The opening of a new park in Hove was heralded as “the first in 100 years” but critics soon came forward to challenge the claim.
Hove Beach Park was officially opened on Friday 15 May, with great fanfare by Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey, heralding a weekend of free activities.
In a statement celebrating the new park along Hove seafront, Councillor Sankey said: “I am extremely proud and excited to be formally opening the first new park in the city in more than 100 years.”
The council has admitted the error after Elm Grove resident and Green Party campaigner Luke Walker said that at least four other parks in Brighton and Hove were less than 100 years old.
Dr Walker said: “Bella Sankey is very eager to claim credit for Hove Beach Park, wilfully ignoring the fact that it was the former Green administration who successfully developed and bid for government funding for the project in 2021.
“In fact, she’s so desperate for publicity that she’s now making the ridiculous claim that this is ‘the first new park in the city in more than 100 years’.
“This claim shows Sankey’s ignorance of the history and geography of Brighton and Hove. Many of the city’s parks are under 100 years old: Carden, Withdean and Easthill parks, in the north and west of the city, were all opened in the mid-twentieth century.
“But Sankey’s claim falls apart most obviously in the case of William Clarke Park, aka the Patch, which opened in the 1980s.
“Residents of Elm Grove, where I live, are shocked that the council leader seems to know so little about this area, so close to the city centre.
“I’m also surprised that Hanover and Elm Grove’s Labour councillors didn’t think to correct her, especially since William Clarke Park is named after a former Labour councillor and mayor of Brighton.
“It seems that, in their eagerness to follow their leader, the current Labour councillors are also prepared to forget the history of their own party.”
William Clarke Park was formed from a filled in former railway cutting on the now defunct Kemp Town branch railway line.
Brighton Corporation bought farmland that became Withdean Park in 1933.
Portslade Urban District council bought the Easthill House estate land which became Easthill Park in 1948.
Carden Park, in Hollingbury, was created in the 1950s although part of it was lost to the expansion of a factory on the industrial estate in the 1960s.
In response, Councillor Sankey said: “Hove Beach Park is most definitely a park. It has transformed an unloved and neglected area of our seafront and has been one of the most popular council projects in decades. The feedback we have received has been absolutely fantastic.
“Going back over our historic records again since the official opening, we have found a number of parks which have had their status formally recognised or had work done to transform unloved space into something the community can enjoy within the last 100 years. This was an oversight on our part.
“But while Hove Beach Park may not be the first new park in the city for a century, it is certainly among the most ambitious, creative and transformative projects in that time and one the entire city is rightfully proud of.”
The £13.7 million Hove Beach Park was initially known as the Kingsway to the Sea project. The work was part-funded by a £9.4 million grant from the government.
The Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor said: “What an awful fuss about an historical detail – is this really the best criticism the Greens can level at us?
“I think most residents will be more interested in what the council is actually delivering, versus the ludicrous histrionics spouted by Dr Walker.”
“It’s notable that Councillor Sankey immediately acknowledged the minor mistake – in stark contrast to the apology the city still hasn’t received from the Greens for their colossal mistake in funding the i360.”
Her untruths and spin are catching up with her.
BHCC comms should also fact check her political spin before they put it on their website. Officers are supposed to be neutral and council communication channels, like their website where they post press releases, should not contain political spin.
The list of occasions where half truths have been said by Bella and co and BHCC comms have blindly published her words, or they’ve used language with political context inappropriate for council comms, is growing. Officers need to be much more alert to the administration not always being straight with residents and this example is one which highlights that Bella seems to have just made stuff up.
Yet she’s still also trying to make out it’s a new park. The land was public land before – it’s been regenerated. Even having been caught out making stuff up she’s struggling to climb down and her claim it’s “most definitely a park” is ridiculous, it fitted the definition of a park before, a tired and run down one admittedly, but still public land for recreational use.
It’s telling that in the council’s press release they stick to facts and do not repeat Bella’s 100 year claim. It’s only her saying it in the press release.
My my. And to think it was a place for entertainment, not an exercise for a history lesson. If it was the Greens that organised this, then thanks, because it was pretty much the only good thing they did in this City.
Although this is just a park, there is an important principle about honesty in politics and politicians taking care not not mislead.
Nobody really picked up on it back in Dec 2023 when the council discussed the KC’s bin chaos report, but back then, unprompted, Bella said in a formal council meeting discussing the report that “I must be clear and for the record, the GMB has contributed nothing to the election of any of any of our Labour Group members”.
