Street trees and beach benches among first developer levy projects

The first projects from the Better Brighton & Hove Fund have been approved for five wards. The Labour-run council’s cabinet member for finance and city regeneration agreed to the projects recommended by ward councillors in Round Hill, Rottingdean & West Saltdean, Westbourne & Poets’ Corner, Woodingdean and Wish. The decision was published on 5 October.

The money comes from the neighbourhood part of the Community Infrastructure Levy, which developers pay on some new homes, shops and student accommodation. It is collected and spent ward by ward. Residents sent in more than 930 ideas, and 4,647 people voted online for their favourites before voting closed on 6 May. Councillors made the final choice.

In Round Hill, £7,000 will plant a tree near 25A Upper Lewes Street and another £7,000 one on Beaconsfield Road, stumps removed, with £8,000 more for new street trees on Richmond Road. In Wish, £24,000 will remove two stumps and plant four new trees on Jesmond Road, and there is £7,500 for guards around up to 20 maturing trees in Wish Park.

Westbourne & Poets’ Corner gets £15,000 for two or three pieces of gym equipment in Stoneham Park, Hove, and £5,250 to replace a tree on Lawrence Road. The rest of its money goes on seagull-proof bins for the park. In Wish, £22,000 goes to the Friends of Hove Lagoon towards the new outdoor gym they are raising money for.

On the coast, Rottingdean beach gets three benches (£6,150), and three more go on Saltdean Vale and at the Coombe Vale bus terminus (£7,098). There is £10,000 for two flashing road signs, plus wooden bollards and new planting on the verge north of Saltdean park. The Saltdean Residents and Community Association will get £28,743.83 to improve Longridge Avenue, paint the turquoise seafront railings and pay for other community infrastructure.

Woodingdean will spend £11,000 improving the Cowley Drive shops as a community hub for south Woodingdean, with outdoor seating and help for a café or similar business in an empty unit. It will spend £10,000 redesigning the planting area outside the Warren Way shopping parade, removing the pebble-based concrete, with a new design drawn up with local community input. And £1,000 pays for a plaque at the Woodingdean Well on Warren Road, the world’s deepest hand-dug well.

The council will either do the work itself or hand the money to community groups. Anything new it builds, it will have to maintain from existing budgets, and the report says there is no guarantee of more levy money for these projects in later years.

The decision can be called in until 12 October. If it isn’t, it comes into force on 13 October. The other wards will follow in later reports once their councillors agree shortlists.

When the council extended the deadline for ideas over the festive period, Councillor Jacob Taylor, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and city regeneration at the time, said: “Involving residents in decision making is a huge priority for us.”