Madeira Terraces dominated the debate as candidates standing in the Kemptown by-election were quizzed by voters last night (Wednesday 17 April).
The Kemptown Residents’ Association Facebook group organised the hustings event at the Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, in Brighton, and all six candidates attended.
Save Madeira Terraces campaigner Derek Wright was the first person in the packed hall to ask a question.
He wanted to know how, if elected, the candidates would deal with the delays which have led to higher costs for repairing and restoring the grade II* listed structure.
Green candidate Ricky Perrin said that the arches were the “jewel in the crown” of Brighton seafront and there should be a deadline so that people could hold the council to account.
Mr Perrin said: “We need to be pushing the council harder and faster to get them developed. If you kick a can down the road, you’ve still got a can down the road.
“Every time we delay, they become more expensive, they’re getting worse, they’re getting rustier and we need to get a concrete plan in place, start the work and put the resources in.”
Liberal Democrat Robert Brown said that the terraces should be done restored by the end of council leader Bella Sankey’s time in office – and work could start on improving the area.
Mr Brown said: “What’s to stop us from cleaning the top railings, redoing them and repainting them over a couple of months.
“That’s something basic and simple that would make sure the whole area is a lot nicer and cleaner for people walking along.”
Independent candidate Jamie Gillespie remembered going to the area as a child and said: “It was wonderful, clean and tidy. Now it’s just rundown and a crying shame for Brighton.
“It needs to be sorted. The lift would be a bonus – and getting started as soon as possible.”
Brighton and Hove Independent candidate Gary Farmer said that the Madeira Terraces needed investment, adding: “The lift is a focal point. It’s a central part of Madeira Terraces.
“Let’s get that done. It will draw people into the area and get people interested. It will start making people talk about what’s going on and they’ll see what’s happening.”
Labour candidate Theresa MacKey said that, within its first year, the Labour council had pushed the process forward and the money was secured to start on the first 28 arches.
Ms MacKey said: “We’ve worked on the green wall and identified the plants that need to be protected. It’s out to tender now for the 28 arches from the east.
“It’s not been kicked down the road. It’s actually being worked on and we will see work on the actual terraces once the infrastructure is sorted which is virtually done.”
Conservative candidate Josephine O’Carroll said that she was frustrated that Labour had not made progress on the arches while running the council from 2015 until it expelled two of its councillors and lost power in 2020.
Ms O’Carroll said: “There is no money from central government and the money is not going to come, whichever party wins the next general election.
“Brighton is going to have to decide how it’s going to spend its budget. And hands on heart, while I would like to see lots of money thrown at the arches from the council, there are other priorities and we need to find the resources from elsewhere.”
Polling stations in Kemptown are due to open at 7am on Thursday 2 May and close at 10pm. Photo ID is required for those voting in person.
The funding for the first phase has been in place for so long it will now only pay for 28 arches instead of the planned 40 because of inflated costs. Labour candidate has nothing to crow about on this issue as Labour have overseen the majority of procrastination and delay over the last 10 years.
Blackrock was originally estimated to cost around £540m in all, yet BHCC are struggling to find £24m to fund full restoration of Madeira Terraces? If we believe that, we’ll believe anything.
And we still don’t know wtf Blackrock is supposed to be delivering for this city or how it will work persuading major conferences such as the Labour Party conference to schlep all the way down there from their city centre hotels.
40 arches were initially the main aim.
Due to a lack of movement and inflation costs, it’s down to 28.
Labour felt ‘proud’ that they’d chosen some greenery and talked about maybe doing the lift.
It’s a mess and my idea of doing SOMETHING – literally anything – would be good.
It’s not that difficult to get the railings on the main street sorted whilst we continue to wait time and again for the arches to start.
As with the Labour/Greens, there’s no forethought gone into any of this and we should think about handing it over to the Regency Society to oversee and get started.
Hardly an original thought Robert. Credit should be given to the inspirational Jax Atkins for the clean ups, fund raising and keeping this in the public eye.
So the Greens have a disabled candidate.
Wonder what he thinks of them closing Gardner St to the disabled.
I actually quite like Ricky as a candidate, because he’s someone who has done a lot in the community way before the by-election turned up, running the wheelchair basketball.
Madeira Terraces seem pretty low down on the priority for the city for me personally. It was the kind of question that there’s only really one right answer, so realistically, there’s not a great deal learnt from it, apart from learning who can’t read a room. Did these hustings help anyone make a decision on here?
I am genuinely curious.
They did not ‘close Gardener Street to the disabled’. That would be illegal. Pedestrianizing a busy shopping street, built before the invention of cars happens up and down thee country and local traders very much supported the removal of traffic on Gardener Street.
It certainly put barriers in the way for those with the most severe disabilities something the councils own independently commissioned report and EIA identified without any thought or mitigation. TBF to the Greens not all were in favour in fact from my understanding it was only the 3 councilors on ETS who totally backed it other Green councilors wanted it stopped.
You can ask me directly what I think of Gardner Street… email the Green Party office and I will reply or meet you to discuss this before the election on May 2nd
The Terraces cover the entire length of the seafront in Kemptown so understandable that it’s a big concern for residents in that area and the city in general.
