7 Days of Headlines with Phil Mills
University voted third most sustainable, the Royal Sussex to get modernised and abandoned dogs
It was the week Brighton and Hove turned a deeper shade of green and when we discovered a dark secret behind the smiling face of one of our top authors.
As the city’s Cllr Liz Wakefield was heralding the installation of new solar panels to council properties on the Bristol estate, the University of Brighton was being hailed one of the greenest higher education institutions in the country.
The university came an amazing third out of 145 universities and higher education institutions in the People & Planet’s annual Green League for sustainability and biodiversity – its position has improved 18 places from last year.
Meanwhile, Sussex crime writer Peter James has revealed he has a stalker – and he’s taking revenge on her in his new book Not Dead Yet.
The stalking started ten years ago when the strange woman smiled at him at a book event. She later sent him a photograph of her ‘Peter James shrine’ and she’s been emailing him three times a week. Peter’s new book focuses on the stalker and, in an interview, he issued a challenge to her: “If you don’t like it, come and find me. Make my day, punk!”
The Olympic flame reaches the city on 16 July and 10,000 free tickets are on offer for a torch relay and evening celebration at the Sussex County Cricket Ground in Hove. They can be collected on a first-come, first-served basis, four per household, from 13 June, from Portslade Sports Centre, The Deans Leisure Centre, King Alfred Leisure Centre, Withdean Sports Centre, Stanley Deason Leisure Centre, Prince Regent Swimming Complex, Moulsecoomb Leisure Centre, Brighton Centre Box Office, Hove Town Hall, and housing offices in Lavender Street, Oxford Street, Selsfield Drive, and Victoria Road. For more information go to www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/2012 and www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/2012torchcelebration Details of the Olympic Torch Relay route are available online at: www.brighton-hove.gov.uk.
Police issued an e-fit of a man wanted for a sex attack on a young woman near BHASVIC college in Dyke Road. Anyone recognising him should call 101. Police are investigating after a woman suffered serious injuries falling 55ft to a basement from the window of a flat in Madeira Mansions in Madeira Place, Brighton.
Young Staffordshire bull terriers are being dumped on the city streets at such an alarming rate that council welfare officers issued an urgent appeal for people to take them in and ease the burden on crowded kennels. Call 01273 292929 for details.
There was tragedy when a swimmer drowned after rescuing a child at West Wittering beach. The 32-year-old hero was caught in an undercurrent moments after pulling the five-year-old girl on a rubber ring to safety.
A pregnant woman was stabbed three times in an attack in Crawley but both survived. Police said the attacker was trying to kill the young woman, and, in a separate case, a schoolboy from Brighton has entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of manslaughter after being accused of killing 19-year-old Connor Saunders in Rottingdean.
Finally, and at long last, the Government is close to approving the £420 million modernisation of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, leaving just the Treasury to give the nod. The first monies will decant staff and equipment from old buildings. The whole project will take ten years – and it can’t come soon enough after news that 500 patients are going through the hospital’s A&E department every day.
There’ll be new buildings in the front of the hospital, a new car park and a helicopter landing site for emergencies. A fantastic new centre of excellence – but pity the poor neighbours putting up with all the dust and traffic.
