Fire walk at The World’s End pub in Patching

By Nicolas Pierce

Twenty-two sponsored daredevils took part in a fire-walk at The World’s End pub on Arundel road in Patching on Wednesday night.

Dozens of family and friends turned out to watch the feat, which required contestants to walk barefoot along a 500 degree path of hot coals before dunking their feet in buckets of cold water and earning eternal (well, for the evening at least) glory in the process.

Many of the participants, who had to pay £50 to enter, were raising money for Worthing and District Animal Rescue Service (WADARS), who are involved in the rescuing and re-homing of domesticated animals.

Denise Hodgson, 51, who took part in the firewalk and raised around £1200 for WADARS and Naomi House, a Children’s Hospice in Winchester, said: “I felt physically sick beforehand, and had visions of myself falling over, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I got a little bit of the embers in my toes, but you have to keep walking. I’m glad I did it.”

The participants felt the heat at 9pm, some of them in fancy dress, to a soundtrack of appropriately themed music, like 90s dance act Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ and tribal drumming.

WADARS, who are also heavily involved in the rescuing of injured wildlife, had erected a tent at the event in order to spread the word about their organisation.

WADARS employee Nikki Parsons said: “This is the first time we’ve done the firewalk here, so we hope it’ll be a success.”

Judging by the reaction of the crowd, the daredevilry displayed tonight is unlikely to be a one-off.

Onlooker Cindy Gray, 49, said: “I thought I’d quite like to have a go at doing it myself!”

Government Planning Policy puts Sussex countryside at risk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Sussex Countryside

By Alex Oxborough

Environmental groups have warned that new planning policy guidelines, recently released by the coalition government, are a threat to the countryside, ancient woodland and the character of rural communities.

JUST one year after the establishment of the South Downs National Park, the Sussex countryside is under threat. Bringing to mind the adage “the best laid plans of mice and men” — often applied to actions that prompt unintended consequences — environmental groups have warned that a lack of clarity in the government’s recent review of national planning policy has left legal loopholes.

The most radical overhaul of planning policy for 20 years, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has rewritten the rulebook on development. Whereas in recent years planning policy mushroomed in an attempt to balance the need for economic and social development with the protection of the environment, the NPPF aims to streamline and modernise planning policy.

Reducing hundreds of pages of guidance, comprehensible only to professionals and the initiated, to a 59-page document was never going to be easy, but changes effecting long-established principles, such as the requirement for environmental sustainability, mark a shift in the protection given to the conservation of the countryside and the existing character of rural communities.

Woodland Trust Chief Executive Sue Holden said, “Ancient Woodland remains significantly threatened under this new framework. Although the NPPF retains phrasing from existing planning policy around the protection of ancient woods and trees, the wording that planning applications should not bring about the loss of these habitats ‘unless the need for, and benefits of, the development in that location clearly outweigh the loss’, leaves a dangerous loophole.”

By defining sustainability as, “ensuring that better lives for ourselves don’t mean worse lives for future generations”, the NPPF has arguably watered-down the environmental connotations of the term since it was defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987, and cleared the way to put economic and social needs first. Brighton and Hove Green MP Caroline Lucas said, “Local communities rightly remain highly sceptical about whether the Government’s new framework will be up to the job of allowing truly sustainable development whilst providing enough proper protection.”

Chris Todd of Brighton and Hove Friends of the Earth said, “The NPPF sounds very good in places, but what do those expressions mean? Does it mean that if you create jobs and provide housing you can get away with damaging the environment?” Chris believes the change in the meaning of terms such as sustainability will result in expensive legal challenges. He said, “If developers, councils or individuals don’t like particular decisions, or believe things were taken wrongly or misinterpreted, then that could end up in the courts. Where there are elements of doubt or ambiguity then the whole process could take a long time to be sorted out while people struggle.”

Given that the 2011 draft version of the framework had included measures to speed the planning process in order to boost economic growth, the likelihood of lengthy planning disputes is a shot in the foot for the coalition government. The public mauling of the headlining “presumption in favour of sustainable development” when the draft framework was released resulted in a further source of potential delays in key planning decisions across the county.

