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Save waste and save cash!

There are just a few days left for Residents in Brighton & Hove to snap up a discounted compost bin, before the price increases at the start of April.

Residents who want to start composting their kitchen and garden waste can still pick up a bin for just £16 with a £5.49 delivery charge through a scheme run by Brighton & City Council. There is also a ‘Buy One Get One Half Price’ offer, for residents with larger gardens or those teaming up with a friend or neighbour to buy a bin.

Spring is an excellent time for composting. With new shoots appearing, it’s time to clear out winter’s deadwood from planters and flower beds and a compost bin is a great way to recycle this decaying vegetation. Over time it will break down to produce rich nutritious compost that that will put some life back into the garden.
 

Cllr Pete West
Cllr Pete West

Councillor Pete West, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, said:

“Composting at home is an easy and highly sustainable way of recycling some of the daily waste we produce, while providing significant benefits for our gardens, reducing waste transported for disposal and improving our carbon footprint.

“Once you get started, you will be surprised at just how much daily household waste can be composted – not just grass cuttings and unwanted plants but organic kitchen waste, fruit and vegetable peelings, tea bags coffee grounds and even the contents of the vacuum.”

To order compost bins and accessories online: CLICK HERE:

Or telephjone: 0844 571 4444

 

MP seeks residents views on Shopping Centre

Simon Kirby, MP
Simon Kirby, MP

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven, is in the process of surveying residents in Peacehaven to seek their views on how the Meridian Centre in the town could be best improved.

Simon said:

“I was concerned by the vacant properties in the Meridian Centre.  It could be such a great community facility for the town that currently is not being utilised to its maximum potential.  This was a criticism of the centre I also received in correspondence from local residents who contacted me about this issue.”

Simon has so far delivered over 5,000 surveys to residents in the town seeking their views and is planning to deliver more in the coming weeks.

He added:

“I am always keen to hear from constituents and have been overwhelmed by the response I have received.  Already I have received hundreds and hundreds of surveys back and I will be collating the responses over the coming weeks as more and more come in as I deliver to more of the town.”

He concluded:

“I have arranged to meet with representatives from Co-Op head office to discuss the results of the Survey and to see how the centre can be improved.  If anyone would like to give me their views then please do get in touch.”

To contact Simon EMAIL: 

Hove MP becomes charity patron

Mike Weatherley, MP
Mike Weatherley, MP

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, has become a patron of Same Sky, a charity that organises arts projects in the local community.

Since 1987, Same Sky have been creating magical, out-of-this-world events with luminous night-time parades, fantastical puppets and floats, large-sky fire shows and staggeringly imaginative costumes and concepts.

Mike said:

“Same Sky is a fantastic arts charity that I am delighted to be able to support. I have been an admirer of their events for years and am a particular fan of the Burning the Clocks parade. I look forward to working with Same Sky in the future to help promote their events.”

For more information, CLICK HERE: 

Greens say no to ‘bedroom tax’ evictions

Caroline Lucas, MP
Caroline Lucas, MP

The Green Party in Brighton & Hove have announced their opposition to the ‘bedroom tax’ proposed by the Government, which would see those deemed to have one spare bedroom in a council or housing association home face paying £728 extra a year.

Brighton Pavilion MP, Caroline Lucas, has been in the forefront of opposition to the proposals in Parliament. Together with the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru, she has chosen the bedroom tax as the subject of an opposition day debate.

She said:

“The so-called bedroom tax legislation is not only morally wrong and a cause of great potential hardship, it is also unworkable in a city with a long waiting list for smaller properties. The Council cannot downsize households on the scale required by the Government, nor would we want it to, and we should not be prepared to evict hard-pressed families, the disabled and other vulnerable people purely because they are unable to pay this unjust levy on a home they either cannot or should not have to leave.”

Cllr Liz Wakefield, Chair of the Housing Committee, has said she hopes to bring proposals to the next housing committee on May 8.

She said:

“As Greens, we cannot throw people out onto the streets just because they’re unable to pay it. I will therefore be bringing proposals that seek to ensure no household will be evicted from a Brighton & Hove City Council owned home as a result of ‘spare room subsidy’ rent arrears accrued solely from that household’s inability to pay this unjust bedroom tax.”

Conservatives attack opposition to welfare reform

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, the Conservative Group Leader on Brighton & Hove City Council has attacked both the Labour and Green groups on Brighton & Hove City Council as being “irresponsible” for suggesting that the Council should not pursue council house tenants who build up rent arrears as a result of Government changes to housing benefit rules.

The Spare Room Subsidy, which allows council house tenants to claim housing benefit for spare rooms in their homes, is being abolished by the Government in April.

This brings them in line with private sector tenants who are only able to claim housing benefit for the number of rooms they actually need. Extra rooms must be paid for by the household. Pensioners, foster carers, armed forces personnel, disabled children and bereaved families are exempt from the changes.

The reforms are also designed to help the ¼ million households in social housing who are living in overcrowded conditions.

Under the previous Labour Government, expenditure on housing benefit rose by 80% to £20 billion – equivalent to the entire national expenditure on primary healthcare.

Both Labour and Green Groups put forward near identical notices of motion to Thursday’s  Full Council meeting effectively the Conservatives claim, calling for the Council to turn a blind eye to tenants who build up rent arrears as a result of the abolition of the Spare Room Subsidy.

Any shortfall in rent collected would have to be made up by rent from other council house tenants and could result in reductions to repairs, maintenance and essential improvements to tenants’ homes.

Cllr. Theobald said:

“In their continuing bid to outflank each other on the Left, both Labour and Green Parties seem to be suggesting that the Council does not pursue rent arrears from its tenants that may or may not result from the Government’s housing benefit changes. This would set an extremely dangerous precedent and effectively gives the green light to anyone with a grievance over welfare reform to withhold payment of rent, and it will be other tenants who will pay the price.”
 

He added:

“I am particularly disappointed at the stance of the Labour Party which seems to be lurching further to the Left at every opportunity. It was their Government in 2008 that abolished the Spare Room Subsidy for private sector tenants so for them to now oppose it for social housing tenants is the height of hypocrisy.”

Cllr Gill Mitchell
Cllr Gill Mitchell

Cllr Gill Mitchell, leaders of the Labour and Cooperative group responded, saying:

“Councillor Theobald and his Conservatives need to read our council motion a bit more carefully.  His Government’s iniquitous ‘Bedroom Tax’ is unfair and unworkable and will simply end up costing the tax-payer more as homelessness rises.  How can Councillor Theobald justify this when on the same day that his Government starts to tax poor people’s bedrooms they give 13,000 millionaires a 2k per week tax break?”

 

‘Brighton Boys’ launch new website

Brighton BoysBrighton Boys Limited, Brighton & Hove’s only gay male escort agency have launched their new website for professional and reputable escorts to meet clients discreetly and in safety.

The company was founded in 2012 by two Brightonians, Adam Highway and James Duggan to address the lack of any reputable agency for Brighton-based gay male escorts and their clients. Brighton Boys provides a smooth, seamless experience, working only in relationships with highly discreet, reliable and professional gay male escorts.

The website was launched on Monday, March 25 at a networking meeting of the Gay Business Forum at the A-Bar on Marine Parade, Brighton. Entertainment was provided by Misty Lee and some of the company’s exclusive escorts were on hand to chats to the invited guests.

For more information view:

 

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