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Contents

• Agenda for the day 3

• Summary 4

• Background & Aim of the conference 8

• Who participated? 9

• Photographs 10

• What we did and how we did it 11

• Action Planning in small groups 13

• Conclusion of the day 21

• Evaluation of the day 21

(Contents is hyperlinked to pages, just click on the title)

Report by Kalishia Le Coutre

With thanks to Jean Thomas for noting the day’s proceedings; Jacqui Swayne, Paul
Bramwell, Steve Andrews, Dawn Rennie for writing up group work; Joanna Hill for editing.

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 Agenda for the day

Sign-in, coffee and tell us the key thing that

9:45am
should be improved in Coldean.
10:00am What we did at the last conference.

What has happened since – residents and

service providers tell us what they’ve been doing
10:10am
since the last conference. There’ll be lots of time
to ask questions and find out more.

Prioritising the key issues that you want to talk

11:10am
about for the rest of the day.
11:15am Break

Tell us what you want changed in Coldean

11:30am
Ideas and solutions to issues and problems

12:30am Free Lunch!

Action Planning – In smaller groups

1:00pm How are we going to change things and who is
going to do it?

1:45pm Break Cancelled

2:00pm Sharing each others plans
2:25pm Conclusions and what next

2:30pm Thank you & Goodbye

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Summary - Coldean Conference 2009
The main aims for this year’s conference were:

 To celebrate the year’s achievements with presentations from project volunteers and
service providers who deliver a service locally. Local community groups also produced
posters of achievements, with pictures and quotes of their work.
 To look at the last year’s work and see how far the community has come, also to see if
there is anything else that still needs doing and to identify any gaps in services and try
to fill them.
 To action plan around new issues that the community are facing and also old issues
that still need doing, making sure to outline: who, when, what, why, and how they can
be actioned.

Welcome & Sign-in

Coldean residents and a wide range of service providers were invited to the Conference. Fifty
one people came: 22 residents and 29 service providers attended.

Each person was given a conference pack with an outline of the day and information about
projects and services in the area. Everyone attending was asked to write on a post-it one
positive thing about Coldean and one burning issue if they had one. They were asked to stick
these up on the wall.

Introductions and what we did at the last conference

The outline and aims of the day were presented (see above). We then revisited the Coldean
map which had been drawn up by Coldean residents at the last conference. Together, they
had added post-its, to point out hubs and services in the community.

Community members and representatives of different services spoke about the part they take
in the local community.

Local Police Community Support Officer

Youth Project Worker
Library Manager
Volunteer and Community Activist
Playspace and New Larchwood Evaluation
Coldean Colts Worker
Head Teacher, Coldean School
New Larchwood Surgery (spoke later in the afternoon session)

Prioritising key issues – sticky dots on to post-its

Peoples’ post-it notes with one positive thing about Coldean and one burning issue were
grouped together and each person prioritised their three most important issues by sticking a
dot beside them. Five top priorities were identified out of this:
• Environment
• Communication
• Sports Facilities
• Transport
• Play Activities & Equipment
• General/ Any Other Issues

Action planning in small groups

Everyone was then divided in to small groups each addressing a different issue. Facilitators
asked people to contribute ideas about gaps in services, what could be improved, what could

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be changed and what still needs doing. Every group had a chance to contribute to each issue
in turn.

The following is a summary of the key issues and actions that came out of the group
discussions. Please refer to the main report for details.

Environment
The issues and actions people identified in this group included:
• A need to improve refuse collection and recycling. Actions included, inviting City Clean
to the Residents Association to improve communication; Redoing the environmental
survey, with the Residents Association sending it to City Clean
• A need to raise community awareness about vehicle parking. Actions included raising
the issue in the SCLAT
• Varley halls expansion: Positive aspect could be that the students would get on and off
the bus near their Halls, which would keep noise down. Actions included working with
the Community Liaison officer to improve relations with students.
• School field improvements. Actions included School and Colts to meet and to discuss
funding for levelling the pitch with the Sports funding manager at BHCC.