Following fierce criticism from middle-England heavyweights The National Trust and the Countryside Alliance, the “presumption in favour of sustainable development” has been watered-down in the final Framework. Now development must comply with a local authority plan, but where none exists it must go ahead unless, “Any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly outweigh the benefits when assessed against policies in this Framework.” A leaked local authority briefing report notes this “effectively limits the local scope for manoeuvre” to reject poor quality planning applications against the best interests of the local community.

Sussex local authorities are now scrabbling to put in place up to date and robust development plans. Not a simple task when even figures such as Liz Peace, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation are saying “Urgent questions remain over how local authorities should determine how many homes and jobs they need, and what the guidance that underpins the NPPF should be.” The majority of local planning authorities are in the process of creating or updating plans to comply with the NPPF.  As the Framework’s grace period to put plans in place runs out in March 2013 many local authorities are still vulnerable.

Brighton and Hove City Council City Plan is currently awaiting examination by an independent Government inspection, prior to adoption. Toad Hole Valley, a green field site in Hove, has been allocated for a new industrial estate, in spite of opposition from local residents and Labour Councillor Brian Fitch who argued the suitability of a brown field site near Shoreham Harbour.  Councillor Fitch said, “I know you can hear the noise of the bypass in the distance, but it’s a lovely setting and the local public here have enjoyed it for a number of years.”

As a result of the NPPF local authorities will increasingly have their hands tied when it comes to identifying land for development. Councils will be obliged to allocate a five-year supply of land for housing based on projected population figures, plus an additional 5% buffer, to be updated annually, unless there has been persistent under-delivery in which case the buffer will be 20%. No definition of how “under-delivery” will be assessed is given so this will be open to legal challenge. For Brighton and Hove this is likely to leave them particularly vulnerable to challenge because of the historical reliance on ‘windfall’ sites,  freed up by change of use, in housing delivery in the city.

Though the aim of the NPPF is clear from the Framework’s Ministerial Foreword onwards—economic growth— the practical application of the Framework is currently a mystery. A lack of clarity in the use of terms, and the circumstances in which key caveats become active, means that, for now, planning will remain almost incomprehensible. A cynic might point out that now it is incomprehensible to professionals, too. What this will mean for the Sussex countryside remains to be seen.

Brighton and Hove’s tourism industry anticipates successful Olympics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Alex Oxborough

 

IN spite of gloomy industry predictions to the contrary, Brighton and Hove’s recession-hit tourism businesses are optimistic that the Olympics will bring a much needed boost.

 

With tourism responsible for over 13,000 full-time jobs in the city, which at 14% of the total workforce is 4% above the national average, the health of the tourism industry is key to the economic wellbeing of the city.

 

Since the banking crisis of 2008 traders in all sectors linked to the tourism industry across the city have reported a decline in the number of visitors, citing factors such as the current economic climate, along with petrol prices and lack of parking.

 

Official statistics support this feeling, with the latest available figures from VisitBrighton showing there were around 60,000 fewer overnight trips in 2010 than in 2009.

 

Rachael Surtees, Office Manager of North Laine boutique Velvet said: “You can see on the streets the number of businesses that have opened and closed very quickly.”

 

Like many other traders, Velvet are hoping the Olympics will offer opportunities to increase revenues as well as attracting visitors.

 

Ms Surtees said: “We benefitted last year from the Royal Wedding, it may be that it’s a brief thing and we might see a slump afterwards, but in the current climate we will take every opportunity that we can, we have got to look at it as a positive.”

 

While for many the Barcelona 1992 Olympics are the example of how the Games can boost tourism for a city and a region, the ‘build it and they will come’ theory has been discredited by leading tourism industry bodies.

 

A series of reports by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) find the benefits of the Olympics to the tourism sector are often overstated.

 

The ETOA used hotel occupancy data as the basis of a series of studies looking at the impact of the Olympics on tourist numbers during the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, and for up to a year afterwards.

 

Due to the way tickets for international visitors are distributed, via individual national Olympic authorities, it is not possible to gather data on international ticket sales, meaning the ETOA reports offer a rare look at the story behind the PR.

 

They conclude that nearly every city that hosts the Games suffers a slump in hotel demand after hosting the Games, with Sydney’s tourism figures falling for three consecutive years after the 2000 Games.

