A public meeting is planned to discuss the Floral Clock, with the organisers issuing invitations to a number of councillors.
In an email, heritage campaigner Laura King, from the Friends of Brighton and Hove Citizens’ Action Group, said: “I’ve been asked to arrange a public meeting outside at the Cornerstone Community Centre end of the north of Palmeira Square.
“You are very welcome to attend and explain why there has been no valid and city-wide advertised resident consultation before the decision to scrap the Coronation Floral Clock was announced in the media on Thursday 21 August.
“Also, in a meaningful public consultation, there should be time at the end of that consultation for all responses to be taken into consideration and fed into the proposed project, which there is not.
“Moreover, the leading question: ‘What would you like to see in the current location of the Floral Clock?’ has caused a lot of anger, making it clear that there is no choice being given about the Floral Clock being axed.
“Conversely, there are many people offering to fix it at low or no cost or as part of a television show project. Why have these options not been explored, if cost is the reason?
“Also, why are there large yellow signs saying fencing is going up round the north of Palmeira Square on Monday 1 September when the deadline for the consultation is Sunday 14 September?
“Many residents are somewhat puzzled that they are being told there is no money to fix the clock but apparently plenty of money to ‘revamp’ the north of Palmeira Square and would like to know from which budget this is being taken.
“Also, will the old public toilets, capped off beneath, be reopened if the north of the square is going to be done properly?
“Will the new planting be ‘starling-friendly’ and will more trees be culled as part of the revamp?
“All sorts of questions have been popping up on social media.”
The meeting is due to start this evening (Friday 29 August) at 7pm.
To see or take part in Brighton and Hove City Council’s consultation, click here.
More than 2,200 people have signed a petition to save the Floral Clock. To see or sign the petition on the 38 Degrees website, click here.
There is no need to ‘revamp’ the north of Palmeira Square – nothing wrong with it.
As usual – the council want to waste money fixing things that aren’t broken.
Use this money to fix the clock. And leave Palmeira Square alone – nothing wrong with it.
We do not want a bloody ‘Mediterranean style planting scheme’ – this is England, not Spain…
But it literally is broken.
Which means twice a day it is the most accurate clock that the council run..
No, boomers want money spent on them, as per usual, while everyone else is suffering.
The toilets were adjacent to the traffic lights at the east end of the square. There was also an electricity sub-station, which is also long gone.
Re-opening the toilets is an excellent idea.
Spend the money re-opening the toilets and fixing the floral clock.
And stop the pointless re-vamp of the north of Palmeira Square.
Just use the bushes buddy, and while your at it buy a watch. The money should be spent resurfacing western road outside six, it’s diabolical…
For anyone, like me, who has lived in Brighton and Hove all their adult life, this is a nutty local story.
I respect those with strong nostalgic feelings about the floral clock – but to renew a ‘clock’, in 2025 and for the decade beyond?
It’s not an architectural masterpiece – say, like Big Ben –and we don’t even wear watches now.
No one uses this floral clock as a timepiece, plus it hasn’t worked for some time. Let it go.
What planet are people on where they want a floral clock in 2025? Is it the flowers that once surrounded it? Is it that they visited the square as kids, and with their grandparents? Of all the heritage we could keep and restore, I’m sure this would be a waste of money.
What we Hove residents care about the most is that Palmeira square and the ‘park’ facilities are well looked after and renewed. If an artist sculpture or statue is wanted as the focal point, then a new floral clock is not the answer. I’d ask instead, why is there no seating in this square?
It’s also key to this discussion that the existing 1953 clock is worn out. Why commission a new one?
There’s heritage, and then there are people living in the past. We might start by looking at who is leading the campaign here.
Well said. If there is a group of people who wish to be custodians of features like this, and take over the management, maintenance, and associated costs, then they should be supported in their creation and application of proposal.
I’ve always been a firm believer that it is one thing to say something, it’s completely another to actually do something about it.
Irrespective of the pros / cons of the clock a big prob for me is the way the council has gone about things. Like with the tennis court removal at Withdean, the council announces something as a decision with no public consultation at all, and act surprised when people get annoyed.
Bringing community groups into discussions and decisions at the start, rather than shutting them out, would result in a lot better decision making overall.
It may feel like a small issue on it’s own, but the council adopts this dogged and determined fingers-in-ears-attitude over issues large and small (including devolution), and the unwillingness of Labour to engage with communities is pretty dreadful.
Honestly, it’s a very good point. Council departments always seem to struggle with communicating effectively, and a last-minute consultation that has the appearance of an already done deal is a great example of this. Like you say, it sets the conversation instantly into a defensive one, and I’d suggest if that’s a good way to move forward on any project?
Quite simply this area has been allowed to become run down by the Council. One thing they’re good at. Look at the rusted, corroded and falling apart railings on Hove seafront. The Consultation is just a tick box and it appears the alterations have already been decided
By the Council and FOPA.
Thank you for this oppposition to council madness. More please. Now we have sadly lost Cllr Mary Mears, they will try and get away with wiping out the city’s heritage completely given half a chance. Bad things happen when good people do nothing as the saying goes.
Is it really expensive to replace the clocks engine and even the skeleton for a brand new one and revamp just the floral decoration? I don’t think so. I think the council should focus on sensible revamp instead of massive ones to keep control of the budget, which already is messed up.
See video of Laura’s speech at:
https://youtu.be/YtsGRUZ1H8k
Hove lawn clock was instituted in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It is therefore a royal monument and a proud fixture of Hove for over seventy years.
