The Kingscliffe Society

21/10/2015

The Victorian Society has filed a Freedom of Information request, requiring Brighton & Hove City Council to make its survey of the Madeira Terraces public. The council, you may remember, says the structure is beyond repair and would have to be replaced in its entirety. The Victorian Society does not believe that there is nothing that can be salvaged.

29/09/2015

A positive turn in the Madeira Terraces saga comes from urban designer Michael Doyle, who lives on Marine Parade and suggests we need to find new uses and ways of making money from the structure. His ideas include a glass house section that would protect the wrought iron from the weather, shops and cafés in pods under the arches and beach huts on the mid levels. "We need some pragmatic responses rather than high-principled conversation about heritage where buildings can be left to rot in the meantime," he says.

17/08/2015

We have been warning of this for years. How will the money be found to put things right, when basic services are under threat?

29/05/2015

The battle of the seafront attractions is hotting up, with Brighton & Hove council officers backing the Wheel's application to stay in place for five more years after the i360 opens. Meanwhile, the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, Brighton and Hove Tourism Alliance, Hove Civic Society and Kingscliffe Society have joined the council’s economic development, seafront team and heritage teams in objecting to the wheel’s application.

They believe that extending the wheel’s stay could jeopardise the i360 project and that it would be illogical for the council to allow the attraction to rival the publically funded i360.

More at http://tinyurl.com/p5jaj79

11/05/2015

We've warned about this for years. Horrifying. Please shout – we need to get our seafront back.

A four-metre barricade is being put up around the decaying Madeira Terraces today as the city council warns they will be closed “for many years”.

28/04/2015

Lead councillor for culture Geoffrey Bowden says that decades of "wanton neglect" have placed Brighton and Hove's heritage at risk. Perhaps he's looked at the Maderia terraces recently. Anyway, he believes public/private partnerships are the way ahead.

He told the Argus: "Decades of underinvestment and, to be frank, wanton neglect by successive administrations have taken us to crisis point. The Victorian infrastructure on our seafront is failing and the knock on effects are highly damaging to the life of the city.

“Our heritage sites are vital for the city. We simply cannot allow them to deteriorate and, in the new economic reality, partnership between the public and private sector remains our best hope to secure their future.”

11/03/2015

Looking into new proposal for a £3 million redevelopment of the Pater Pan's Playground site on Madeira Drive, which is earmarked for sport and leisure. Latest suggestion is inspired by the Bondi Icebergs development in Australia. Facilities would include an outdoor heated pool, gym and conference centre, changing facilities, cafe, further indoor pools plus cycling and running facilities for triathletes. More at http://tinyurl.com/k422bsj

30/04/2014

Pictures from The Kingscliffe Society AGM held on the 29th March 2014. Further details in our next Newsletter, May '14.

07/10/2013

Off-licenses, bars, pubs, cafés, restaurants: St Jame's Street today is a far cry from its heyday as an upmarket shopping centre. Here's an 1897 pic of an art photographer's studio – all the rage back then.

03/10/2013

We're currently looking at planning applications that are going to the Conservation Advisory group next week, one of which is alterations to the third floor front and rear elevations and formation of first floor terrace to rear of this building (next to the flea market) in Upper St James' Street. It's a regular job, part of helping to enhance and preserve our patch of Brighton.

29/09/2013

The Kingscliffe Committee

29/09/2013