Brighton and Hove
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29 Oct 2024
Regency Ward
Welcome to Regency.
To contact the Ward Organiser email Regency Lib Dems Ward Focus Team
To see if you live in the ward, view a map of the ward
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About your ward
Regency Ward can trace its history back to the old fishing settlement of Brighthelmstone (Bristelmestune) and existed before 1066 as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book compiled for William the Conqueror.
The earliest maps of Brighthelmstone go back to 1779 and show that the bulk of the village was situated in what is now Regency Ward. The town as it became known from 1313 after King Edward II granted it a charter to hold annual fairs suffered from a French attack in June 1554 where almost all of its buildings were burnt down. Subsequently as transport communications became better the town grew and spread out onto the downs and along the coast. For a history of the city's development see the mention in Wikipedia here.
Regency ward contains the city's two most well known shopping enclaves, The Lanes and Churchill Square. It also contains the main tourist beach and two attractions, the remains of the West Pier (one of only two listed grade I piers in the country), and the i360 (Britain's highest observation outside of London). It is home to many hotels, the two most famous being the Old Ship Hotel, Brighton's oldest hotel thought to have been built in 1559 with the assembly rooms being added in 1767, and the Grand Hotel, the site of the infamous bombing in 1984 during the Conservative Party Conference.
Another claim to fame that the ward has is that it was home to one of the first advocates of the co-operative movement, Dr William King. Dr King lived at 23 Montpelier Road and published through the Cooperator (1828-1830) his ideas on bringing together workers to gain the benefits of co-operation with others in combining weekly sums from wages to buy food etc. Dr King, who worked at Sussex County Hospital until his retirement in 1861 died at his home in Montpelier Road on 19 October 1865.
Your Liberal Democrat Regency Ward Focus Team.
Owen Sharp, Caroline Brown, Lawrence Eke & Trevor Freeman.
You are welcome to join our team, just email Trevor for more information
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Lawrence and Trevor stood as Liberal Democrats candidates in the May 2023 elections.
Lawrence has lived in Brighton all of his adult life. For the last 8 years he has lived with his wife Gemma on Upper North Street, but has also lived on Vernon Terrace and just off Western Road. He has run small businesses for the last twenty years and has experienced how councils can help or hinder the local economy. He currently works in Hove with businesses creating software and hardware for airlines, airports and the construction industry.
Trevor has been a resident of the ward since 1977. He was born and bred in Brighton and has run his business in the city for over 30 years. For 14 years he chaired the local branch of a national business organisation and served on numerous city partnerships during that period. These included the Strategic, Economic, Regeneration, and Healthy City Partnerships. He also chaired the Neighbourhood Renewal Group for a year and is therefore only too aware of the problems in the city. He wants to bring his extensive knowledge and experience to work for the people of Regency and the City.
Ward News
Tesco to make a comeback to the Churchill Square Area
After many, many years Tesco is due to reappear in the Churchill Square area although on a scale much, much smaller than before. Tesco were one of the original occupants of the then new Churchill Square when it was finally fully constructed back in 1971. They left the Square in 1992 as it became an increasingly unpopular and dilapidated destination. Now 32 years later they are making a comeback, although in the form of a Tesco Express and not as the Supermarket of previous times. They are moving into 194 Western Road directly opposite the Square.
i360 Debt continues to weigh on city finances.
The Chief Finance Officer of the City Council has stated that the i360 is not performing well enough to even meet a reduced level of debt repayments. With just under £50 million debt now owing to the council, up from the original £36 million borrowed from the Public Works Loan Board in 2014, this must rank as one of the worst investments ever made by Councillors in the histories of both Brighton and Hove former councils and their current City status incarnation. All the main parties, Green, Labour, and Conservative partook in the decision to make the loan and so all must bear responsibility for the mess that the City now finds itself in.
12th October marks the 40 Year anniversary of the Brighton Grand Hotel bombing
12 October 1984 the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Regency Ward took place. It was an event that was to have huge ramifications on Brighton and the Tory Party. The Tories have never held a conference in the City since that date. The bombing was intended as a direct attack on the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, but was unsuccessful as she working in another room and escaped the deadly blast. However the bomb did claim 5 lives and left a lasting legacy of pain and suffering for many. The bombing carried out by Patrick Magee of the IRA has affected every political conference held in the country since that day in that security checks are now an everyday reality for all those who attend. Apart from that, the bombing failed in all its objectives and is generally judged to have been a huge tactical mistake.
Drug and Anti Social incidents in the ward rise as residents complain about the lack of action
Residents in Regency ward have complained to the local paper the Argus about the increase in the number of incidents in the ward. They blame it partly on the number of hostels present in the ward but also on the increase in open drug dealing taking place in areas such as Oriental Place. Sussex Police have said that Regency Ward is a designated hotspot with regular policing and ongoing engagement from the local PCSO. The Regency Ward Liberal Democrats describe this as a woefully inadequate response to what is fast becoming an out of control problem.
Brighton beaches suffer a total of 107 hours of sewage discharge over 45 incidents in 2022.
An analysis by the Liberal Democrats of Environment Agency releases showed that Britains beaches suffered over 8,500 hours of sewage discharge last year, 107 of which happened on the beaches of Brighton & Hove. Regency Liberal Democrats say this is not satisfactory and demand that these spillages stop. Regency beaches are the busiest and most used by the public, and their health and well being should be the first priority. Lawrence and Trevor, the Regency Liberal Democrat Focus Team and recent Regency Ward Council Candidates, call upon Southern Water to stop polluting our bathing waters and to clean up their sewage before releasing it into the environment.
Ward blog
- 24/10/2023 - Regency Ward Liberal Democrats note the latest publicity stunt by the Labour administration over a meeting about graffiti and suggest that efforts to talk to people might be better geared if they sent their councillors out there to ask residents what their concerns were rather than trying to talk to a couple of hundred at most in a one off meeting in the ward.
- 12/12/2022 - Regency Liberal Democrats deplored the forecast just released by the New Economics Foundation that 30 million people in the UK will be unable to afford a decent standard of living by 2024. Trevor Freeman, the Regency Ward Lib Dem Spokesperson described it as the most damning condemnation of the policies inflicted on the country by the Tories in the last 70 years. He said it is further proof that Tory economic policies of austerity and high taxation don't work. He called for more power to be taken away from Westminster and given back to the people.
- 22/11/2022 - Regency Lib Dems today called on the government to re-open talks with the EU for closer co-operation as the OECD report that the UK is set to have the worst growth prospects of the world's top economies. Regency Lib Dem ward spokesperson Trevor Freeman asked where are all the record trade deals promised at the time of the referendum? As more shops close along Western Road, Brighton's long time principal shopping area, he questioned the ability of the high street to survive under current economic policies.
- 07/05/2022 - Brighton Festival started to-day. Regency Lib Dems are joining in the celebration of England's largest and most successful Arts Festival.
- 06/05/2022 - The news that the council may have come to an agreement over the outstanding loans to the i360 were cautiously welcomed by Regency Lib Dems today. Although they are concerned that funds set aside to meet community projects may not have been protected.
Regency Ward Team News
Local Organisations in the Ward
Friends of St Michael's Church
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