David Lepper

Labour Party | Brighton Pavilion

Association of Town Centre Management Southern Region Showcase.

The Corn Exchange, Brighton

As the local MP – and as the chair of the national steering committee for the pilot Business Improvement Districts - I am very pleased to be able to welcome members of the ATCM to the South Coast’s premier resort, the country’s premier conference location, home of England’s most prestigious arts festival and a unique city centre for tourism, entrainment and business.

There is so much within easy walking distance of this splendidly refurbished building in the former Royal stables and riding school – with a small club style theatre as part of it.

We can offer you – just opposite - a 19th century Royal Palace – owned since 1850 by the local council and, after a £10 million restoration, the most expensive council house in the country. Next door is a wonderfully refurbished museum. Over the road is an eighteenth century theatre and the brand new Jubilee library opened earlier this month.

Very near is the Palace Pier – don’t be fooled by the name the owners give it – Brighton Pier. No one else calls it that. Attracting 3 million visitors a year.

And then there are the shops.

Churchill Square totally rebuilt around three years ago has most of the national name stores that you would expect in any major sub-regional shopping mall.

But we also have the Lanes with their fascinating jewellry shops and bars and restaurants where restaurateurs Pietro and Sue Addis and other traders have done much to increase the vitality of the area.

And the North Laine – watch the spelling – between North Street and the station –with a very special mix of small independent businesses for just about every specialist taste– mainly retail but plenty of bars and restaurants as well – and another theatre – Komedia. And flats and houses – many of them built or refurbished within the last ten years.

Our local daily paper yesterday referred to the North Laine as “quirky” and “a true gem in the character of the city.” Don’t miss it. If you want cheese of all varieties, bonsai trees, vegetarian shoes, vinyl hits of your youth, cinema memorabilia etc, etc, you’ll find it there. If Brighton and Hove decides to go for a Business Improvement District it could be in the North Laine.

So not only tourism and entertainment and business but a city centre where people live

As I hope you can tell – I’m proud of it and I love it.

So while you are here please do take the chance to look around.

However, my specs aren’t rose tinted.

We have our problems – difficult problems not easy to address but being addressed by council or the excellent city centre business forum.

Traffic. There are those who advocate unrestricted car access everywhere. I think that’s daft. It’s bad for shoppers, its bad for the environment and ultimately it’s bad for business. Our city centre is Regency, Georgian and Victorian – not designed for cars and trucks. Brighton and Hove Buses and the Council have done  a great job in promoting bus travel – It has increased by some 5% a year each year for the last ten years. But to supplement the bus lanes and the automated information at bus stops we do need park and ride as another part of the strategy.

It could remove 700,000 vehicle movements a year from the city centre and 300 tonnes of CO2 emissions. And yet there are so-called environmentalists who oppose it. The difficult job for the council is to decide on a site.

Business Rates. With a 12 % increase due in April that is not going to help many of those small businesses which give our city centre its unique character. There is certainly a job to be done by the council, traders and MPs to lobby when the revaluation comes along

Chuggers. Street charity collectors about whom I presented a petition in ParIiament just two days ago - putting off customers in some streets. And the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association doesn’t seem able to cope,

Dealing with graffiti – there’s a major clean up going on at the moment.

Anti social behaviour. Following lobbying of the Home office 2 years ago we became the first city in the country to introduce a city wide street drinking ban. In some areas residents, police, the council and the health and social services agencies are using it, plus anti-social behaviour orders to make a real difference. One area – Norfolk Square – got a home office award in December last year.

And in the Churchill Square area just two weeks of police initiated Dispersal Orders are making a difference.

Brighton was the first area on the south coast to get the BRC Safer Shopping Award and the city centre retail crime project based with the Forum has had real success.

I would like to pay tribute to the work of Tony Mernagh, Chief Executive of the City Centre Forum who was a trader lobbying on behalf of North Laine when I first knew him, Derek Maddison of Churchill Square and his colleagues who make up the Forum and our City Centre Manager Soozie Campbell for the excellent work they do.

Finally can I thank ATCM for the honour you did me last year of making me an honorary life member.

Have a productive meeting and enjoy Brighton and Hove.

David Lepper
MP for Brighton Pavilion
Chair – Steering Committee for Business Improvement District Pilot Projects.