The developer of the land previously used for car parking (see picture) is making what seems to be a pig-headed attempt to remove important conditions placed on the planning permission finally granted on appeal in March this year. Despite the planning inspector making it clear that, in order to preserve the character of the conservation area, conditions are needed in respect of external materials such as roof slates, rainwater goods, render finishes and window frames. A further planning application BH2023/01843 has been submitted in the hope that cheap and no doubt nasty materials can be used to maximise the developer’s profit. The Council’s Heritage Team has inevitably recommended refusal.
Red Pillar Box Blues
The MP for Pavilion has been in correspondence with Royal Mail over its decommissioning of the pillar box (see picture) outside the T@the Dials café in Dyke Road. During the Covid pandemic this was designated a “priority post box” but has been decommissioned for more than a year. According to Royal Mail, the café owners claim ownership of the land on which the pillar box is situated and will not allow the box to be removed (and perhaps re-positioned) during the working day. This would seem to be an unreasonable stance; the café has, after all, been allowed to use the pavement, which it clearly does not own, to place its tables, chairs, and planters. The loss of what was probably the most convenient pillar box for many West Hill residents is further depressing news about a postal service which fails to deliver (and now fails to collect).
Reasons to be cheerful
Homes in Clifton Street and Compton Avenue have been restored and are now enhancing the character of the West Hill conservation area.
The pictures below of 2, Clifton Street show the front elevations before and after the works were carried out. The disfiguring of the original façade probably occurred in the latter part of the last century. The balcony in particular is now an attractive feature.
At no 18 Compton Avenue the flint and brick front wall has been repaired, and new cast iron railings set in particularly good stone coping. The balcony has been reinstated, the steps refurbished and the garden replanted.
In June our newly elected Mayor Cllr. Jackie O’Quinn unveiled this memorial at no. 7 Buckingham Place to a painter who was born and educated in Sussex and who distinguished himself as a marine painter but who was also an accomplished musician who played for many years in the orchestra of the Theatre Royal in New Road. His painting of “HMS Vengeance at Spithead” hangs in the Royal Pavilion whilst his painting “Queen Victoria Landing at Brighton” is in the collection of the Brighton and Hove Museum. Among the guests at the unveiling were relatives of the artists including Captain Brian Nibbs, a distinguished master mariner whose long service in the Royal Naval Reserve earned him the Reserve Decoration (and bar). No. 7 Buckingham Place is part of a group of terraced properties (no. 5 to no.19) which are listed Grade II and which date from about 1845.
Multinational advertising giant wants more of the pavement.
The world’s biggest outdoor advertising company JC Decaux has launched an appeal against our Council’s refusal to grant planning permission for a “Telecommunications Hub” on the pavement in Queen’s Road. The site is adjacent to the West Hill and North Laine conservation areas. The City Council have given two reasons for its refusal. Firstly, the inclusion of a large digital screen to one side and functional appearance on the reverse side featuring telephone, communication hub and defibrillator, would create additional street clutter and be an incongruous addition causing adverse harm to the visual amenity of the area. Secondly the proposal would be contrary to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and highways policies by reducing the footway width and reducing the unobstructed/clear available footway capacity in an area that is considered very congested.
Some local residents have also objected to yet more digital advertising being thrust into our faces. I have considerable sympathy with this view having recently travelled on the top deck of a Brighton bus where I hoped to enjoy a view through the front window; only to be confronted by a digital screen flashing adverts at me instead!
It’s 10 o’ clock on a summer Friday morning at the Gardener Café. Mick is carrying a box of red peppers down to the kitchen where vats of black beans and quinoa are bubbling. Sarah is making pastry for scones, sweet and savoury, cartons of yellow label strawberries, just on the turn, piled behind her ready for Karen Lloyd to reduce them into an accompanying jam. Elodie is chopping pretty pink radishes, and the air is fresh with camaraderie.
This is the Real Junk Food Project’s central Brighton kitchen, bang in Gardener Street in the middle of the North Laine’s most vibrant shopping and café area. Mick and Sarah are volunteers, Karen and Elodie just two of the few paid staff, and the red peppers, black beans, quinoa, flour and strawberries just part of a massive haul from the overnight supermarket waste run.
The Real Junk Food Project, whose mantra is “feed bellies not bins” was created by Adam Smith in Leeds in 2013, and has since grown into a national and international movement of cafes, projects and pop-ups with one core objective: To intercept food waste destined for land fill and use it to feed people who need it, on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis. With afterschool clubs at its sister café, The Fitzherbert Community Hub in Kemptown, and pay as you feel cafes at St Lukes Church, Hollingdean Community Centre and Bevendean Hub, it’s a busy operation.
