7 Days of Headlines with Phil Mills
Vandals bombing parking meters, rewards for tagged cuttlefish & Pavilion sees the light
Sussex Police are flogging the family silver to help pay the bills – likely jewels for sale include Slaugham Manor, the force’s training and conference centre off the A23, and Sussex House, the force’s CID HQ in Hollingbury. There’s even a tiny police box in Hurstpierpoint that’s going to auction as the force looks for ways of saving £50m. Two police boxes in Brighton sold for £163,000. Every little helps.
Police reckon cannabis is growing all over the county, and while the language used by critics verges on the ‘hang ’em high,’ behind the rhetoric you have the likes of Brighton MP Caroline Lucas and Brighton police chief Graham Bartlett arguing it’s time for a rethink on drugs – or at least an adult debate.
A by-election saw Labour hold one of its safest seats – Chaun Wilson topped the East Brighton poll with 1,596 votes, and with the Greens coming a poor third, the other parties are asking: have the Greens had their day?
The oldest electric railway in the world, Brighton’s Volk’s Electric Railway, has been honoured with a national award in recognition of it being unique in the annals of UK industrial history. It has been chosen to receive the prestigious Engineering Heritage Award from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
It’s a fond farewell to Roger French who has announced his retirement as Managing Director of Go-Ahead’s Brighton and Hove Buses, after 30 years. He said, “I’ll miss working with all my fantastic colleagues – I’ve been lucky to work with such a great bunch of people.”
On the crime front, a 44-year-old shopkeeper used a chair leg to fight off a man with a knife in the Coombe Road Convenience Store, Brighton. Police praised the victim and appealed for witnesses or anyone who knows the attacker, dressed in a grey striped hoody.
A man who raped and beat his Sussex partner has been jailed by Brighton Crown Court for 14 years. Daniel Santana, 27, was convicted
of two charges of rape, assault, battery, ABH and criminal damage. He grabbed his girlfriend by the throat, punched her and slapped her face so hard he left finger marks. Police praised the woman for refusing to be bullied.
Vandals are blowing up pay and display machines in Lewes in what appears to be a parking charge protest. Firework ‘bombs’ destroyed two machines, causing £3,000 damage and police are warning the culprits could cause injuries. There were 15 such attacks last year and there’s a £1,250 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Drivers fed up with massive delays on the A27 west of Brighton welcomed news that West Sussex County Council is planning to relieve bottlenecks at Chichester, Arundel and Worthing – and ultimately they’ll push for a bypass.
There was a fishy tale off the Sussex coast – researchers fitted electronic tags to 130 cuttlefish and anyone finding one washed up can collect £50 from the Marine Biologist Association.
Finally, let there be light: The Royal Pavilion has a new LED lighting system which will cost 75 per cent less to run and, according to the experts, will provide greater flexibility and the ability to highlight individual architectural features using a range if colours. It will “illuminate the building itself and not light the sky in the way the old system did – thus reducing light pollution.” But will it show off the city’s brightest architectural jewel in a new light? What do you think? Email – comment@thelatest.co.uk
