The Brighton & Hove Wrap - 9th May 2025
Private future for Whitehawk health service, new mayoral portrait + food education scheme
🏥Amended plans for a new cancer centre on the site of the old Barry Building at the Royal Sussex have been approved by the council, reports local democracy reporter Sarah Booker-Lewis.
➡According to Sarah’s report, it will cost more than £150 million.
➡The original plans from 2012 included 300 parking spaces as part of the development. These have been removed from the newly approved proposal.
♻The council will vote on plans for new food waste collections across Brighton & Hove next week (15th). The BBC details what’s proposed as part of the £1.2m scheme.
➡According to Brighton and Hove News, households would receive “small five litre caddies and compostable liners (…) while those with kerbside collections will also get a 23 litre caddy for outside”.
☢Brighton and Hove News also reports on ongoing claims of a toxic work culture at waste service Cityclean: “[R]efuse trucks have been sabotaged, managers’ car tyres have been slashed, threats have been made at managers’ homes, and a death threat made as recently as five months ago.”
🏠There are 1,416 households in the city living in temporary accommodation, according to new data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Argus breaks down the figures, including the fact that the number has decreased since March last year.
🎭The Old Market in Hove has received a £5,000 grant from the Theatres Trust (one of 21 theatres to benefit) to help fund a more environmentally friendly approach to experiential theatre.
➡Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove charity Team Domenica is one of eleven charities across the UK to receive funding from the ScottishPower Foundation. The amount isn’t listed but it’s a share of a £1.2m total (Sussex World).
🎨An official portrait of Brighton & Hove Mayor Councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman painted by artist Lucy Dixon was unveiled at the town hall this week (thanks to Andy Winter’s blog for the alert to this):
🎻The Argus has an article by “pianist, conductor, curator, composer and music director” Joanna MacGregor reflecting on 100 years of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and its new biography.
🏉BBC News has a great interview with Hove’s Manjinder Nagra, the first Sikh woman to represent England at rugby — including discussion of her work with Hove Girls Rugby club.
☕Presuming Ed cafe on London Road, Brighton, wants to operate as a music venue, reports Brighton and Hove News.
🚨A man has been charged with the rape of a woman on Brighton Beach in the small hours of Thursday 1st May, says Sussex Police.
👩⚕️Sarah Booker-Lewis is back and reporting on plans to change who runs a healthcare centre in Whitehawk. The Wellsbourne Healthcare Community Interest Company could be replaced by a private provider — and service users aren’t happy.
➡You can read a letter expressing concerns about the plans from Brighton’s Labour councillors to the chair of the NHS Sussex board.
➡Sussex Bylines has this response to the proposed changes from a GP partner at the health centre.
📚New council-run help desks have opened in Jubilee and Hove libraries (in Jubilee Library the stationery shop has moved into the library itself). It’s a way for people without phone or internet to access council services.
🎸The West Hill Whistler offers its picks of next week’s Great Escape Festival.
✅Latest TV has released this video from the Westbourne and Poets’ Corner ward by-election last Thursday (1st), including interviews with council leader Bella Sankey and Labour councillor Sam Parrott, the eventual winner:
➡While the council seat was held by Labour, the local Green Party branch says Labour’s reduced majority in the ward is a “warning sign” for the party.
🫛The council has announced a new partnership with food education charity TastEd to bring “sensory food education” sessions to Brighton & Hove’s nurseries. Training sessions for staff delivering the classes begin in June.
🪨Congratulations to the Booth Museum’s John Cooper, Emeritus Keeper of Natural Sciences, who today (Friday) receives an award from the Geologists’ Association for “services to geology”. Cooper has been chair of the Brighton & Hove Geological society for 40 years, says Brighton & Hove Museums.
🏏The University of Brighton has confirmed it will open the UK’s largest indoor cricket academy in September.
👮A new series of Night Coppers started this week. The Channel 4 programme follows officers working the night shift in Brighton & Hove.
🌳There’s a new pétanque court in Preston Park, according to a post in local Facebook group Everything Fiveways & Preston Park. It’s in need of a fence if any local businesses can offer support.