Brighton History Centre - Sign the Petition

[Brovion]

Pretty much true. Although I think they are allowed to spend the revenue from off-street parking on non-transport things.

There's your answer then. The Council should provide more city centre off-street parking and use the revenue for things like the History Centre. Reduce traffic congestion (as cars aren't circling looking for somewhere to park) AND maintain services. Everybody wins!

 

[SICKASAGULL]

I signed this morning, if every thing else fails the suggestion that volunters could man it is well worth considering.
The Sussex Family History Group have their own Library at Lewes and I am sure that the many knowledgeable members would assist if required.
I acknowledge the first rate staff at the Centre do a terrific job and hope the council backs them,it also should be mentioned that school groups regularly visit to gain a valueable knowledge of both Brighton and Sussex

 

[Soul Finger]

Done.

Spent hours in there researching my book. Fascinating place.

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Done. Will hope to make good use of this for my research into the history of Sussex by the Sea.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

I am the 193rd person to sign. Pretty pathetic NSC. if it is that important to Mr. Carder (let alone the city) then we should all sign up.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

It has 222 now, it says it is only to the 1/01/10 has anyone got it to register since yesterday or is that the final figure.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

It's going to take more than a petition to save the History Centre. There is no evidence that online petitions have any impact over the making of political decisions.

 

[Vankleek Hill Seagull]

Just received the following e-mail. Made me think that the good folks of NSC has caused a stir? Unless someone knows any better.

---
Dear Sir or Madame,

Following the introduction of the e-petition facility we have been reviewing how the sytem works.

In this respect, I should be grateful if you could update your registration details by either providing your home or business (work or place of study address.

Please use the following address:

OpenDNS

This is so that we can confirm you either live, work or study in the city - the information will be held securely and for ratification purposes only by the Democratic Services Team.

Please note that unless you wish to change your password,you can leave 'New password' and 'Re-enter password' fields blank on the page and your exisitng password will remain in force.
Can I please thank you in advance for your co-operation with this matter.

Regards

Mark Wall
Head of Democratic Services
Brighton & Hove City Council

 

[Gwylan]

Just received the following e-mail. Made me think that the good folks of NSC has caused a stir? Unless someone knows any better.

---
Dear Sir or Madame,

Following the introduction of the e-petition facility we have been reviewing how the sytem works.

In this respect, I should be grateful if you could update your registration details by either providing your home or business (work or place of study address.

Please use the following address:

OpenDNS

This is so that we can confirm you either live, work or study in the city - the information will be held securely and for ratification purposes only by the Democratic Services Team.

Please note that unless you wish to change your password,you can leave 'New password' and 'Re-enter password' fields blank on the page and your exisitng password will remain in force.
Can I please thank you in advance for your co-operation with this matter.

Regards

Mark Wall
Head of Democratic Services
Brighton & Hove City Council

I got that too.

Tried the link and found that "website unavailable". So, either the council sent an invalid URL or it was overwhelmed by people trying to get on it.

 

[Barry Izbak]

I got that too.

Tried the link and found that "website unavailable". So, either the council sent an invalid URL or it was overwhelmed by people trying to get on it.

same here

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Signed. And it says 764.

 

[severnside gull]

signed
we will be down later in the year to do some family history research as my mother's family are Brightonians from 4 generations back and can trace Sussex roots back to 1560. What would I do if the centre closed !!!!

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

I have concerns about the mails sent out to verify identitys who signed the online petition.

Just sent this e-mail, who else has questioned this or verified details, I am concered they are attemting to masage the figures and stop due process by reducing the numbers.

Hello

Can I point out your anti fraud link which shows the council must have an anti fraud stratagy.

anti-fraud - Brighton Hove City Council

Working in the banking industry I am aware of phishing e-mails, that appear as genuine links but are built to colate individuals passwords. Your mail has no alternative link to your website with instructions of other ways of veryfiying the authenticity of the mail. It looks like a phishing e-mail and may put many people off verifying personal details. Also when I did not respond a second mail was sent which again looks very suspious.

You have also not explained clearly how signing an online petition to support an excellent local service is a matter for Democratic Services. If you allow these petitions to be set up on your site it must be down to you to verify who is signing it and where the live.

How will we be notified of who has been accepted as a offical petitioner and who has not, I noticed that over 200 people had signed this petition over the holiday period, is it the councils plans to try and reduce these numbers. The fact the petition was only avalible for signing over a period when many people were away for the holiday period may lead to many local people not having a democratic right to show support.

I look forward to hearing more about why this petition is under examination and whether the resourses could be put to better use keeping a valuble community service in the History Centre alive.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

I do not know if anyone else has better knowledge of the councils workings, but they do not have a clear list of contacts to forward objections or concerns regarding the History centre.

There is a generic box

ask us a question - Brighton Hove City Council

or I just replied to the e-mail sent out

modern.gov@brighton-hove.gov.uk <modern.gov@brighton-hove.gov.uk>

Anyone else know the best contact details regrading the proposed closure of the History Centre.

 

[The History Man]

Many thanks to Lord Bracknell for starting this thread.

The closure of the Brighton History Centre would be a great blow to any research into the history of the city, its people, or its football club, Brighton & Hove Albion.

I spent around a decade in there – on and off! – researching the history of the club. I met the late Roger Harris there, and together we published the two standard Albion references, “Seagulls!” and “Albion A-Z”. Without the facilities available, good accessibility to material and knowledgeable staff, those books would never have been written.

There are countless documents, newspapers, maps, pictures, etc, relevant to the history of the Albion and to the people who have made the club over the last 109 years. Researching those two books wasn’t the end of the matter – it was just the beginning, laying foundations for further research.

