Chair's report for 2008/9

Peter Crowhurst

A very active group

By Peter Crowhurst, NLCA Chair

Introduction

The last year has been a very successful one for the North Laine Community Association (NLCA). July saw the launch of our excellent contributory website, whilst in September the North Laine was the focus for the Heritage Open Days 2008. The NLCA continues to work for the preservation of the character of the North Laine and to do what it can to improve the quality of life for the residents of the area. Since the 2008 AGM we have had a team of secretaries working together and I would like to thank Lynne Arnold, Helen Cornish and Gay Phillips for quickly adapting to their roles.

NLCA meetings

Over the course of the year the NLCA has met on eleven occasions. These meetings are open to all residents and numbers attending have risen steadily. Our main focus has usually been formulating our response to planning and licensing applications but we have also had a number of interesting speakers on a range of topics.

Our good friend Geoffrey Mead gave us a talk in July on the gardens of North Laine, representatives from City College have spoken on several occasions to keep us informed of plans to develop their site and recently we have had speakers from Southern Water informing us of the works currently taking place in North Road. In October Gillian Marston told us of the Council's plans for communal bins.

Thanks go to Gay Phillips, who as Meetings Secretary has organised the monthly meetings, which remain the main focus for the NLCA, and to Kevin Daly who on occasions has stepped in to take the minutes.

North Laine Runner

The NLCA continues to publish what must be the most outstanding community newsletter in Brighton & Hove. Thanks go to Jackie Fuller for ensuring that the Runner continues to be full of a variety of interesting articles that inform and entertain us.

Planning and licensing

The NLCA responds to all relevant planning and licensing applications. Most are fully discussed at the monthly meeting and the decision is voted on by those residents present. All applications to be discussed can be found on the website prior to each meeting and can be commented on so that even if residents cannot attend a meeting their views can be considered.

The NLCA is very concerned to maintain the character of the area (small scale, mixed use) and to preserve the quality of life for residents and these aims help to inform our decisions but the final response is determined by residents at the meeting.

Accordingly the NLCA will usually oppose any application that seeks to change the character of buildings (eg PVC windows and cash dispensers) or affect our quality of life (eg late licences). A lot of hard work is put in by our Licensing and Planning Coordinators: Barry Leigh, Roy Skam and Sandy Crowhurst. During the past year Gabrielle Villermet left the area after many years of service to the NLCA, latterly as Planning Coordinator.

Heritage Open Days

September saw the NLCA taking part for the first time in Heritage Open Days, which is a European initiative to develop awareness of our architectural and cultural heritage. A team of volunteers researched every house in Foundry Street and the results were put on posters that were displayed in the windows. Several houses in the area were also opened up to pre-booked groups of visitors and a number of historical tours of industrial North Laine were put on by Geoffrey Mead and myself. Over the course of the weekend over a thousand people visited the area. Thank you to all those who opened their houses.

A bigger and better event is promised for September 2009, with hopefully more houses than ever being opened up.

Social events

A number of social events were organised during the year and it was pleasing to see many new faces at these events, which are always for the whole community whether or not people attend the monthly meeting. In August we had a picnic in Pelham Square followed quickly in September by a tea party put on by David Sewell of the Pavilion Gardens Café. This was a great success and we should be very grateful to David, who continues to support the NLCA and helps to bring people together by putting on this event.

In addition there were several highly successful street parties in September organised not by the NLCA but by the residents of those streets. These parties brought people out in large numbers and helped people to get to know their neighbours. They are now an important part of the North Laine social calendar and congratulations to all those who helped to organise them.

Special interest groups

A number of special interest groups continue to flourish, with the possibility of some new ones to follow. The Theatre Group continues to visit the Little Theatre on the Thursday of all its productions. Full details of forthcoming plays can be found on this website and anyone is welcome to join the NLCA group, which has grown over the last year.

A Parents Network group continues to meet and does a very valuable job in bringing new parents together and providing mutual support. As I write this, two new groups are being formed, a Running Group and a Play Reading Group.

Representatives on other groups

Representatives from the NLCA sit on a variety of groups in the city. We are currently represented on the Council's Conservation Advisory Group, where planning applications are discussed, on Living Streets, City in Bloom, Commemorative Plaque Panel and the Community & Voluntary Sector Forum. We also have close relations with the North Laine Traders Association and the Friends of Pelham Square. My thanks go to all those residents who represent the NLCA on these groups.

Website

Following the successful bid for a lottery grant and the training of a group of volunteers, the new NLCA website was formally launched by the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Cllr Gary Peltzer Dunn, in July 2008. We now have a website to which residents, past and present, can contribute their views and memories and on which we can provide a great deal of useful information on a vast array of topics. All those on the website team should feel proud of providing the community with an additional facility to enable greater communication and participation to take place.

Forthcoming year

We look forward to celebrating in July the first year of our new website. Details of the event will appear in the next issue of the North Laine Runner [and on this website]. In September we will be hosting Heritage Open Days again and this time it is hoped that Brighton & Hove Open Door (with North Laine leading) will be the focus main event in the country!

[Previously published in the North Laine Runner, No 197, March/April 2009]