Hundreds of people have signed a petition to save the Floral Clock, in Palmeira Square, in Hove, within days of learning that the historic feature is to be scrapped.
Brighton and Hove City Council said on Thursday (21 August) that it was planning to give the top end of Palmeira Square a makeover.
The council said: “The Floral Clock feature, which has not been working for many years, will be replaced, with the council keen to hear what people would like to go in its place.
“Designed in the 1950s, the clock required daily maintenance dating back to its initial installation, making it a costly and staff-intensive feature to run. Having stopped working some years ago, it is now beyond repair.
“Suggestions already received for what could take its place include a traditional sundial, a more contemporary sundial, a sculpture or a piece of modern art.”
The council said that this was part of a wider plan to re-landscape and re-plant Palmeira Square, adding: “The garden at the northern end of Palmeira Square is to be given a makeover and we’re consulting residents on our new proposals.
“The popular site, which runs alongside Church Road, will undergo re-landscaping and a re-planting scheme, with preparatory work beginning next month. The entire project is scheduled for completion by April 2026.”
The petition – “Save Hove Floral Clock” – has been set up on the 38 Degrees website by heritage campaigner Laura King.
Since the petition was started yesterday (Friday 22 August), it has been signed by almost 800 people.
The text of the petition said: “We, the undersigned, petition Brighton and Hove City Council to save Hove’s iconic 70 year old floral clock.
“The floral clock can be restored and BHCC has plenty of CIL (community infrastructure levy) tax which can be invested in garden infrastructure for the community.
“The clock can also be sponsored for special occasions as used to be the case.
“Why is this important? The floral clock is a famous city landmark and has appeared on many postcards over the years.
“It would be a crime to get rid of Hove’s once-beautiful floral clock and the community have been given no say in this council decision.”
To sign the petition, click here.
To take part in the council’s consultation about the proposed changes, click here.
CIL, EIB or EDB funds might stretch to a one-off capital repair/replacement, but not ongoing staffing. Pairing that with a ring-fenced sponsorship/volunteer scheme could cover the rest. An option might be involving groups like the local Friends of Group with aftercare, in the same way community groups already support pocket parks. Otherwise, we’ll be back in the same position in a few years.
Residents please do sign the petition.
Labour can find the funds for their vanity projects that few want i.e. valley gardens, A259 but meanwhile are closing libraries. They are clueless in maintaining or improving this city. Hove Beach Park was funded by the Conservative Government. Labour & Cityparks planted hundreds of trees but with no after care they have wilted & died.
Palmeira Sq Mediterranean garden – having a laugh. This means planting a few plants (not to be maintained) in real terms.
I fear residents will have to wait for improvements until we have a change in Council & in Government.
Install a new clock and let’s have a proper flower beds- like other towns & cities.
absolutely not they spent all the spare cash they had on the other vanity campaigns you’ve been on. achieven nada except taken funds away from more essential services
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla. It’s a clock that’s been broken for years and no one seemed to care then, talk about jumping on the band wagon.
Everyone who signs the petition should also be prepared to donate £1000 to it. Otherwise I’m not interested
Agree
Hove residents already ‘donate’ its called council tax!
Fix it by all means, but arrange or find funding to maintain it otherwise this debate will be on repeat
To me, this story typifies our times – and the constant battle that now flares up between those who want a return to their idea of ‘old England’ (or to the Brighton or Hove they were born in), and those who have to control and allocate the budgets we now have.
It is then made into a political battle with spiteful politicians joining in, when, the truth is, the same decisions would probably be made which ever party was in power. The whole funding system appears to be messed up.
In this case, most people simply can’t understand why a much-loved landmark is not being restored. Hove residents have so many great memories of Palmeira Square, and the floral clock has always been a focal point for that community – so why can’t it be restored?
This council can’t afford to repaint the seafront railings either, so will they too simply be knocked down when they are finally rusting beyond repair?
If you check our seafront in Hove, several railings have already fallen down.
In Kemptown, locals are still waiting for the seafront heritage lamps, that were removed, to be replaced – as was promised by the Greens.
