Meeting Notes 02 Feb 2013

Mini-LAT meeting (ii) – Elder Place Graffiti etc.

8/2/13 10.00 Calvary Church, Back Hall.

Present: Cllr P. West, Simon Bannister (Council – Public Projects), Inspector Gareth Davies (Neighbourhood Policing Team), Steve Mulrine (Trader), Mark Walder (City Clean). (LR Traders has been made aware of the meeting, + Hi Fi Shop + Rob Dawson, + Brighton Arts Club)

First we went through the previous notes – recalling and commenting

Lighting: Mark and Gareth agreed that there was a problem with lighting especially down at the pinch point between St Bart’s church and the neighbouring units (e.g. Brighton Arts Club =BAC).

  • dark and intimidating at night
  • difficult to insert street lamps because no pavement area
  •  difficult to negotiate the positioning of lighting on private property. This needs the permission of the owner, not simply the (transient) tenant
  • BAC had mentioned the idea of projecting (?stills ? video) onto the St Bart’ Wall. This had similarities to work going on in London and referred to by Brighton Museums in a tweet.
  • GD to obtain some video footage to demonstrate the problem
  •  ??? scope for researching + Cllr Davey

Graffiti and tagging

  • two different activities by different demographic groups
  • youngsters involved in tagging may not be aware of the negative effect of their activities on the neighbourhood.  ** education
  • possible physical resource of a storage area for cleaning/painting equipment + human resource of people doing community service (e.g. probation)

Other issues

  • there is also another problem of remains of  “bodily functions” which are helpfully cleaned up via City Clean jet washing.
  • CCTV, motion-detecting lights, lighting tend to deter taggers etc.
  • *SM will go ahead with costing and probable installation to rear of the property he occupies
  • Police Patrols: this area can be included (not 24/7!) in extended SPNL Policing Plan using existing resources. This can always be re-balanced in future.            *GD to action this with current effect
  • Existing overnight “eyes and ears” – Hobgoblin = too far away, – Worlds End has door staff Fri/Sat 20.00-“close” ** GD to get more details.
  • Are there other security staff e.g. New England House?** GD to get more details
  • Noted that BAC would like to retain some feeling of being “edgy”
  • Noted that York Place steps have been rebuilt so as to form a water resisting shelter where street community can congregate. * SB to consider

Noted that Vantage Point has been bought up, together with some of the surrounding properties. Work was proceeding to raise the standard of accommodation for VP. The car park has been redecorated.

*******

Future plans – bearing in mind that this is becoming a wide-ranging project with several inter-dependent aspects

  • Big Ground Plan – to be constructed and discussed via Council Officers (e.g. linking with section 106 for Co-op and updated Masterplan)
  • Public Event to be planned for June – location? (BAC? St Barts ch?) – Gazebo in York Place near the steps. Needs to propose some concrete plans together with feasibility/cost implications (e.g. how much would it cost to make some area greener)

Action Plan

currently is just the list of things we have previously discussed listed in no particular order below.

  • Various measures for deterrence (N.B. warning notice at Tarnerland),
  • quick removal of offending pieces,police activity (? apprehending someone
  • making the area look cared-for
  • small scale CCTV + motion detecting lighting
  • active frontages
  • adding greenery/green spaces
  • better lighting – possibly using video/still projection
  • ,joining up various initiatives(e.g. Prov Place gardens)
  • education (e.g. enlisting help of St Bart’s???),
  • individuals working individually and together,
  • reducing number of empty properties (c.f. Portas),
  • resource room with cleaning materials and paint,
  • mobilising community-payback resources
  • encouraging reporting of incidents,
  • commissioning new pieces …

Next meeting:  11.00 Friday 15th March 2013 – Calvary Church