“We have volunteers driving electric vans to supermarkets across the city picking up amazing food that would otherwise go to waste,” Karen told me. “We get cakes and breads, flour, dairy, all sorts of vegetables. A lot of it hasn’t even got the stickers on it. It’s just surplus. There’s literally nothing wrong with the food at all. But if it’s not collected that will just go into the bins and into landfill. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Disgusting is the right word. “A quarter to a third of food produced globally, is wasted” says the RJFP website, “and yet, there’s estimated to be 795 million people who do not get enough to eat. In the UK, two million people are estimated to be malnourished, while the UK as a whole creates an estimated 15 million tonnes of food waste every year.” If waste was a country, according to the UN, it would be the third largest in the world.
But there’s not much time to chat about the politics this morning. Karen and her team are on a deadline. “Once it comes to our cafes, we chefs look at the food, decide on the menu, and get on with it”, says Karen. ‘We have three hours to get on with service.”
The black beans, which have been soaked overnight, are going to go into a chilli and the Buddha bowls. The quinoa will become a tabouleh, while the pumpkin seeds have been roasted with a little bit of tamari. The mung beans have also been soaking to encourage them to sprout and will be added to the Buddha bowls.
In the walk-in fridge, massive Kilner jars of fermented celeriac, sauerkraut, kimchis and jams line the shelves. Herbs, tomatoes, lettuces, courgettes and cucumbers – often organic and donated from personal allotments, local farmers and Infinity Foods, but most of which have come in on the supermarket run in the last 24 hours, are piled high in boxes, ready to be cooked up over the weekend.
By lunchtime, the tables outside are packed with students, families and homeless people, often sharing a long table. “It’s all pay-as-you-feel” says Karen, “so it gives everyone the chance to get a really good meal.” This is a place to have lunch with a friend, or strike up a conversation with someone with a whole new life view. You choose. “It does get people talking” says Karen, “and hopefully they talk about how good the food is. I think that’s what food does, doesn’t it?”
If people can afford it though, they try to encourage them to pay it forward. And with funding a perpetual problem on top of the cost of living crisis driving people to find food more cheaply, it’s hitting the tills at the Gardener Café hard. “We have a suggested donation of £6.50”, but most people are
giving £1 or £2 for a full meal.”
The daily lunch on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday is just one part of what Karen and her team of volunteers cook up over the course of the week. “This Saturday, we’re doing a 60th birthday party for 100 people. We’re making canapes and Buddha bowls for them. When the clients come to see us, we’ll go through a basic menu and make them aware it can change. We did a canape event on Wednesday for Wired Sussex. They wanted to know what the menu was going to be, but I couldn’t give it to them until three hours before the event because the ingredients can change. But when we got there and they saw the food, they were amazed by it.”
It’s clear that this is much more than a cheffing job for Karen, whose signature red lipstick and bleach blonde quiff suggests an interesting back story. “I moved to Brighton five years ago after living in Spain for 15 years. My partner had died and I was trying to find work and get back into the catering. I did some voluntary work for Junk Food, and I found my family, basically. That’s what it felt like. So, it really helped me to find my feet again after a very sad time in my life.”
If you want to get involved with the Real Junk Food Project, go to its website for more information. Donate if you can, but the real fun is lunch in the sunshine with whoever sits next to you. Just remember to pay it forward.
Since writing this article we’ve learned that the Gardener Street cafe is to close. The Real Junk Food Project put out this statement:
“It is with great regret that the directors of @realjunkfoodbrighton have decided to discontinue their lease for the cafe on Gardner Street and, as a consequence, the Gardener will close on 25th September 2023. When we first signed up to take on a city-centre cafe using the pay-as-you-feel model, we knew there were going to be many challenges. We could not have foreseen the imminent Covid-19 pandemic, but we managed to weather the associated lockdowns and have continued to provide much needed meals to thousands in our community over the three years since.
Sadly, the current economic crisis is putting extra strain on the food industry and this, combined with soaring energy bills and ongoing building maintenance works, mean that the costs are just too heavy for us to keep the Gardener open. The latter is also taking its toll on our staff and volunteers in a way that is simply not sustainable. Whilst the doors of the Gardener are closing, the mission of The Real Junk Food Project continues and we are optimistic for the future. Our customers in Hollingdean Community Centre, St Luke’s Prestonville and the Fitzherbert Hub in Kemptown will still be able to benefit from pay-as-you-feel lunches created by our wonderful teams.