They are in a shockingly bad state, and basically inaccessible, which also makes access to the beach very difficult. This affects the quality of life for the area and brings down the reputation of the entire city.
I actually avoid bringing visiting friends there now, it’s frankly embarrassing, I take them to Hove Lawns instead, or around the West Pier. No doubt tourists are less than impressed also.
The progress made is encouraging, but we need to see some significant and tangible improvements during this Labour council.
If Hove can get funding from central government for the Kingsway Project, why not the Madeira Terraces?
Arnold,
Funding was applied for way back at the same time funding for the Valley Gardens fiasco was applied for, VG was pushed as a priority instead of MT.
The hustings covered a number of topics, not only Madeira Terraces. It was an opportunity for voters to try to get to know the candidates. For me the candidates who spoke from the heart with a passion for Kemptown faired best. Those who do not live in Kemptown and just read scripted party dogma came acros worse. I wont say anymore than as I was one of the 6, but as someone born, raised and living and working in Kemptowm I am happy with my own performance on the night and so were many in the room.
Gary, could you just briefly say what other topics were discussed. You don’t have to say what the candidates’ answers were or anything like that, but the article gives the impression that it was only about Madeira Terraces.
The hustings also covered Valley Gardens 3 and the gas works
https://twitter.com/BHDemocracyNews/status/1780666231772553327
Youth services and knife crime
https://twitter.com/BHDemocracyNews/status/1780674638973944195
Air B’nB
https://twitter.com/BHDemocracyNews/status/1780672411202929076
https://twitter.com/BHDemocracyNews/status/1780673524882944481
Madeira Terraces took up at least half of the allotted time.
https://twitter.com/BHDemocracyNews/status/1780658177844924766
Thank you, Sarah. It did read as if it was just about Medeira Terrances. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it did, how these things can usually go!
Hi, looks like Sarah got there first on this one, VG3, Gasworks, Terraces, PVP, youth services, housing, our backgrounds (only the LIbDem, Conservative and myself actually live in the ward) and of course the reason why we are having a by-election (I have to be careful on that one as the ex-Labour Councillor’s solicitors in London (not Leicester) already sent me a “very nice” letter about talking about her)
I’ve no idea about the contents of said letter but I’d view ANY solicitors letter to one candidate suggesting they don’t talk about their parties candidate as a form of intimidation and possibly outside of electoral commission rules. Now as solicitors I’m sure they got to one hairs breadth from ‘the line’ but imho ( although outside looking in of course) I’d still say it’s at least refering said letter to the electoral commission so they have a record of it and so that it serves as evidence should a pattern of such things starts to develop.
Hell send me a copy of it and I’ll submit it myself as an independent person. I’m not saying any of this as a form of endorsement to yourself ( I’m not a voter in this by-election anyway) but because I strongly object to anything that could even be perceived as political intimidation.
The above offer is genuine and you’re welcome to suggest an effective way for us to communicate about it in a private setting/ manner
Thank you, Sarah.
Oh, Lina Talbot said “could there be a weed and litter task group with teenagers?”
This does actually already exist, as part of the Immediate Justice Programme, with the added benefit of diverting young people from damaging criminal institutionalism. We’ve also got Community Payback for the adults.
The gas works are a troublesome development. There’s a very comprehensive objection piece regarding this, and the development is likely to be unaffordable for many, based on previous discussions on this topic. Unfortunately, I think this will be a delay for as long as possible tactic, as local authority ends up eventually being overwritten on most planning rejections.
Ricky Perrin is absolutely right about homelessness; with YAC closing its doors, many of the adjacent service providers are seeing a huge increase in their numbers to accommodate. BHCC is also currently running a consultation regarding changing some of the social housing waiting list priorities that will have some impact on this further. https://yourvoice.brighton-hove.gov.uk/en-GB/
Housing stock is always going to be a losing battle, but looking at the data, the last two-three years have seen a huge increase in houses being created, compared to the years before. I hope we can encourage this trend to continue. Increased supply, especially those at social or low-rate rents, will be beneficial to bring house prices to a more reasonable level. I hope we eventually lose the accolade from a survey that highlighted both Chichester and Brighton and Hove as among the most costly areas to own a home. https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23731525.brighton-chichester-among-expensive-places-home/#:~:text=A%20survey%20highlighted%20both%20Chichester,on%20mortgages%20and%20housing%20costs.
Good refreshing discussion on theae forums for once and well done for candidates to engage directly with people.
Thank you, Gary. There is a lot of major dirt surrounding this by-election, but solicitors’ letters are not the way to go in a fair world, especially emanating from a totally discredited ex-councillor’s ‘advisers’ who no longer have any standing or part to play in the by-election. . You might possibly share with us what these people said and voters can form theiir own opinions.
“This letter requires your immediate attention. We recommend that you seek professional legal advice”
“We wish to place you on notice that, should you continue to distribute material containing these allegations, our client reserves the right to take legal action against you including a civil claim for defamation (in which case our client would hold you liable for costs).”
Define distributed material. Part of your campaign material, I assume?
Yeah, you have to be very careful about what you claim in those. I think it would be better to push your positives, rather than base it on other’s perceived negatives. There are some studies I read a long while ago that suggested this methodology was better in the long run, as you bring yourself down as well by dragging others down.