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ALL MINUTES before May 2026 were printed in the North Laine Runner

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NLCA trustees meeting at The Foyer, Pelham Street, on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 6pm

 

Chair: Kim Curran, Minutes taker: Lisa Macnab, Present: Peter Wingate-Saul, Sue Delafons, Tanya Gander, Maria Barney, Emma Humphreys. Apologies: Chris Hayes, Kathy Spencer.

 

NLCA secretary Lisa Macnab will be on holiday for the next trustees’ meeting on November 5. Trustees agreed to trial Google Meet or a similar app, which may be needed in future as Lisa is leaving the post in February.

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Treasurer’s report: Maria Barney reported there is still a fairly healthy balance which doesn’t yet include money raised at the Komedia comedy night. More paint has been bought, raffle money has been paid in, and invoicing for Runner ads is up to date.

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Planning: 47 Trafalgar Street – approved with the following conditions:                            

  • Commence development before November 2027;

  • Hours of  9am to 11.30pm, seven days a week;

  • Noise from plant and machinery no higher than background level, 1m from neighbouring buildings and

    no low-frequency tones;

  • Scheme for sound insulation of odour control equipment;

  • Compliance with submitted acoustic report;

  • Noise compliance survey within six months;

  • Scheme for the control of fumes, smells and odours;

  • Rooflights to be fixed shut.

Theatre Royal – listed building application – approved. Replacement of single glazed windows with double glazed timber frames giving the same look as current framing.

13 St George’s Place (appeal of original refusal) over replacing existing single-timber sash windows with double-glazed sash timber windows.

Brighton Art Space sign at 20/21 Trafalgar Street – the sign has been moved down slightly but this has not improved the view from the adjoining flat. Peter will continue to correspond with owners.

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Licensing: Tower Point Café has applied for sale of alcohol, playing live music, recorded music, and film showing, from 9am to 12pm Monday to Saturday and 12am to 10pm on Sunday. A planning condition stated that its use is only for the tenants of the building so there should be no reason to need this licence. Tanya Gander will contact Brighton Council to object and point out the planning condition.

Blend and Brew has made an application to vary their licence to also serve alcohol in the evenings together with live music at weekends. No objection is planned as there have been no complaints or issues with this business.

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Anti-tagging: More paint has been ordered for new individual anti-tagging kits issued by Emma Humphreys.

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Runner: New edition will be out in a few days.
Trish Stokes is unwell so Kim Curran will organise distribution until someone else​​ can take over. The

The Runner back page could be searching for a new advertiser from December.

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Social: The Pavilion Gardens tea party had fewer people attending in September as it looked like rain and many people were away. However, the comedy night was a sellout and made almost £1,200 for NLCA.

Kathy Spencer will organise a social committee meeting soon and items will include discussing a pub quiz. The Gallery restaurant at GB MET college is closed for renovation for the rest of the year so a Christmas meal has to be elsewhere. Also a venue for the 2026 Christmas party/meeting needs to be arranged.

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NLCA 50th anniversary: A call was made to indicate overall spending on the association's 50th anniversary events and activities. NLCA has organised successful exhibitions at the Jubilee Library, BHASVIC and GB MET during the year before setting up at Hove Town Hall.

Remaining anniversary merchandise has been moved out of Mitch’s garage. Remaining calendars can be discarded as it is too late in the year to sell them now. NLCA will probably give away remaining merchandise at Christmas

and will also sell the books – which will not date – as potential Christmas presents. There was a discussion on what to do with large exhibition pictures and posters – possibly sell the very large ones, or offer some to Runner artist Nikki Brown? The Runner can ask if anyone would like to buy remaining posters after checking on their condition.

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NLCA future meeting: The meeting at Komedia on September 21 went well with around 50 people attending, producing many ideas. Sam (SJC on WhatsApp group) has offered to help with social media/comms and improving NLCA's digital footprint.

An article in this month's Runner will give information on what happened at the meeting. Kim also has email addresses of several attendees and will share these online.

Emma is trialling uploading a limited number of Runner pages for the NLCA website. Kim is concerned that some contributors may not want their details published online, and asks if street reps will still want to volunteer to deliver the magazine if it is online. Limits on illustrations may be needed in regard to copyright issues. Assurances were given that anything placed online would be in addition to, not a relacement for, the print version of the Runner and that most of the concerns could be overcome. It was also suggested that the Runner may get more advertisers if it reached more people.

Any other business: 1) Emma has requested to speak to Brighton Council leader Bella Sankey at her surgery in the Jubilee Library next Tuesday, raising tagging issues and handing over a flyer for the labyrinth proposal in Jubilee Square.

2) There was discussion on an email from GB MET (Kasha Sawosko) about a possible competition for local traders to have window displays in their shops done by MET students. Sue Delafons will contact Kasha to say NLCA is not able to contact traders direct but Kasha’s request and email address will be in the October Runner, so traders may contact her direct. Trustees agreed to fund prize(s) of up to £100 if GB MET go ahead with the competition.

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