Voters quizzed candidates at the first hustings of the Brighton and Hove City Council local elections campaign.
Five of the nine candidates standing in the new Coldean and Stanmer ward attended the event while another sent a substitute as she was unable to be there.
The candidates who turned out were Mitchie Alexander (Labour), Kate Knight (Independent), Jack Moxley (Liberal Democrats), Tobias Sheard (Labour) and Martin Wooller (Lib Dems).
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate Penelope Ann Iveson could not attend but Julie Donovan, a candidate in the neighbouring Moulsecoomb and Bevendean ward, went in her place. The Greens and Conservatives were not represented.
The event was organised by the Coldean Residents’ Association and hot topics included “Bluebell Heights” – the 240 homes being built off Coldean Lane – as well as student housing in the area.
Ms Alexander told the hustings at St Mary Magdalen Church last night (Tuesday 4 April) that two of her daughters protested at the “Coldean Ark” to try to protect the land where Bluebell Heights is being built.
Through her involvement with Stanmer Organics, she attended a stakeholder meeting where access to the park was discussed, including crossing Coldean Lane to and from the new flats.
Ms Alexander said: “The island is not going to be good enough for crossing from the development to the school. A better crossing could be linked with putting lights at the junction with Ditchling Road. Maybe at the same time, something by the development could be put in so it is co-ordinated.”
Mr Sheard said that the housing was forced on the city’s urban fringe because of Conservative government targets. He said: “The council should speak to residents’ associations and people in the community and let them have a final say.”
Ms Knight said that the scheme might not be popular but the city was in desperate need of housing to help people off the waiting list.
She said: “The idea there won’t be a proper crossing for children going to school is an absolute disgrace. I’ll be more than happy to argue for a proper crossing but they won’t want one because it’s the flow of traffic. It’s a busy road.”
Mr Wooller said that the scheme was a “dog’s breakfast” from the point of view of people living in the area and he echoed residents’ concerns that drivers going up Coldean Lane would ignore a ban on right turns into the site.
He said: “I live at the end of a one-way system and there are people who continually turn the wrong way down it. You are absolutely right with all your concerns.”
Mr Moxley said that Bluebell Heights was completely cut off from the community and more family homes were needed rather than flats.
He said: “We are being gutted as a city. At Coldean Primary, they’re merging classes together because families are leaving the area.
“Whether that’s a mix of HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) and students moving in, the fact is that people are priced out of one of the cheapest areas of Brighton to live.”
Ms Donovan said that people were waiting for the effect of Bluebell Heights on road access and car parking. She said: “It would have been good for the council to do an impact assessment for the tenants and residents of Coldean.
“We’re waiting to see the issue of safe walking and crossing routes. Anyone who is a representative on the council for Coldean will need to put that to the forefront.”
Ms Donovan said that people needed to accept the students and to have a relationship with the universities.
She said: “Otherwise, people perhaps feel they need to take things into their own hands. We have an HMO in my street where the students had their tyres let down. It’s illegal and not very nice.
“We need to ensure the council sticks to its policy on HMOs because it feels as though if we don’t watch out and object to another one, we seem to get another one.”
Mr Moxley said that in his small close of 15 houses, there were three HMOs which had good relations with their neighbours but there was always one group out of ten who were a “nightmare”.
He wanted more funding for night-time enforcement to tackle problems such as noise in a timely way and added: “When people cause anti-social behaviour, it’s because they don’t have facilities to have fun. I don’t think restricting students helps them. It has the opposite effect.”
Ms Knight said that there were similar issues in Moulsecoomb. She said that residents faced a “lethal combination” of being on the universities’ doorsteps in homes that were cheap for landlords.
She said: “Landlords do a very poor deal for students, providing very little, and they absolutely rake it in. The landlords get far more letting their houses to students than they do families.
“What we should have is have them properly registered and inspected – and now there is a law to make buy to let less attractive. The council should be buying these houses back when they come back on the market.”
Mr Sheard said that four-figure rents on the cheapest purpose-built student housing were £200 more a month than student maintenance loans.
He said: “HMOs are cash cows for landlords. In Hawkhurst Road, a three-bedroom house was gutted to make way for 10 bedrooms and they’re being charged £550, £600 for rooms so small.
“We sit there and wonder why students aren’t interacting with their community. They are being put in such substandard housing, they don’t see this as a place where they can build a life and feel welcome. It’s a place to put up with before they move home again to make some savings.”
Ms Alexander wants to harness students’ talents by encouraging them to help with homework clubs for teenagers studying at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA).
She said: “I’m sure there are loads of young people who would benefit from this because they would enjoy helping the community they live in and it would help their CVs.
“We can tell where the HMOs are – and it would be easy to pop a letter through the door, knock on the door in September just letting them know when the recycling is collected.”
The candidates for the two seats in Coldean and Stanmer are
- Mitchie Alexander (Labour)
- Martin James Farley (Green)
- Penelope Ann Iveson (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)
- Kate Knight (Independent)
- Jack Moxley (Liberal Democrat)
- Laura Pizzolo (Green)
- Roz Rawcliffe (Conservative)
- Tobias John Knowles Sheard (Labour)
- Martin Kenneth Alan Wooller (Liberal Democrat)
…
Polling day is on Thursday 4 May. New rules requiring photo identification at polling stations are expected to boost the proportion of postal votes.
Anyone who is not on the electoral roll has until Monday 17 April, to register.
A much safer crossing on Coldean Lane is already overdue. The small island refuge isn’t good enough, particularly for people with buggies or in wheelchairs. There needs to be a signal controlled crossing at the very least – or two of them!
Kate said – “What we should have is have them properly registered and inspected…”
Kate. All HMOs are.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but HMOs only need inspecting once every five years, and that is purely for fire and electrical safety?