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New affordable homes for central Brighton

Brighton & Hove’s planning committee approve a development of thirty-four new homes to be constructed in Buckingham Road, Brighton.

THERE will be 44% affordable housing provision on the site, more than the local planning requirement, which means that 14 homes will be available for low-cost rent or shared ownership with two of the properties being suitable for wheelchair users.

Twenty homes, all with balconies, will be built in a five-storey building at 80 Buckingham Road. The 1970s building, used by the council until 2015, will be partially demolished. Conversion of former Victorian townhouses at 76-79 Buckingham Road will provide fourteen affordable units.

Cllr Julie Cattell
Cllr Julie Cattell

Councillor Julie Cattell, chair of the city’s planning committee, said: “This is a good use of a site to provide new quality homes for people in the city. The redesign of 80 Buckingham Road will create a modern, well-designed building that fits well with the traditional Victorian townhouses and surrounding area.”

There will be five one bedroom, fourteen two bedroom and one three bedroom flats with a shared courtyard at 80 Buckingham Road and twelve affordable two bedroom and two affordable one bedroom homes at 76-79 Buckingham Road, with access to private rear gardens for the ground-floor flats.

The development also includes 64 square metres of community space with a shop window frontage onto the junction of Buckingham Street and Upper Gloucester Road.

Developers will contribute more than £97,000 for open space in the area, nearly £30,000 for secondary education and £16,500 for sustainable transport as part of the planning conditions.

Hove Library closure period extended

Hove Library will be closed for a week longer than originally planned due to unforeseen delays in the building and maintenance work being carried out there.

RATHER than re-opening on Monday, August 20, the library will now be closed until Tuesday, August 28.

Contractors now working on site have found that the drains and some sections of the flooring need more extensive works than previously thought.

The library also suffered a flood due to heavy rain just before the start of the closure period which delayed some of the works.

Cllr Emma Daniel
Cllr Emma Daniel

The chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s neighbourhoods, communities & equalities committee, Councillor Emma Daniel, said: “Our contractors will be working seven days a week to complete all the work that is needed.

“We’re really sorry for this delay and we apologise to all the users of Hove Library for any inconvenience.”

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL REVIEW: Banana Boys @The Space on the Mile

Two 8-year-old boys, longing for the day when they are 16, and the world is theirs, jump into Hampstead Heath ponds, in a rather poor imitation of a scene from Butch Cassidy.

FAST forward eight years and Cal and Cam, Cam and Cal, as they intone to each other are still best mates in the secondary school football team.

Evan Placey’s play is a gentle and not so gentle look at puberty, hormones, butch ness, latent gayness and friendship.

This unnamed cast of largely 19-year-olds work very hard to keep the pace going in a rather predictable script. Amid the twists and turns of schoolboy and girl superficial romances, a gay story rears its head .

When Cal finds out that Cam fancies Ben, a make-up wearing fellow pupil, their friendship falters, and Cal, outgoing, unthinking chav that he is resorts to violence against his lifelong mate.

The crunch scene – the school Valentine’s Day dance, where Ben wants to hold hands and dance with Cam never really materialises, and the show has a kind of resolution between Cam and Cal when they metaphorically agree that they need to repeat their famous ‘jump’ to get into the rest of their lives.

The cast is convincing but some need to have more stage presence and volume. The episodic nature of this adaptation of a longer play doesn’t help the storyline when some scenes are a few minutes long.

Banana Boys is at the Space on the Mile, Edinburgh until August 18.

Review by Brian Butler

Iconic Gothenburg trams repainted to highlight LGBT+ rights

Train operator celebrates diversity and the LGBT+ communities in public spaces during Euro Pride in Sweden.


Västtrafik the train operator in Gothenburg had invited young artists to repaint six of Gothenburg’s iconic trams to celebrate the city being joint hosts of EuroPride 2018.

Lars Backström, CEO of Västtrafik said: “Public transport embodies diversity and equality. Everyone is welcome, no matter who you are, where you’re from, what you believe in or who you fall in love with. With the art exhibition “Proud Trams”, we want to support the rights of LGBT+ communities and at the same time celebrate Pride.”

The colours of the rainbow are represented by the tram line numbers – from the red #5 to the purple #8. The whole rainbow train will be travelling through the city of Gothenburg during EuroPride.

To view a short film about the project, click here:

All the trams have been photographed and framed to be auctioned off with all proceeds going to the
Swedish charity RFSL, an internationally recognised human rights organisation who work to improve the lives of LGBT+ people globally.

Participating artists are Ebba Chambert, Linnéa Teljas PuranenOscar Andersson, Nathalie Ruejas Jonson, Gustav Gigi Sandin, Linden Carter and Mira Cederwall Victorin.
This year, West Pride and Stockholm Pride jointly organised EuroPride 2018 together between Stockholm and Gothenburg. EuroPride 2018 opened in Stockholm on July 27 and ends in Gothenburg on Sunday, August 19.

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