Communication
The issues and actions identified in this group included
• Newsletter: keen to continue, needs more volunteers and funding, especially if
increasing frequency
• Library: Developing it as central point for information/ sign posting
• Noticeboards: more visible, including bottom of Coldean Lane.
• Coldean Website: should be promotion of website and beginners sessions; e-
newsletter; e forums
• Coldean Conference: this was positive but the day should be changed to a Saturday to
allow more people to come.
• Communication with Service providers: regular meetings between services and
residents to be disseminated within the newsletter or a similar format.
• Volunteer bank, to match volunteers according to skills
• GP Surgery: information available is restricted to health related issues. Develop as a
good point of access, while ‘waiting’ to see the GP.

Sports Facilities – (Including those at the school)

The issues and actions people identified in this group included:
• A need for activities for young people of 13+. The Youth club plans to look in to
Coldean youth club having better facilities and extend for this age group.
• A need for sports and play activities, e.g. a summer play scheme in Coldean;
gymnastics club. There is a lack of volunteers to support sports and youth activities.
Action included: development of a general sports interest group; seek funding for
facilities and training to encourage children and young people to participate in sport;
• Community use of Swimming pool at Coldean School. Actions included: exploring
opportunities to open out of school hours; getting private sector sponsorship for the
running costs of the pool if it was open to the public
• Coldean Colts need a local facility. A number of actions were suggested, including: a
meeting with the School and the Albion, and formation of a steering group; keep the
under 8s playing in Coldean by repairing the top pitch; approach Sports Development
Team at Brighton & Hove City Council (new School Sports Coordinator) to identify
funds for developing the lower pitch with school agreement; Friends of Coldean to call
a meeting about the need for better football facilities in Coldean.

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Transport
The issues and actions that came up included:
• Poor Bus service: Need to stick to timetables and weekend/ evening service needs
improving. Actions included: trial changes to current bus services (more buses at peak
times/smaller buses at slower times
• Better communication about service. Actions included: bus company to have
"participatory planning" session with residents; survey residents using the newsletter;
meet with the commercial manager of the bus company; ask local councillors to
support campaign for changes.
• Kerbs too low and cars are parking in bus stops. Clearer road markings needed

Play Activities & Equipment

A number of issues were identified by this group, but the group did not continue to
action plan on this area:
• Improving play facilities, including Softball, Skateboard area, pool table, basketball
hoops, softplay facilities; young people congregating around play equipment in a
negative way needs to be addressed. Positive progress getting funding for playspace
within a 12-month framework.
• Extending Play schemes, such as a regular summer scheme.
• Lack of youth provision, especially 13+age group. The support of Youth Group by
Development Worker is appreciated. More varied activities for Young People
(including cookery) need to take place
• Fundraising seems to be dependent on Volunteer(s); support needs to come from
within the Community
• Intergenerational activities: the Wii facility at new Larchwood & Library can be used to
develop intergenerational events; disused pond on School grounds as a ‘green’
community event

General/ Any Other Issues

• A key issue that came up was developing day centre services at New Larchwood.

Conclusion
The action plans were shared. TDC staff will write up the report and circulate it to conference
participants. TDC will take the report and action plans to the different community groups for
further follow up. Some of the issues and actions identified would feed in to TDC’s workplans,
but all the groups would need to work together to move the actions forward and a meeting
should be held to get representatives from the groups together to take this forward.

After the action plans were shared, participants discussed whether it was a useful forum to
have a Conference. On the whole, feedback was positive but some people felt it would be
better to try having it on a Saturday so more residents could come.

TDC staff thanked everyone for coming; the TDC Community development worker for
organising the event; and the facilitators and Working Together Project for their support.
Everyone was invited to fill in the evaluation form.

