Tim Ridgway’s Latest News: This week’s headlines

To build or not to build?
There has been minor uproar in the east of the city as developers have confirmed they want to build more than 300 homes on land in Ovingdean.

Lightwood Strategic said the plot, just off Falmer Road, is allocated for residential use in the city council’s development blueprint.

But environmentalists are concerned about how it would impact on the nearby South Downs National Park while locals have had the inevitable infrastructure qualms.

A public exhibition will be held on March 11 and 12 at Longhill School about the plans.

“March off”
March for England is returning to Brighton next month – and nationalist and counter-protesters are already drawing lines ahead of the protest in the city centre on April 27.

What is billed as a celebration of Englishness has in previous years descended into clashes between rival groups with police struggling to keep them apart.

With the 2013 policing bill reaching £500,000 and many business closing for the day, Geoffrey Theobald, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Conservative group, has called for the march to be cancelled or re-routed.

Cllr Theobald said: “We are very much against this and I have emailed those in charge to say as much.

“I don’t think it is appropriate in our city centre and on the seafront. This is our shop window and this event no doubt puts people off coming to our city and spending money.”

Food for thought
Food hygiene at the city’s thousands of eateries has gone under the microscope.
A report from the city’s food safety team has shown that more than nine out of ten restaurants fall into the top categories when it comes to hygiene.

In total, the number of five star-rated premises has also risen, from 1,311 in April 2012 to 1,469 in January of this year. But what about those at the other end of the food chain?

Well, six premises have been prosecuted between April 2013 and January, most of these due to mouse or rat infestations.

These include Maison du Vin in East Street and Sukhothai Palace in
Middle Street.

In the same period, 48 hygiene improvement notices were served and seven businesses voluntarily closed.

All of which gives us plenty of food for thought when next choosing a place to wine and dine.
To check out the ratings, visit www.ratings.food.gov.uk.

School places out
School place problems have been problem in Brighton and Hove since the city was created. But have officials finally found the code to solve the perennial “ticking time bomb”?

This year 1,931, or 82%, of pupils were offered a place at their first choice secondary school to start in September 2014. In total, those offered one of their three top picks was more than 95% – down from 97% last year.

But this still left 115 youngsters being sent to schools they did not choose. How many of those will appeal the decision is still not clear.

Inn fashion
The art of conversation is dying, right? Well, Rick and Ruth Evans and Dave and Ali White, who all live in Hove, certainly don’t think so.

The quartet are looking to convert York House Wines off-licence in Richardson Road, Hove into the city’s first micropub.

If it receives planning permission, the “no frills” bar could offer the punters the chance to enjoy local beers and wine by the summer.

I’ll raise a glass to that.