I guess part of the anger for most of us is that we pay so much council tax and other fees, like parking permits, just to live here, and yet the basic fabric of the city is not maintained. A lot of money is allocated instead towards virtue-signalling projects, like the Beryl bike hire scheme, where the Greens funded a private company to give us bikes we can’t now afford to rent.
The ousted Tories and Greens now like to point the blame maliciously at Labour – when the Tory national government were the ones who started this local funding decline.
Others are happy to use this disappointment to suggest that immigrants are to blame for all our woes, when there are no real figures which suggest immigration is a major cause of our current economic woes.
The figure I could find, was that hotels housing asylum seekers cost us 0.02% of the national budget, and for sure, I’m not saying that’s a small amount, but it does seem to create more anger than justified.
At the same time, most people, including me, wonder just where the money has gone.
I have no personal nostalgia about the Palmeira Sq floral clock, which to me is a 1950s period relic more than a landmark – a bit like that revolving sputnik thing that used to be on Brighton promenade. But it does seem weird that the current council have decided they have the budget to re-design the Palmeira sq space and its floral borders, while not having the money to restore the bits that local people clearly like.
As a gardener, I do understand why we’ll never see a return to ‘pretty’ seasonal flower beds, re-planted three times a year, but I also lament the fact that every change we now see in city parks is an economic decision, where all current ‘investment’ has to minimises future likely running costs for the council.
Those seafront railings I mentioned could in fact last forever, if properly maintained. Any new look replacement, will only be a ten year thing.
What time is it now? 2025, apparently.
spot on
100% correct.
Do the maths on the bikes. 14 million/ 800 = £17500 per bike. Whoever signed that contract with public money, in my view its criminal.
Try cllr Davis – leader of the greens
The council is Brightoncentric. All they really care about is Brighton,. It is prioritised..
I fear that Hove’s Carnegie Library will be next to go. As it is, this has been reduced to something no longer recognisable as a library. The lesson from this is that is a waste of life to campaign for anything locally. Precious time, which cannot be regained, is best not given to “local involvement”.
I feel things like Libraries would be better served being held by community groups; and I think that’s a far better way to maintain them. Reduces the pressure on the council, whilst giving the building to a group that can focus purely on providing that service.
Please keep the lovely floral clock. It’s part of our heritage & we’ve lost so much already.
Heritage. ??? it was designed in the 50s and badly maintained ever since, just another media follower. It costs money, if nobody wants to pay for anything then how would you fund the upkeep of this ?? Rebuilding it it is only a start, then what ??? Study social history if you want to claim “heritage” that broken unloved clock is being used as media finger pointing hype.
Thank you for alerting me to this petition which I am glad to sign. It seems this council is determined to destroy anything of beauty or history. Well there wasn’t much money after the War either, but the Hove Council of the time saw fit to provide a floral clock of great beauty to cheer the then-town of Hove and provide an added tourist attraction. What is wrong with the council of today that all they do is destroy and build nothing of beauty or which is likely to last more than a few years? I despair of Councillor Robins. He really seems to have it in for Hove with his determination to demolish the King Alfred as well. As for his idea of consultation, that is unacceptable.
Sadly no matter how many people sign our wonderful elected by us Clowncil will just go ahead with their plans, hopefully they see sense and listen to the electorate this time unlike VG3.
Sadly, I think no matter how many people put their name to a digital list, it doesn’t resolve the issue that it’s broken down, and would cost a lot of money to get working again, and then it is an unsustainable expense to run. Suggestions do have to be grounded in practicality and reality. Distracting with VG3, which is a completely different and ringfenced budget, doesn’t change this.
It has got me thinking, though, if there’s space for a city-wide Charity to work on maintaining and developing these kinds of sites. They have better recourse to funding generally compared to a council, and they can focus purely on those projects instead. Maybe something you’d like to put together, David?
There’s a genocide in Gaza going on as we speak & what do the good people of Hove have to worry about? Whether some tacky “flower clock” is saved. Think I’m gonna start a campaign group (WE HATE HOVE) or perhaps organise a petition “Sign here if you have a hatred of Hove” or perhaps build a big, gigantic wall on the Brighton/Hove border with enormous signs saying “You are now leaving Brighton. Enjoy your boring life on the other side & remember not to cum back. See ya. Baa-bye”
Mmm ! Bet you would think differently if you had lived here for a long time. It was always a smart centrepiece and deserves to be reinstated properly especially with all the mismaged schemes going on!