Evaluation
A summary of participants’ evaluations has been compiled. Overall, this feedback indicates
that people felt that they had learnt something new and found the conference useful. The

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Conference could have been improved by having more of a balance of service providers and
residents throughout the day.

Facilitators met to evaluate the event on 1 October. Their comments have been noted in
order to feed into future events. Overall, facilitators felt the day went well and the aims had
been broadly achieved: there was a good turn out; it generated a lot of discussion and a
number of issues and actions have been noted. It will be important to ensure participants and
their groups are involved in the follow-up of the Conference. The report and action plans will
be sent to service providers and residents who participated and to the different community
groups for further follow up.

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 Background
In 2004 The Coldean Residents Association approached the Trust for Developing
Communities to ask if they would help develop work in the area.

Linda Saltwell, Special Projects Officer at the Trust for Developing Communities, worked with
focus groups, individuals, and existing community groups to develop an Action Plan for the
area through consultation events, attending group meetings, a young persons event and via
a survey (developed with the community) that went to every household.

In all 362 people responded to the consultation - 15% of the Community.

The NAP was then delivered to every household and has been the “tool” used to determine
work in the area.

Last year Coldean Community Development Worker Jenny Moore got the residents together
to organise the 2008 Coldean conference. Since then the community have achieved so much
with new services being delivered in the area, community groups growing and developing
new projects and activities.

The main focus of last years conference action plan have either been actioned or are being
actioned through the delivery of the current Community Development Worker.

Aim of the conference

The main aims for this year’s conference were:

 To celebrate the year’s achievements with displays and presentations from project
volunteers and service providers who deliver a service locally. Local community
groups also produced posters of achievements, with pictures and quotes of their work.
 To look at the last year’s work and see how far the community has come; to see if
there is anything else that still needs doing and to identify any gaps in services and try
to fill them.
 To action plan around new issues that the community are facing and also old issues
that still need doing, making sure to outline: who, when, what, why, and how they can
be actioned.

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 Who Participated?
Residents:
1. Richard Pearce – Coldean
Resident
2. Joe Tansey – Coldean
Resident
3. Margaret Tugwell – Coldean
Resident
4. Mary Knight – Coldean
Resident
5. Marrey – Coldean Resident
6. Coldean Resident
7. Coldean Resident
8. John Day – Coldean Resident
9. Suzanne Harris – Coldean
Residents Association
10. Oshik Romen – Coldean Youth
Project
11. Ted Harman – CTLA/ Coldean
Resident
12. Elaine Mepham-Foster – Coldean
Residents Association
13. Pat Berry – Coldean Residents
Association
14. Jean Thomas – Coldean Residents
Association/ Community Café
15. Julie Donovan – Friends of Coldean
Parks Group
16. Rachel Gouldthorpe – Coldean Vicar/
Coldean Resident
17. Eileen Jones – Coldean Resident
18. Sue Hollingdale – Coldean Residents
Association
19. Phillip Pilbeam – Coldean Colts
20. Steve Storey – Coldean Resident
21. Annemarie – Coldean Resident
22. Coldean resident
Service Providers:
23. Mark Bowen – B&H Buses
24. Kevin Mannoll – Brighton University
Liaison Officer
25. Rob Dunbrill – City Parks BHCC
26. Nicky Brown – Coldean Children’s
Centre BHCC
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27. Stuart McConnachie – Head
Teacher, Coldean Primary School
28. Tony Baker – Environment
Improvement Team BHCC
29. Wendy Barrett – Coldean Library
Manager
30. Deirdre Prower – New Larchwood
Surgery
31. Malin Andersson – New
Larchwood Manager
32. Thomas Morvan-Toone – Police
Community Support Officer
33. William Whitehead – Police
Inspector
34. David Guthrie – SCIP
35. Julie Stacey – Active East Brighton
BHCC
36. Steve Andrews – Community
Participation Worker, New
Larchwood (facilitator)
37. Kirsty Walker – Project Manager,
TDC
38. Jaqui Swayne – Volunteer, TDC
(facilitator)
39. Claire Burchell – Youth
Development Worker, TDC
40. Sally Clarke – The Bridge
41. Dawn Rennie – The Working
Together Project (facilitator)
42. Paul Bramwell – The Working
Together Project (facilitator)
43. Christine Simpson – Ward
Councillor
44. Matthew Harfield – Coldean Library
45. Victoria Jarvis – Coldean Library
46. Debbie Mallard – Varndean
College
47. Jay Butler – Be Creative
48. Gemma King – Be Creative
49. C. Patrick Lowe – Conservatives
50. Carol Ramsden – Conservatives
51. Tereba Large – Coldean Library
52. Joanna Hill – TDC (facilitator)
53. Kalishia Le Coutre – TDC
(facilitator)
P
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 What we did and how we did it
Welcome & Sign-in
Each person was given a conference pack with outline of the day.

