Seagull Weekly Briefing 12/02

Good morning, and welcome to the Brighton Seagull's Weekly Briefing. Bit quiet this week, but there were some really nice sunsets on Saturday and Sunday nights. You can see one of those above. News time.

Have your say on the Neighbourhood Plan for Brighton Marina

Residents and businesses have the chance to give their views on a new Neighbourhood Plan for Brighton Marina.

The consultation is now open, and runs until Monday 18th March.

The plan will be used to help decide the outcome of planning applications in the area, and it makes for interesting reading even for those who are not residents or businesses.

A total of 1,614 people live in the Brighton Marina neighbourhood plan area. Of those, 44% are in full-time employment in the neighbourhood area, the overall crime rate is higher than the UK average, and the percentage of people satisfied with the neighbourhood is 85.9%, compared to 79.3% nationally.

The vision of the plan is to develop Brighton Marina in a way that 'realises the full potential' of the area, in terms of connectedness, quality of life, and sustainability.

Brighton Marina Neighbourhood Forum are the third local group in the city to submit its neighbourhood plan. The public votes on the Hove Station Area and Rottingdean Parish neighbourhood plans take place on 9 February.

If you can't access the consultation portal, you can email your comments to [email protected]. A Word version of the response form is available on request.

You can also find hard copies of the Brighton Marina Neighbourhood Plan at:

• Whitehawk Library
• Rottingdean Library
• Jubilee Library
• Brighton Customer Service Centre, Bartholomew House

🖋 News in Brief 🖋

• The Volk's Electric Railway won the Heritage Railway Association's 'Railway of the Year' award on Saturday night! Congratulations to the whole team.
• Councillors at Thursday's Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee voted to freeze library fees and charges from April this year, rather than introducing the 3.5% inflationary increase agreed across other council fees and charges. This includes keeping the current charges for the use of public computers beyond the first free hour, where increasing charges or decreasing the free time could likely impact residents who are digitally excluded.
• In a public vote, residents have chosen Hove Beach Park as the name for the new West Hove seafront park being created through the Kingsway to the Sea project. Nearly 3,900 votes were cast, and Hove Beach Park won nearly a quarter of all votes. Following an appeal for suggested names in December, nine options were put forward to voters in an online poll. Parky McParkface was sadly not in contention—wait, what do you mean we did that joke last time?

What's happening? A school counselling pilot project is being launched by the council and Brighton & Hove Citizens group.

When will it start? The project will provide counselling to children in secondary schools from September. The pilot will be evaluated throughout the course of the year, and be a blueprint for how counselling is offered in schools in the future.

Why now? There has been an increase in the number of students in Brighton and Hove struggling with their mental health, says the council.

Got any stats? According to Sussex Learning Network, hospital admissions for self-harm in children have increased: from 2011/12 to 2017/18, admissions have generally trended upwards, unlike national figures where, despite some growth, admission rates have broadly stabilised. In 2011/12, around 125 in 100,000 10-14 year olds were hospitalised because of self harm, compared with 260 in 100,000 in 2015/16. Nationally, this figure was 75 in 100,000 in 2011/12, and 200 out of 100,000 in 2015/16.

Any more? As well as this, the council's public health team found that, in 2018, across 8,142 secondary school children, 10% of 14-16 year olds reported often or sometimes hurting themselves, and 17% said they often or sometimes had suicidal thoughts.

What has the council said? Councillor Andrei Czolak, the council’s lead member for school mental health, said:

The evidence is clear, this is having a devastating impact on school attendances and attainment across the country and proving a barrier to our children and young people enjoying a happy, healthy and fulfilling start to life.

It is crucial that we provide young people with a safe environment in which to talk when they are feeling down or encountering challenges to their mental wellbeing.

What help is there currently? At the moment, local mental health support for under 18s is provided by Brighton & Hove Wellbeing Service, e-wellbeing.co.uk, GPs, The Schools Mental Health service, and CAMHS.

What can I do to help? Encourage children in your life to seek out help if they need it. If necessary, Samaritans have an online safety hub for young people at risk of self-harm and suicidal feelings.