We hope that by unburdening ourselves from the financial liabilities of the Gardener, we will be able to focus precious resources and energy into our existing venues and commitments.
A massive thank you to all staff, volunteers and everyone who has been involved in our lovely cafe. And thank you Infinity Foods Co-operative for being a supportive landlord.
We care about where we live. Jim Gowans is West Hill’s voice on the City council’s Conservation Advisory Group
I’ve represented West Hill on the Conservation Advisory Group (CAG) for over a decade and I’m keen to involve others in the Group. You don’t need particular qualifications other than an interest in our environment.
CAG is a collection of local groups and societies independent from the council, and provides advice and comments on planning applications affecting listed buildings, conservation areas and so on. An elected representative of CAG is entitled to attend meetings of the Planning Committee and speak in support of CAG’s comments.
In my opinion, it is regrettable that the majority of planning applications are of poor quality and fail to preserve let alone enhance the character of our city’s conservation areas.
The first two applications featured here are such examples, the third shows 76 to 79 Buckingham Road which has greatly improved the street scene. For each, CAG’s reasons and other details are available on the BHCC planning website.
BH2022/02722 17 Buckingham Rd BN1 3RH
Demolition of existing garage and erection of a detached two storey plus basement, one bedroom dwelling (see pic, top right). The Group recommended refusal. Planning officers also refused to grant permission for this development on the corner of Buckingham Rd and Albert Rd.
BH2022/03758 Footway Opposite 43 Dyke Rd BN1 3JA
Installation of 20m high telecommunications monopole supporting 6no antennas and the necessary supporting cabinets and equipment. The Group recommended refusal, asserting that it would cause serious harm to the character of the area. Again, planning officers subsequently refused to grant permission for this 5G mast and its ancillary cabinets.
BH2016/01766 and further applications 76-79 and 80 Buckingham Rd
CAG recommended approval in 2016 for the first of these proposals and is pleased to see that the restoration and development of the four Victorian properties is now complete. The re-instatement of cast iron railings is particularly well executed (see picture), while the plaque to the former headmaster of the Brighton Grammar School, which once occupied the site of no.80, has been preserved.
Unfortunately the corner of the site (no.80) remains derelict. There have been six more planning applications since the 2016 application was granted and one wonders how many more applications and how many more years it will take before the site is built out.
It should be noted that the “affordable units” are now proposed for this site, but how much longer can those in need of such housing afford to wait?
Do contact The Whistler if you would like to involved.
I’ve represented West Hill on the Conservation Advisory Group (CAG) for over a decade and while very happy to continue, I’m keen to involve others in the Group. You don’t need particular qualifications other than an interest in our environment.
CAG is a collection of local groups and societies independent from the council, and provides advice and comments on planning applications affecting listed buildings, conservation areas and so on. An elected representative of CAG is entitled to attend meetings of the Planning Committee and speak in support of CAG’s comments.
In my opinion, it is regrettable that the majority of planning applications are of poor quality and fail to preserve let alone enhance the character of our city’s conservation areas.
The first two applications featured here are such examples, the third shows 76 to 79 Buckingham Road which has greatly improved the street scene. For each, CAG’s reasons and other details are available on the BHCC planning website.
BH2022/02722 17 Buckingham Rd BN1 3RH
Demolition of existing garage and erection of a detached two storey plus basement, one bedroom dwelling (see pic, top right). The Group recommended refusal. Planning officers also refused to grant permission for this development on the corner of Buckingham Rd and Albert Rd.
BH2022/03758 Footway Opposite 43 Dyke Rd BN1 3JA
Installation of 20m high telecommunications monopole supporting 6no antennas and the necessary supporting cabinets and equipment. The Group recommended refusal, asserting that it would cause serious harm to the character of the area. Again, planning officers subsequently refused to grant permission for this 5G mast and its ancillary cabinets.
BH2016/01766 and further applications 76-79 and 80 Buckingham Rd
CAG recommended approval in 2016 for the first of these proposals and is pleased to see that the restoration and development of the four Victorian properties is now complete. The re-instatement of cast iron railings is particularly well executed (see picture), while the plaque to the former headmaster of the Brighton Grammar School, which once occupied the site of no.80, has been preserved.
Unfortunately the corner of the site (no.80) remains derelict. There have been six more planning applications since the 2016 application was granted and one wonders how many more applications and how many more years it will take before the site is built out. It should be noted that the “affordable units” are now proposed for this site, but how much longer can those in need of such housing afford to wait?
Do contact The Whistler if you would like to involved.
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