Improving outcomes from Old Steine to Western Esplanade

I met a resident who walked me around Old Steine last week. He pointed out lots of issues which we surely need to address as a city.

They include graffiti on the side of businesses, lack of lighting, problems with commercial refuse bins and a glut of unused or broken phone boxes.

I will take this up with the administration and council staff and I hope that we can see some improvement soon.

I also attended the Police Panel to ask questions of the police and crime commissioner. This quarter’s focus was on community issues, particularly violence against women and girls.

It was interesting to hear that Sussex Police are piloting support to victims to help ensure that referral from the point of crime to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) would take 42 days.

This policy is reducing the time from reporting to prosecution, which is very welcome.

Last Saturday (25 September) I was at the consultation event for the Western Seafront – a great initiative trying to work out a coherent strategy for the green spaces on the Western Esplanade.

Councillor Chris Henry and I have been working hard to get to this stage, engaging an excellent firm of landscape architects, to take the ideas of the West Hove Seafront Action Group and other residents forward.

You can still have your say until tomorrow (Sunday 3 October). Here’s the link.

Then, of course, it’s been the Labour Party conference. I am sure you have been reading a lot about it.

My personal highlights included delivery of a Green New Deal, delivery of an economic package which promises true levelling up, delivery of an improved justice model focused on victim support and delivery of a new national care system.

In between, I attended meetings to pin down implementation of the decisions we made at the council’s Policy and Resources Committee meeting in July.

To date we have agreed the following to begin shortly

• A park and ride feasibility study
• Electric vehicle car share pilot
• Weeding initiatives
• Supporting the tidy up team to deliver more community initiatives
• Money to support low traffic and 20-minutes neighbourhood initiatives
• A new education centre at Black Rock

…

I am excited to see all of these projects through. I know that they will improve outcomes for residents, which is surely what all of us want to see.

Councillor Carmen Appich is the joint leader of the Labour opposition on Brighton and Hove City Council.