I began my research in the early 1980s. As I scanned newspapers, I found myself reading other articles as well. The mid 1980s wasn’t a great time for football, so for a time I diverted onto a different project that fascinated me, a local history book called “The Encyclopaedia of Brighton” that was published in 1990. Some of you may be familiar with it. The good news is that next May it is being republished as a fully updated (and “proper” quality) book “The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton”.

It was only because the wealth of material within the Brighton History Centre was so readily accessible, and the staff so knowledgeable, that the encyclopaedia – and the two Albion books – were feasible.

Now the city council’s cabinet has proposed that this fantastic facility – which is also greatly loved by many family history researchers – should close to save the sum of £62,000. We are told that the “research resources are 100 per cent secure” and will be “continuously available”, being provided from the Jubilee Library for “two years” until new and better facilities are provided in a new Records Office at Falmer (the site is by the entrance to Falmer School off Lewes Road).

Well, I’m sorry, but I simply do not believe those promises. The specialist staff posts will be made redundant, and virtually all the collections will have to be put into storage which will deny researchers the ready access which we currently enjoy. Anything needed will have to be brought from storage by the already hard-pressed staff of the Jubilee Library. I dare say much material will be stored off-site so the delays will be enormous. This will be a massive decline in service, and no ordinary mortal would have the perseverance necessary to compile the sort of book that Roger and I were able to produce – it simply will not be possible any more. Any sort of research into Albion history will be immensely difficult.

I hope the facilities at the new Records Office will be even better than those at Church Street. But why not wait until that new home is built and available? A planning application is anticipated in the summer, but in this era of cuts will Brighton & Hove City Council (£5.3 million) and East Sussex County Council (£12.5 million) be able to commit those sums of money to see the project through? Is a 2012 opening realistic?

We, as Albion fans, know only too well what it’s like to get rid of your old home and look to Falmer for salvation – and we know how long it took! We also know what the limited facilities of a temporary home are like, especially when there was no end to the nightmare in sight. In the case of the Brighton History Centre’s resources I dread the possibility that some may be lost forever while we await a facility that may never be built.

I am to be paid a £1 per copy royalty for The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Recognising that the facility that made it possible is in danger, I have stated publicly in The Argus that I am willing to donate those payments to a fund to keep the centre open. I called upon the council to do the same with the surplus they will generate from the book.

I recognise that there are other more important and vital council services also facing cuts in the current economic climate. But the sum of £62,000 is modest in a city budget being cut by £8 million for a service beloved and used by many people for the benefit of the city.

And when you consider that the council is expecting to make a sum of that order from the sale of a new book which was only possible because of the facility it proposes to close … well, isn’t that rank hypocrisy?

If you would like to help try and save this important facility, and you live, work or study in Brighton & Hove, then please do these things:

1. Write to/email your ward councillors. If you have access to the internet, you can find out who your councillors are on the city council website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk. Click on “Council & Democracy” (left-hand side), then “Who are my councillors?” in the middle panel. Tell your councillors that this is a serious issue, and that you don’t wish the Brighton History Centre to close.
2. Write to/email Cllr David Smith, Cabinet member for Culture, Recreation & Tourism, at King’s House, Grand Avenue, Hove BN3 2LS or via david.smith@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
3. Write to/email the leaders of each political party (all at King’s House, Grand Avenue, Hove BN3 2LS):
• Cllr Mary Mears (Leader, Conservative group, and Leader of the Council) mary.mears@brighton-hove.gov.uk
• Cllr Gill Mitchell (Leader, Labour group) gill.mitchell@brighton-hove.gov.uk
• Cllr Bill Randall (Convenor, Green group) bill.randall@brighton-hove.gov.uk
• Cllr Paul Elgood (Leader, Lib-Dem group) paul.elgood@brighton-hove.gov.uk
4. Write/email a letter to The Argus at Crowhurst Road, Brighton BN1 8AR or email letters@theargus.co.uk.
5. Sign the online petition. Visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk, click (left-hand side) on “Council & Democracy”, then “ePetitions” (right-hand-side). You do need to register at this site to sign it, but it is very straightforward. You have until 1st February to do this.

This proposal may not mean a great deal to you, but I assure you that access to the Albion’s history is in peril. The matter will be decided on 25th February.

Thank you.

Tim Carder

 

[Strike]

Signed as person thats into local history! Be a blow to lose this place for Brighton and Sussex!

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Looks like good news, shows people power can work, from the argus;

People power saves Brighton's History Centre From The Argus)

People power has saved Brighton's History Centre from closure.

Brighton and Hove City Council's leader Mary Mears tonight announced it was scrapping cost-cutting proposals to axe the public archive, kept at Brighton Museum, in Church Street.

The u-turn follows weeks of pressure from the public, with dozens of people, including influential local historians, airing their opposition in letters to The Argus and elsewhere.

Almost 1,200 people signed a petition on the council's website.

Coun Mears announced the decision at a meeting of the council's cabinet at Hove Town Hall.

After the meeting she said: "Since this was proposed the level of affection for these services has become very obvious, so I’ve taken the decision to redirect some of our discretionary spending towards keeping these centres open.

"We are faced with a tough financial situation so we’ve got to ensure that we are using public money wisely."

The council had proposed closing the History Centre, and temporarily moving some of its collection to the Jubilee Library, in Jubilee Street, and putting the rest in storage ahead of the planned opening of "The Keep", a £19 million new records office at Falmer which would be shared with East Sussex County Council.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Well done NSC - and other supporters of The Brighton History Centre.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Time to bounce this thread. I heard it faces closure in March. Is it time to kick up a fuss over again?

 

[skipper734]

The Keep was topped out on the 1st of October. Due to open early 2013 so they are closing the History Centre to move the History to the Keep. No need for further action at this time!