 

This phenomena is called ‘displacement’, whereby visitors are put off visiting during and after a large event, such as the Olympics, because they believe that prices will be higher, or getting around harder.

One Brighton visitor, Christina Beardsley, 44, from Belgium, said: “All the tickets are too expensive so it’s not something that would interest us. We would avoid London like the plague.”

 

VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, readily admit that displacement is a concern, but are optimistic that their £25million GREAT Britain marketing campaign, launched worldwide in February, will limit the damage.

 

A spokesman for VisitBritain said: “There is likely to be displacement and that’s part of what the GREAT campaign is there to do.

 

“We are on the front foot for trying to make what we are doing bear fruit.”

 

Back in the heady days of 2005 when first the bid was won, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, hailed the success as “a once in an era opportunity for British tourism” which would bring £2bn to the industry.

 

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport are now downplaying specific figures and instead emphasising the benefits of the showcasing the UK will receive in the world’s media.

 

As evidence of the positive impact of showcasing, spokesmen for the government point to the increased number of overseas visitors to the UK in June and July of 2011; a result, they say, of the April royal wedding.

 

However, Office of National Statistics figures show that while there was an increase of 190,000 more visitors to the UK in June 2011, almost 100,000 of these were business trips, leaving a less impressive 90,000 additional visitors.

 

In July 2011, there were fewer overseas tourists than in July 2010.

 

Nonetheless, Government and VisitBritain sources say the GREAT campaign will attract 4.6 million more international visitors from 2011 to 2014. But taking into account the fall in visitor numbers since 2008, this growth would only be a return to pre-recession levels of over 32 million in 2007.

 

VisitBrighton is reluctant to play the numbers game, preferring instead to focus on their summer season marketing campaign ‘The Games last all summer in Brighton’.

 

A spokesman said: “Journalists from all over the world will be looking to write stories about the UK, so we will encourage them to write about Brighton and Hove.”

 

There are concerns that if the worldwide media exposure is negative, the London 2012 Games will damage the UK tourism industry for years to come.

 

Jeremy Sanders, proprietor of Vivid Palette, said: “I think we have had a lot of big positives and a lot of big minuses, we had the Royal Wedding last year, but we also had the riots.

 

“This year, we have got the Olympics and Queen’s Jubilee and if they go off well then there will be a positive effect.”

 

Happily, Brighton and Hove is not reliant on overseas tourists as they only account for 16% of the city’s annual visitors. Businesses that cater mainly to domestic visitors are less concerned by the Olympics, and many expect to be busy.

 

Sophie Wiltshire, Reception Host at Drakes Hotel said: “We will be getting people running away from the madness in London.”

 

Whatever the effect of the London 2012 Games on Brighton and Hove, the city’s hard-pressed tourism businesses will be hoping this summer will be a winner. Let’s hope the sun shines.

 

A Walk on the Wild Side: Out and about in West Sussex this May

By Alex Oxborough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AS the days grow longer, the last days of spring bring bustling activity to the countryside as wildflowers blossom and young are born.  It’s a great time to get out and explore the variety of wildlife experiences West Sussex has to offer.

 

Heralds of summer— Swallows return

Aerial acrobats and high-speed feeders, Swallows begin returning to the UK from Africa at the end of March. By May they can be admired in open grassland throughout the county, busily collecting insects to feed their young. Part of the heraldic shield of Sussex, they are a welcome sign of warmer weather to come.

www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/swallow/

 

Butterfly atlas project needs volunteers

Whether you see a Brimstone basking in Bognor or a Comma cavorting in Cuckfield, the Sussex Butterfly Atlas project would like to hear about your butterfly sightings this summer. Simply email your name, what species you spotted, where you saw it (details of how to give the grid reference are on the website) and when. Your valuable conservation data will be used to create the most comprehensive ever distribution map of the 45 species of butterfly in West and East Sussex, many of which are under threat.

www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/atlas/index.php

 

Sussex superstars—Nightingales

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite having a voice that would have Simon Cowell reaching for his chequebook, Nightingales are publicity-shy. Arriving in south-east England in April, throughout May the males give virtuoso vocal performances to attract females from the safety of dense hedgerows and thickets. Sussex is one of the best places in the UK to hear them, so keep an ear out at night for their distinctive acrobatic melodies. The Sussex Wildlife Trust are hosting ‘An Evening with Nightingales’ at their Woods Mill reserve, near Henfield, on the 3, 8 and 17 May.