The two obviously don’t compare. The dire situation in Gaza and other parts of the world doesn’t mean residents shouldn’t express a view on a proposed change to a local feature; they have more influence over that than what is happening in Gaza.
Pathetic, it’s ugly and doesn’t work, never will. The objectors could raise funds, but I doubt they’d get much, and certainly wouldn’t put any of their time into maintaining it. On the other hand, the Clock Tower is great architecture and heritage, spend the money on that.
The real reason for the garden ‘upgrade’
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/25408763.jewish-memorial-palmeira-square-hove-forced-move/
Does appear to be a park of red lines and just like the clock is time to stop.
What – another piece of our historic infrastructure being destroyed by lack of council maintenance? I can hardly believe it!
Historic ???? Infrastructure ??? slightly out of context, by a few Centuries and several Tram Lines
Do not destroy our past.
I don’t think there’s any coincidence that the clock was at its best under Conservative rule; Hove Borough Council control.
You only have to look on streetview to see how the leftys have let it deteriorate over the years; whilst wasting millions on valley gardens and on pointless bike lanes that no-one uses.
One of the worst things to happen to Hove, is the merger with Brighton as a so-called city.
Unfortunately, it declined because Conservative governments cut tens of millions from council budgets after 2010. Even under Hove Borough Council it needed daily attention, which is exactly why most councils retired their clocks decades ago. If anything, the merger saved services by pooling resources; without it, Hove on its own would have faced even harsher cuts.
Ah but the Tories had to cut spending because of the disastrous Labour government that preceded it
The data shows council funding was cut much more deeply after 2010 than before. Local services like the floral clock weren’t lost because of what happened in 2008–10; they declined because of the austerity years that followed.
Has Royal permission been sought to destroy the floral clock erected to commemorate the 1953 Coronation of our late Queen Elizabeth II? How shamefully disrespectful. All involved should resign.
Interesting angle, James; however, there’s no such requirement for “Royal permission.” The clock was a civic project to mark the Coronation, not a Crown-owned asset. Plenty of Coronation features around the country have been adapted over time without reference to the Palace. Respecting heritage doesn’t mean freezing the city in 1953. The respectful thing now is to find a heritage-sensitive replacement that works for today’s community. Times change, and maintaining it at £20,000 a year isn’t sustainable.
I for one would be interested to know how much the proposed “revamp” of the entire Green is going to cost and where the money is coming from if there is no money to repair the clock!
Certainly a reasonable ask. I suspect the main concern surrounding cost would be the ongoing cost.
I’m a local resident and I’m concerned about the proposal to remove the Floral Clock, this is an important monument to respect it was put there to mark the inauguration of HRH Queen Elizabeth 11 and it’s important to keep this and celebrate her as she was the best Queen we have had she must be remembered and respected it’s not cool to take this down, the council must be respectful and retain this monument it was always the crowning glory of Hove and must be maintained and respected, surely it can be fixed and made to work again, have you approached Millimetre? The local art foundry? They could definitely fix it and it’s important to mark the time in our city of a female monarch women must be respected and we feel strongly that this needs to be protected restored and proper public consultation. We don’t want to have a meadow in the centre here.. that’s just laziness and needs to be addressed it’s important to have beautiful planting it’s a historic landmark and tourist attraction it must be respected reconsidered so that it can shine once again it’s a great landmark and part of Brunswick in bloom please please fix the floral clock have a proper public consultation and make it a jewel in the crown of Hoves landscape Thank you
The most sensible comment that I have read.
They are missing the point about it working. Everyone has a watch, phone, clock in car etc. its not about telling the time but a display.
Nothing like this can be maintained daily, there is weather and vandalism to contend with and I think most people will understand this but a decent pretty flower bed/display is what most people will want.
Its a beautiful part of Hove with the architecture around it echoing bygone days. This needs protecting for the next generation.
I will be signing the petition and hope they will listen.
Can we have a digital clock?
90% of the fruitcakes in the comment section would prefer a Union Flag hour hand, a Cross of St George minute hand and the means to wind the clock back to 1950.