BRIGHTON MARINA OVER DEVELOPMENT

I have just got back from speaking at the Marina Inquiry this is what I said:

I was a member of the Roedean Residents' Association, a member of Save Brighton, a former East Sussex County Councillor whose responsibility until June of this year was Economic Development across the county. I was also a former Brighton Borough Councillor and a former Brighton & Hove Councillor. I had lived and worked in and around Brighton for most of my life.

Firstly, I said how saddened I was to be there at the Appeal which is costing local tax payers of Brighton & Hove large amounts of money.

The residents did not want the development. The Council did not want the development and, after all is said and done, whatever was decided at the appeal, there will still be the need to get the Council to waive the cliff height restriction in the 1968 Marina Act - which I was sure they won't and also B&HCC's rights as landlords in the headlease (to not give permission to development which in the reasonable opinion of the Council adversely affects the character of the local area).

Therefore, this was a very expensive exercise which would probably get the developers nowhere.

Secondly, I told the inspector that I had been contacted by many hundreds of local people who were aghast at the proposed scheme. Not just people who live in the Marina or Marine Gate but people who live in Woodingdean and shop at Asda, people who live in Moulsecoomb who come to the cinema and restaurants and people who live in Peacehaven who have a boat at the Marina.

None of them were saying leave the Marina as it is.

None of them were saying build nothing.

None of them are saying that a development wasn't needed.

What they all wanted was appropriate development - a holistic approach to the marina. A suitable size, scale and height development with appropriate parking and housing that wasn't substandard, devoid of natural light and overlooking the cliff.

People didn't want to freeze the Marina at the western end for 100 years - but they thought that Brighton deserved better - a grander aspiration. Not a make do, quick buck, over development that none of us could be proud of.

Finally, I said that in a matter of only weeks, I might be fortunate enough to represent the people of Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven as their Member of Parliament. But if I was elected, then I would be only one of a long line of Brighton Kemptown MPs, stretching hundreds of years into the future, who will have to live with this scheme should it be allowed.

I asked the inspector to listen to local residents and to listen to the democratically elected City Council. I asked him to say NO to these very tall towers. To say NO to this inappropriate scheme and to say NO to what could be much much better.