 

3^th 8^th and 17^th May, £9 members, £12 non-members www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/events/

Chichester Harbour Walking Festival

To celebrate 30 years of organising walks around Chichester Harbour, from the 22^nd to the 25^th May the Chichester Harbour Conservancy is organising a week-long walking festival. Covering a different part of the coastline each day, the pre-booked guided walks will take in the wetlands, farmland and villages that make up the internationally important Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Home to the only group of Common Seals in the eastern English Channel, the harbour also abounds with diverse plant and bird life, many of which are rare or endangered.

22^nd to 25^th May. Costs vary. www.conservancy.co.uk/page/walks-activities.

 

Parklife—Fallow Deer fawns at Petworth House

The point of all that machismo during the autumn rut becomes apparent at Petworth House in May, as fawns start to appear among the herd of Fallow Deer. The UK’s largest herd of Fallow Deer, they have been grazing the sweeping magnificence of the 700-acres of ‘Capability’ Brown-designed parkland for centuries. Budding artists and photographers are bound to find inspiration as they wander the parkland in the footsteps of the great English landscape painter JMW Turner.

Throughout May. Entry to the parkland of Petworth House is free. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/petworth-house/

 

Peak season for Plantlife reserve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The early summer months of May and June are the best time to see native wildflowers at their best at Plantlife’s Furnace Meadow and Brick Kiln Rough nature reserves near Balls Cross. Just six acres of meadow in total, the small but perfectly formed reserve boasts beauties such as Early-Purple Orchids, Adders Tongues and Cowslips.

Entry free. www.plantlife.org.uk/nature_reserves

 

Electric bicycle hire network for South Downs

Make tracks not carbon footprints in the South Downs National Park this summer, with the arrival of the South-East’s first electric bike hire network. Taking the slog out of cycling, the electric bikes charge when you peddle downhill, making going back uphill a far more attractive prospect. Stretching from Petersfield in Hampshire to Midhurst in West Sussex, the network is an extension of a successful scheme in the Lake District National Park, where ebikes have opened up areas of countryside previously only accessible to the fittest.

Available now from outlets in Midhurst, Farnham, Alton and Petersfield. Hire will cost from £10 per half day. www.electricbicyclenetwork.com/hiring/south-downs/

Young People in East Brighton Urged To Reach £20,000 for Youth Projects

By Abby Rugg

Young people in East Brighton are being urged to bid for up to £20,000 to kick-start youth projects in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean.

Stress levels rise amongst hospital staff

By Liam Dawes

The number of hospital workers taking time off sick through stress is increasing amongst continuing job uncertainty.

Breaking news: Brighton & Hove Albion players charged with sexual assault and voyeurism

By Liam Dawes

Three Brighton & Hove Albion players and a Bournemouth player have been charged with sexual assault and voyeurism.

Travel Agents Vs Online

Once upon a time, you couldn’t walk through any town centre in the UK without passing at least three different travel agencies. These days, they are becoming harder and harder to spot on our high streets. Nowadays, holidaymakers are spoilt for choice, with an abundance of very competitively priced online travel websites. With 41 travel agencies and tour operators going bust in the past year in the UK, is the Internet finally putting our high-street travel agencies out of business?

Most agencies who have gone bust in the last few years have been package-holiday-orientated firms like Lunn Poly, who were the largest chain in the country until they went bankrupt in 2005. Tour operators have also suffered, with major operators Holidays 4 UK and Dream Holidays ceasing trading at the end of last year. Even high-street giant Thomas Cook is struggling since shares in the company slumped by more than 70 per cent at the end of last year, prompting a loan agreement of £100m from 17 of the UK’s banks. While interim chief executive, Sam Weihagen blames the Eurozone crisis and a downturn in tourism in the Middle East and North Africa for the company’s problems, it can’t be denied that the rising trend of booking online is partly to blame.

