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A Goldsmid Web Gallery showing images from around Goldsmid Ward is on the site. Please take a look!

Tory Budget - Worst Fears Confirmed

Cuts to services for vulnerable young people, massive hikes in parking charges, and a failure to keep a manifesto promise to keep Council Tax down. There is more on Simon Burgess' website here Tory Budget 2007-8.

The Friends of St. Ann's Well Gardens are planning a centenary celebration event in May 2008: http://stannswellgardens.co.uk/

Sunday Library Opening Call

Labour councillors have questioned Tory Brighton & Hove City Council's failure to open the City's Jubilee Library on Sundays despite an election pledge. Labour had promised to open the award-winning library on Sundays if elected. In response to a question about the Library from Councillor Melanie Davis, the Tories have agreed to open the library on Sundays. Yet they have not committed to a timescale and say the plans are subject to finding the money in next year's budget! See also Nancy Platts' Sunday opening campaign on her website here.

Caring for Goldsmid's Environment

Green issues were right at the top of the agenda on the doorsteps of the 2007 local elections. We have a good track record of campaigning successfully for doorstep recycling and supporting green initiatives.

• Save the Trees: Labour Goldsmid Councillors brought Network Rail's destruction of trees in Goldsmid to the attention of Environment Committee earlier this year. A Network Rail Report dismissed residents' concerns and proposed a major two-year clearance programme. Residents are continuing their campaign for a coppicing alternative.

• BHASVIC Field: see the latest on the hockey plans.

• Green travel plans for Hove residents, including in Goldsmid Ward, will encourage more sustainable ways of getting about and are coming down your street soon.

• A Seafront-to-the-Downs cycle route is being implemented with part of the route running through the ward.

• Car clubs encourage responsible car use in the City, we are want to see them expanding into Hove.

BHASVIC hockey plans given go-ahead

Hockey plans for BHASVIC field have been given landlord consent. Cllr Melanie Davis has been looking into the detail to ensure residents are protected.

Pedestrian Crossing will be early

A pedestrian crossing in Goldsmid Ward is being built earlier than expected in 2008.

Award for St. Ann's Well Gardens

Goldsmid's magnificent green space, St. Ann's Well Gardens, won another Green Flag Award in 2007.

• BHCC's web pages about the park.
• 2007 award, on the National Green Flag Award website.
• 2005 Green Flag Award

Bin Consulted?

Did you know that Tory Brighton & Hove City Council is planning to introduce communal bins to over 500 roads without consulting any of the 27,000 households affected before the decision is taken? Councillor Melanie Davis has been campaigning both in the Argus and locally for more consultation and would like to hear your views. Full Story on the bins here.

School Admissions

Plans for a new secondary school catchment area were come into force from 2008. The Conservatives voted against the plans. Every Hove child has an equal chance of attending one of the town's two secondary schools. Goldsmid parents campaigned for the a fairer, catchment-based system. Labour ward councillors are the only ones to consistently support a fairer deal for local families.

• BHASVIC road safety improvements will be built sooner than expected after Goldsmid Labour Councillor action.
• New Road in Brighton opened in summer 2007 after environmental improvements. The transformation was delivered by the former Labour-led City Council. The vision was of a pedestrian-friendly street for spending time, with lots of seating, eating and drinking.
• Labour delivered a new pedestrian crossing on Old Shoreham Road. Your local councillors supported the campaign by residents for the crossing. We first petitioned for it in 2003.
• Melanie Davis explains why the Labour-led City Council invested in pedestrian improvements at Palmeira Square.

Waste and Recycling

Improving recycling and reducing waste are among Labour Councillor Melanie Davis' priorities in Goldsmid Ward and in the City as a whole.

Recycling goes weekly in parts of Goldsmid Ward. Labour Councillor Melanie Davis is pictured recycling the Argus left. Thousands of homes in the City are now being covered.

Recycling campaign: we are campaigning for doorstep recycling in the 'hard to reach' parts of Hove - and there's good news. Melanie Davis has also written an article for the site about getting into the recycling habit.

Food Safety: See the Scores on the Doors

Did you know you can now look up restaurants and view their hygiene scores as awarded by the City Council's Food Safety Team. See the City Council's Food Safety ratings here.

Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

Clarendon Local Action Team is celebrating three years of achievements in tackling vandalism and anti-social behaviour, and improving the local environment. Now we are campaigning for the approach to be extended across the whole of Goldsmid.

See the difference the Action Team has made in Ethel Street and Conway Street, where trees have replaced abandoned cars and rubbish.