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‘Hercules & Love Affair’ confirmed for Brighton Pride.

The critically acclaimed house, disco and pop music collective Hercules & Love Affair will perform at the Brighton Pride Festival at Preston Park on Saturday, August 1.

Hercules & Love Affair
Hercules & Love Affair

 

ANDY Butler’s ever evolving musical collective Hercules & Love Affair combines must-dance grooves with tales of emotional triumph to create a tough yet soulful sound.

Add the unique vocal talents of Brit nominee John Grant, Belgian singer Gustaph, the deep gospel of Rogue Mary and the smoky voiced virtuoso that is Krystle Warren and you have the perfection that is Hercules & Love Affair.

From those early Blind days that kept Hercules & Love Affair’s 2011 debut album Blue Songs on the top of the critics must-hear charts, to 2014 when Butler and Co’s third album The Feast Of the Broken Heart saw the band return in dazzling form with singles including Liberty, the provocative anthem My Offense and one of pop music’s most honest moments, the beautiful I Try To Talk to You, Hercules have ensured critical acclaim and adoration around the globe.


Event: Brighton Pride Festival

Where: Preston Park, Preston Road, Brighton

When: Saturday, August 1

Time: Noon – 10pm

Tickets: Early Birds Sold out: £16.00 advance (first release): The advance £18.50/ £21.00.

For joint tickets for the Pride Festival and Village Party click here:

 

 

Labour express serious concerns over ‘Valley Gardens’ scheme

After Green and Conservative councillors united to vote through a five-year plan for road works in Valley Gardens, Labour has renewed its pledge to suspend and review the scheme if elected at the local elections in May.

Cllr Warren Morgan
Cllr Warren Morgan

THE council will have to meet 25% of the project costs and Labour claim the Greens only won funding from the Government’s Local Enterprise Partnership by claiming cross party support for the project which Labour say they had not given.

Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, said “We have very real concerns about the open-ended way this project is being funded. If cycle lanes and footpaths are needed in Valley Gardens and the Old Steine, then there ought to be a way of providing them that does not involve removing the Mazda Fountain, the Aquarium Roundabout and two lanes of traffic at a cost of over £18 million.”

“It is shocking that the Tories are supporting this Green scheme that will mean five more years of city centre road works and take millions of pounds out of the council’s already depleted transport budget, needed to repair the ailing seafront. There is no money identified to maintain the huge new park that will be created. As with the i360, which they also supported, this scheme exposes the council to huge financial risks.”

Labour has asked that no contracts are signed and no further money spent on the scheme until after May’s local elections.

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, Leader of the Conservative Group, said: “It just beggars belief that Labour is still intent on returning £14 million of funding to the Government for the sake of trying to pick up a handful of disgruntled Green voters in May. But their blatant opportunism goes beyond jeopardising a positive scheme that promises to transform Valley Gardens into an attractive public space which is much easier to navigate for private cars, buses, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. Labour’s stance would also destroy our credibility with the Local Enterprise Partnership who awarded us the funding and would seriously jeopardise our reputation as a place to do business just at the time when confidence is returning amongst potential investors in Brighton & Hove. Labour should hang their heads in shame. They should also stop misleading residents that the current proposals will mean changes to the Aquarium Roundabout and the fountain at the Old Steine – they won’t.”

 

Aids Memorial to get a spring clean!

Local residents across the city will be joining forces with council staff to give their streets a spring clean this weekend.

Aids Memorial 'Tay'

OVER the weekend of March 21 and 22, staff from Brighton & Hove City Council’s Cityclean team will be working with volunteers from residents associations and councillors to clean several areas of the city. The events are being organised as part of National Spring Clean Week.

On Saturday, March 21, the team will be in action is St James Street where work will include replacing old bins with refurbished ones, repainting bollards and street furniture and washing and cleaning the pavements. The Aids Memorial, “TAY’ will also be given a Spring clean.

Weeding, street sweeping and graffiti removal will also be carried out in the Brunswick and Palmeira areas of the city centre while flytipping will be removed from Hodshrove Woods in Mouslecoomb.

On Sunday, March 22 Cityclean staff will join members of the Roundhill Residents Association for its annual Spring Clean Up. The council will also be providing vehicles to take any waste away.

Cllr Pete West
Cllr Pete West

Councillor Pete West, Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “It’s fantastic to see people taking responsibility for their local area.

“I will be joining the Round Hill clean up, now a regular and well supported activity. It gets to grips with those jobs regular street cleaning doesn’t have time for. There’s a great community feeling and seeing neighbours out doing their bit really encourages other residents to take more care of their local environment too.”

The Cityclean team will not only be on hand during the day working with residents, but will continue to work on local campaigns with residents to keep city streets clean.

Greens continue to roll out 20mph speed limits

City councillors approved the latest phase of extending 20mph speed limit areas at the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee yesterday, Tuesday, March, 17.

Cllr Pete West
Cllr Pete West

THE final round of consultation from advertised traffic orders resulted in nine responses in support of 20mph areas, five relating to the Hangleton area, and one objection relating to the Hangleton area.

Those in favour mentioned school routes and safer streets as reasons for their support of a reduced speed limit.

Phase three of the programme includes roads in Portslade, Mile Oak, Hangleton, Rottingdean, Ovingdean and Saltdean. Certain streets near Hove seafront and around Hove Park are also set to have 20mph limits.

It is expected the limits will be operational from June.

In the initial consultation, figures for residents supporting 20mph on the street where they live were: Mile Oak 60%, Hangleton 53%, Rottingdean and Ovingdean 69% and Saltdean 51%.

Councillor Pete West, chair of the environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “Communities want a safer and more pleasant environment in the streets where they live, work and go to school. It was really important for us to consult on the details so that the decision to extend 20mph reflected people’s views. We have listened and taken account of what they had to say.

“For example in Saltdean lower limits are only being introduced around the school and park roads in response to feedback we received from residents and in Hangleton, roads to the west of Hangelton Way will retain their existing limits, again in response to consultation feedback from that area.”

On Hove seafront  Medina Terrace, King’s Esplanade, Sussex Street and St Aubyns are set to have 20mph limits after 63 per cent of residents expressed support.

Monitoring from phase 1 of the 20mph limit area around the city centre has shown a 17 per cent drop in collisions, a 12 per cent reduction in injuries and a 20 per cent fall in serious casualties.

Department For transport (DfT) research shows that a pedestrian is seven times more likely to be killed when hit at 30mph than at 20mph.

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