will ensure that our city and wider region will not be left behind and will have the seed investment fund needed to pursue economic growth, better transport connectivity and affordable housing.
The government also announced last week that our mayoral election for this new body is being delayed until 2028.
I know that some residents are disappointed by this, but it’s important to remember that the government has confirmed devolution will be going ahead and has made the all-important funding commitment.
In response to the news of the delay of the mayoral election, I and the leaders of East and West Sussex came together to say that “we are committed to devolution, building on the strong partnership work we have in place.
“We are working together on the detail of this change for Sussex and Brighton”.
Improved partnership working has been a huge benefit of the devolution journey to date, and I know this will continue.
In the last few weeks, I have been here, there and everywhere, but my very favourite activity was lunch with some of our care leavers last Saturday.
We were treated to delicious homemade soup – including a divine deconstructed lasagne – and took part in a Christmas/Brighton-themed quiz.
Being a corporate parent is the most important and treasured thing any councillor can do, and I want to thank everyone in our caring community – children, foster parents, kinship carers, and council workers – for their work to support children and young people this year.
Bella Sankey is the Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
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