Younger tech-savvy people have been leading the trend for a while, not only to save money but also to give them the freedom to create their itinerary exactly as they want it. However, it is the recession that has led to an increase in this trend amongst older people, as people who may previously have preferred the travel agent experience now trawl the internet looking for the cheapest possible package they can find, often by searching different sites and purchasing flights, hotels and car-hire separately to create the best deal. These are people who, pre-recession were happy to pay a little bit extra for the luxury of having everything organised for them. These days that is not a luxury many can afford. Sure, there will always be the old couple that come in to book their week in Malta every year without fail, but even these customers are becoming rarer, as older people are grudgingly turning to the Internet in an attempt to snap up a bargain. Margaret Swinley, 68, was a regular Thomas Cook customer for over 40 years, but has since turned to websites like lastminute.com and onthebeach.com for her holiday needs.

She says: “We go to Crete every year in June and always enjoyed going to the travel agent in the Winter to book the holiday but we just can’t afford to do that anymore. Now we usually book on lastminute.com because they’re always a good £40 cheaper. My daughter usually has to help me book it but I am getting the hang of it!”

However, it’s not all bad news, the rise in the popularity of more adventurous travel such as round-the-world trips, safaris and tours to unusual destinations has seen adventure travel agents flourish, even during the recession. Adventure specialists STA Travel and Trailfinders are positively booming. Trailfinders, which has an average annual turnover of £400 million and employs 900 people worldwide, saw 2011 become its most profitable year yet and now plans to open two more high street shops in Liverpool and Chester. The company believes passionately in the importance of customer service, and this attitude has been vital in retaining their business and ensuring their reputation. Chairman of the company, Mike Gooly believes that the company’s unique selling point was the personal care and expertise Trailfinders’ consultants applied to devising holidays that matched peoples’ dreams.

He says: “We offered great value with no hidden costs – and we were always there to help in the rare event of unforeseen difficulties abroad. We earned people’s trust – attracting huge volumes of repeat business, with demand rocketing through personal recommendation.”

It’s not only a good reputation that will keep customers coming back, though. While package and short-haul holidays are often cheaper online, long haul travel can often be cheaper if booked through an agent, particularly if the itinerary is complicated. It is very hard to book round-the-world flights online, particularly if you have an unusual itinerary, STA Travel will simply take the customer’s itinerary and, if there is no Qantas/BA flight for a segment of their journey, they will just add in flights with other airlines and form a round-the-world ticket that way, something which would be impossible to do online. There is also the trust that customers put in travel consultants, many need advice and help planning their long-haul trip and that is as much the part of a job of a travel agent as selling holidays is.

Agents can also compete with the online market by offering services that the Internet cannot provide. Jackie Steadman from agency Traveltime World says that an extra her company offers is a chauffeur service to and from the airport, and on the return journey the driver will have the customer’s favourite newspaper waiting for him/her. This also provides an excellent opportunity to chat to the customer about their trip, gaining valuable feedback for the company.

The overall issue here seems to be adaptability, high-street agents need to recognise that the market is changing and they need to compete with the online bookings market with better deals and more flexibility. If they can achieve this then maybe they can start tempting people back through their doors once more.

For whom the bell tolls: Do we really need to know when it’s time for church?

As I slip my feet back under the duvet, the ghastly Leonie and James seem to be starting another row. I sip my coffee. I’ve been looking forward to this…. CLANG; CLANG; CLANG; CLANG; CLANG..  Oh well.  Now we’re outside the Bull, and Jolene’s trying to organise everyone … CLANG; CLANG; CLANG; CLANG; CLANG. … Leonie’s berating James again.  Seems their aerial photo shoot didn’t go that well. I guess there’s always the iPlayer.

Kemptown’s noisier than Ambridge. People socializing in gardens, car alarms, Brighton Ballroom smokers shrieking drunkenly – and the seagulls! Can’t be helped, though, can it?  Unlike that CLANGING!

The insistent, tuneless racket is not an alarm. There’s no fire, or sinking ship. It’s St George’s call to prayer.

Interview: Dan Denis

By Alex Easthope

Dan Denis is a promising young racing driver raised in the quiet West Sussex town of Midhurst. Having had a successful karting career, winning the Caterham Superlight R400 Championship and tackling the Ginetta G50 Cup, he now has his sights set firmly on the British GT4 title. We caught up with Dan to talk about racing – past, present and future.

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