I remember it in all its glory but that was two decades ago. Since then has been sadly neglected and the council it would seem would rather see it destroyed.
Now our council are set to get their wish for starting on September the first, Hove floral clock is set to be destroyed, which begs the question why?
Like so much in Brighton, and more especially Hove, a sorry spirit of corporate nihilism prevails, its shadow cast over the whole country. So much of our traditions and so many of our monuments are under attack due to the tripartite hydra of right wing greed, left wing dogma and public lethargy.
It is therefore incumbent on well-meaning and patriotic citizens to act.
However there is a very real danger here in the form of foreign banked charlatans – such as Reform PLC – who have no love for the British people and despise the best of our traditions, but latch on to such causes to dupe well meaning but dangerously naive patriots into believing they share a common love of country.
So, patriots and lovers of floral heritage be warned. This is our fight so let our local democracy prevail and not let the fascists pervert our ideals, nor the neoliberals bulldoze out clock. ⏰
WE DO STILL WEAR WATCHES NUMBNUTS THERE’S THAT PLACE IN NORTH STREET WITH TEN SECURITY GUARDS WATCHING THEM ALSO ALL THE TENNIS PLAYERS AT POST MATCH INTERVIEWS MAKE SURE WE GET A GOOD VIEW OF THEIR WATCH THEY COULD PUT A MEMORIAL HIGH UP SO IT DOESN’T GET VANDALISED BY THE FREE PALESTINE LOT TO THE HOSTAGES MOST OF WHOM HAVE DIED IN PALESTINE CAPTIVITY ALTHOUGH I HOPE I’M WE WRONG
Rebuild the Anthaeum!
Wassuk
Let’s stop fighting and arguing amongst each other. We have far more in common than we do in difference. I love you all, especially the flag shaggers, I love you the most! 💋Bring back love, love is great, love each other. ❤️
Oh dear…from flower power to fascism in a few short comments; let’s be frank it’s Time is up!
Heritage has become a nostalgic tricky business and respect to all who have passion and time to get involved.
The silent majority busy with everyday stuff look to the elected officials and officers to come up with improvements and offer these solutions as a choice; with some public interaction.
If your unhappy and want to make real change then stand for election, participate and get in amongst it; say what you like about Bella & Co but at least they are making moves and bringing actions forward.
Be nice if the toilets were open!
Don’t go down the ‘if you don’t like it, why don’t you do it’ route, they’re supposed to be our elected representatives.
Here’s an idea for the Council to consider: remove the inner workings of the clock on Hove’s ugliest building (the Town Hall) and reuse the mechanism in Palmeira Square, thus preserving a part of our B&H’s heritage at relatively minimal cost.
It’s a pretty good idea, question though, how is it then maintained?
The same way it’s maintained now, as the Council must have people with knowledge of how it works, given the clock is still functioning normally. Plus the location is less than a mile away, meaning Councillor Muten could carry the mechanism to Palmeira Square on his bicycle. Win-win, and a nice photo opportunity.
It’s not being maintained at the moment, in fact the mechanism is irrecoverably broken. Unless are you suggesting a static feature, and just a flowerbed, without changing the style?
Sorry, Benjamin, I should have made clear that the working mechanism from the Town Hall clock is the one that can be transplanted into Palmeira Square. If the Council want to display the time on the monstrosity in Norton Road, they can buy something digital from AliExpress.
The idea that an old vertically placed clock from a high building, and of a different size, replaces a 30 degree angled clock buried in the ground, and designed to operate in waterlogged conditions, doesn’t add up to me.
I do understand why people are nostalgic about relics from the past but sometimes you/we need to let them go, when they are beyond their era.
And, for sure the Brutalist Hove town hall design is not to everyone’s taste, but it is actually a period building and listed – including that clock.
The clock inner workings from the Town Hall are going into Palmeira Square, Billy, in my proposal. Not the actual face itself. 1+1=2
A lot of things have been let go like the West Pier that people wish were still here.
There used to be a number of floral clocks around the country. Most of them have been removed, so they are now quite rare. If the clock were to be set at the standard Ten to Two time, it could remain as a heritage feature, and the cost would be zero. It wouldn’t cost much to plant the numbers, and if the Friends groups are that concerned, they can help with maintaining the flowerbeds. And a nearby noticeboard outlining the clock’s history would give it a context.
That feels like a nice compromise.
Isn’t saying “we can’t find the bits to fix it”, a bit like saying “I can’t find the right tiles”?
No. Not at all.
The floral clock needs to be restored and they’ve hardly scratched the surface with all the ideas and offers of help available.
The clock could also be lit from now on so that its beauty can be appreciated night as well as day. The lights would also act as a deterrent to bad behaviour on the green. The mini fence perimeter also needs to go back round. Removing that is when the real rot started.
The council were willing to spend a fortune on the arches on Madeira Drive, where relatively few people used to go but not to upgrade the Floral Clock, in an area where many people go. It seems like double standards. Is everything old to be allowed to rot away, like councils of the past did with the aforementioned arches.
Can someone from Heritage not apply for the Clock and area to be listed, and protected? I’m aware it was placed there 70 years ago but it represents so much not just in relation to our past monarch which makes it totally disrespectful to remove , but it’s brightons history, our past and there are those that are born and bred brightonians and those that have families going back generations living here that really would like our views respected and consulted on. Its our history too and brighton has already changed and quite honestly not for the better, we would like to maintain what we are proud of Thank-you