It was only after being reminded that she had used the GMB office herself during her election campaign for a phone canvassing session, and that Labour received a £4,200 donation around 7 months before to help with costs towards printing and distribution costs of local election material that she said she would need to check further details about whether room use should have been declared. I don’t know whether she did ever check with officers about whether using the GMB room should have been declared as an election expense or not, but greater care before making bold exclamations needs to be made – especially when she is making these statements to make a political point. In the case of the park, the point being I assume that she’s trying to make our her administration has done something extraordinary that others haven’t done before. In the case of her GMB contribution comment, I assume the point was to place distance between herself and the GMB before discussing a report which referenced the damage caused by political interference, including the claim that “A number of witnesses indicated that there were close links between the Labour administration and GMB reps within the Council and concerns were expressed to me that highly confidential information passed between the administration and GMB reps within the Council”
Language is important, Bella is smart and understands that, but it seems not savvy enough to realise that in politics people will scrutinise your every word. So if you are not completely honest, or spin facts to serve a purpose – people will clock it!
Labour have shown they can’t be trusted — full of empty promises and political spin.
They claimed they’d tackle the cost of living crisis, yet turned around and cut winter fuel payments and increased our bills.
Starmer said, “Labour would freeze council tax next year.” But after the election, council tax went up above inflation in Brighton — for some it even doubled — while students, including those from abroad pay nothing.
They say one thing, then do another. Voters deserve better.
Very unfortunate that the re-elected Leader of the council has such little knowledge of the city….. which is probably why she is so eager to move away from localism to full Devolution….
You have to wonder if Bella Sankey knows what the truth is. She is treated to a gala dinner to celebrate the heritage coast, while allowing promotors to pollute public parks with oil and doing nothing. She allows public spaces to be given away for 2-3 times less income than any other city, while allowing officials to claim the reverse in public cabinet minutes. The spends £7m on a cycle lane in VG3 which produces no other benefits (and in fact slows traffic and increases pollution) while increasing council tax. She claims the i360 loan has been ‘written off’, while residents are still paying for it and in fact subsidising the new leaseholders profits. I do understand that her political career matters more than the city, but she needs to remember that voters have long memories….
Oh, come on. Stop being so petty.
Hove seafront has been famously neglected for several decades, and not just since the two town councils were unified.
This IS the first major park development in the city for decades, and you only have to visit to see what an instant success it is – with huge numbers filling what was a very neglected space before.
In particular, we have so many new sporting facilities on offer, and so it’s a great asset for the city in terms of outdoors sports and health and leisure.
I’m lucky enough live opposite the new Padel tennis courts and I see them packed daily. The new park areas are also bursting into bloom as the careful planting comes into its own.
We’ve also new toilets and beachfront showers!
Please understand how positive a change this has been for Hove residents and all city residents – and a time of cuts and high negativity.
A lot of local people came together to make this work, and the council have done a great job in over seeing everything.
Nobody’s saying the changes aren’t a positive thing Billy. That’s pretty much what Bella should have just said rather than start making claims that simply were not true.
At best, Bella’s claim was made without some very basic fact checking, which is very poor for a Leader of the Council. If she doesn’t fact check before speaking about a park, what else is she saying without fact checking. At worst, her claim was a deliberate attempt to spin the narrative.
I’d also add that imo her revised line that Hove Beach Park “is certainly among the most ambitious, creative and transformative projects” in a century is stretching the truth a little too, or if it is true, quite depressing that the council hasn’t achieved much more than a regenerated bit of seafront with a skate park on it over the last 100 years.
The above isn’t in any way saying Hove Beach Park isn’t a positive and its opening should not be celebrated – but Bella’s comments are OTT, and her original line it turns out was not true either.
It’s the community who really nearly credit on this one, not politicians, and it looks poor when politicians try and attach themselves to positive projects in this way, try to rewrite history, and make it all about them.
It’s not really a park either as a park is free and inclusive. This is a privitised space for those who can afford the high-priced activities offered. And not exactly a stunning or world-leading one either considering its prime location. Humdrum in fact. Makes you wonder what the nearly £14m was spent on.
This debate has overlooked The Level, which had a major transformation under the Greens, and all the activities there are free. And Valley Gardens which, contrary to the popular belief that it was just a new traffic scheme, was also intended and designed as an improved public space.
Good points. Prob worth noting that Hove Beach Park planning and funding also agreed under the Greens. I guess that’s why Bella and co were trying to shoehorn some glory towards their party, and now have egg on their face in their attempts trying.
My view is that it was a community led campaign that made it happen, rather than any political party, but it’s entertaining to see how desperate Labour councillors are to try and attach themselves to anything they perceive to be a success, even if they have had not much to do with it in reality. They then top it off by inventing ‘fake news’ about it all!!!