Friends of Preston Park

On December 15th, Tony Benton and Sue Shepherd of Friends of Preston Park met with representatives from Brighton Pride to discuss next year’s Pride event. Click on the link to see the minutes: MeetingBrightonPride (PDF)

This watercolour by Charles Knight on the Brighton’s Architecture site, shows Captain Bertie MacLaren’s never-realised grand scheme for Preston Park in the 1920s.

The next open public meeting of the Friends of Preston Park will take place on Tuesday 16th November in the Men’s Bowling Pavilion at 7pm. Download the agenda. All welcome.

Amy Kennedy, Green City Councillor for Preston Park Ward on Brighton & Hove City Council has emailed us to advise you of the following:

“… at last week’s Full Council meeting I handed in a petition bearing over 2,200 signatures on behalf of Francis at the Rotunda, calling for action on the parking situation in the park. In response to this, a working group is being set up to look at the problem.  I’ve asked that Friends of Preston Park be invited to join the group, and I’ll let you know when I have more details.”

John Padmore has provided this helpful leaflet to explain why we went to great trouble to ensure that all 17000 bluebells planted at last Saturday’s bluebell planting bonanza were English.

The Friends of Preston Park and Cityparks present a Bumper Bluebell-planting Bonanza! on Saturday, 30th October, 11-3pm at the Rock Garden, Preston Park.

Young and old are welcome to come along and make a difference to the beautiful Rock Garden at Preston Park by planting NATIVE ENGLISH BLUEBELL BULBS. We have a huge number of bulbs for you to plant in artistic swathes in the woodland area at the top of the garden.

We’ll have food available including hot soup, as well as live entertainment from the KJO Radio Band and DJ Simon Reid. If you can, bring a trowell and a mug for the soup. And make sure you dress appropriately for the weather!

Note that, because the area is at the top of the Rock Garden, access is restricted.

The event is kindly sponsored by David & Co Estate Agents, Brighton International Summer School (BISS), The Preston Park Hotel and the Co-Op, Baker Street.

We received 121 completed responses to our questionnaire. Below is a précis of the results. Note that the responses shown are the top four comments for each of the categories.

(The numbers shown should not be taken as percentages as not everyone completed all of the questions.)

The most popular answers to:

What do you most dislike/would want to change about the park?
Parking-related (22)
Cafe-related (14)
Dog-related (12)
Disposable BBQ’s (7)

There are 2 decommissioned bowling-greens. What would you like to see them used for?
Boules/petanque (14)
Pool (paddling/swimming) (14)
Plant-related e.g. allotments (13)
Volleyball (7)

What sort of events would you like to see being held at the park?
Fairs/fetes (30)
Open-air concerts (17)
Open-air theatre (8)
Open-air cinema (5)

The results are due to be discussed with councilors and park staff at the next committee meeting and the outcome will be posted.

We have received the following report from Ian Taylor, Events Manager for Brighton and Hove City Council, from the operational de-brief on Pride 2010 which occured on 31st August:

We have now had the Pride operational de-brief with Pride and all of our partner agencies – Police, Fire, Ambulance, Environmental Health, City Clean, parks, licensing etc.  All aspects of this year’s Pride (see a copy of the agenda below) were discussed and without doubt the single biggest criticism was that of the clean-up operation.  Pride admit that the company that they employed proved to be wholly inadequate – the police, fire brigade and Council all put in representations to the future use of this company.

We ran through a host of technical and logistical arrangements but the key outcomes of the “ bigger picture” issues were:

1. To do nothing is not an option – Pride cannot continue in it’s present format. The emergency services have made it very clear that they have a number of major concerns – overcrowding, drug and alcohol abuse and widespread anti-social behaviour – that would lead them to object if the event was presented to them in a similar format for next year.  We would never go against police objections and would therefore not grant consent for the event to take place.

2. Pride are going to go away to consider their options, which they are to report back to the ELT (Emergency Liaison Team) in November 2010. These options include:

• to not have an event in 2011
• to use a venue other than Preston Park, most probably Madeira Drive
• to hold the parade but not the park element of the event
• to continue to use Preston Park but in a far more controlled environment i.e. a fenced, ticketed event with a set capacity

Ian Taylor
Events Manager

AGENDA

Full Multi-agency Meeting

Tuesday 31st August 2010 at 10:30 in Committee Room 1Hove Town Hall

1.  Introductions

2.        Parade

– Form up
– Route/Traffic Management
– Arrival at park
– Dispersal of Floats

3. Park
          
– Overview from Pride
– Police
– Fire Safety
– Medical
– Production
– Stewarding
– Licensing
– Food safety
– Noise Management
– Health & Safety
– Access
– Traffic Management
– Waste Management/Recycling/Cleansing
– Reinstatement/Grounds Maintenance
– Planning Process

4. Campsite           

5. Post Event/St James Street

– Other Events

6. Pride, the future?

7. Any Other Business

We received the following response from Jo Osbourne to our letter to the Argus about this year’s Pride event:

I have been passed your concerns regarding the condition of Preston Park following this year’s Pride event. Please be assured that we very much share your concerns. The responsibility for the clean up operation is Pride’s. Despite numerous assurances the company they employed, which came with impressive ‘green’ credentials, were not capable of cleaning the park at the speed and to the standard we require. As a result, the Council intervened to return the park to its usual condition as soon as possible.

Many of the parties involved in Pride (Council, Police, Ambulance Service etc) and indeed Pride themselves, agree that the event cannot continue in its present format. Either extensive control measures – i.e. a fence and an admission charge – must be put in place to manage access to Preston Park, or a new venue, probably the seafront, should be found.

There is an extensive debrief for the event on August 31st when we will be reviewing all aspects of this year’s Pride, and in particular the clean up operation, and looking at the future of the event.

Jo Osborne
Events Officer
Sport & Leisure Services
Brighton & Hove City Council

See also the responses from Citypark’s Alan Griffiths, Cllr Kevin Allen and Cllr Juliet McCafferty.