Each person attending was asked to write on a post-it one positive thing about Coldean and
one burning issue if they had one.

Positives about Coldean

 Strong Community
 Friendly People
 Low crime levels
 Great community spirit
 Good relations with Service Providers
 Beautiful area
 Peace & Tranquillity
 Enthusiastic residents working together
Burning Issues
 The parks need improving and we would like a summer play scheme
 More facilities for children
 Coldean Colts – changing facilities, play facilities and equipment needed
 School budget & facilities
 More commitment from parents whose children attend the youth club
 We need a better bus service (Sundays and evenings really bad)
 Lollipop person on Hawkhurst road
 Better reporting to the police
 Noise disruption from students from Varley Halls (especially at bus stops)
 Recycling collections in the neighbourhood need to be improved
 Improve Communication between groups and projects
 Better use of the library and its services by residents
 More support from Brighton & Hove City Council in Coldean
 Why don’t Coldean residents use the community café more often? (If they did we
could re-start the food service)
 Movie Evenings
 Our projects and groups need more volunteers
 Photography Club
 Improve Communication to the community

Introductions
 Housekeeping

What we did at the last conference

Steve Andrews introduced the photographers to inform people that photographs would be
taken and used for publicity afterwards. He then focused on the Coldean map which at the
last conference residents added post-its to point out hubs and services of the community.

The conference then continued with different local people/services speaking about the part
they take in the local community.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO)

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The PCSO spoke about local crime. He felt that Coldean community was like a village and
people are welcoming. Crime figures are very low in Coldean. It was important to
concentrate on things that groups could achieve, such as conservation. He encouraged
people to phone for incidents, including minor incidents. “Coldean Local Action Team is
brilliant, as it brings all the different services together and it is incredibly important that it
continues to have regular meetings, keeping things going.” He said it was important for
residents to take responsibility and bring local groups together, such as LAT, Residents’
Association, Tenants’ and Leaseholders.

Youth Project Worker

The Youth Project worker has been involved with the youth project in Coldean for four years.
He grew up in a village that had a strong community life. He became a youth leader and then
moved to the country. He believes that prevention is the best answer to troubles in the
community. He started a youth club in a building now knocked down. It was for children, 9 to
13 years of age and involved cooking, games, art, and outside activities. “It is about making
kids feel they belong; this can produce positive feelings for the community”. He said they
need more funds and also parents as volunteers.

Library Manager
The Library Manager spoke of the use of IT in the library in the evening and was also
interested in involving the community more to find out what else it would like the library to
provide. There had been a 1940’s day recently. She would like people to tell library staff what
other events they would take part in. She suggested a scrabble league, card games or a Wii
intergenerational event. In response, participants asked if they would provide a photo club,
movie evening or film making facilities. The library would have to consider licensing laws.
She would investigate whether they had a Microsoft/ film-making package.

Volunteer and Community Activist

The volunteer said that in the last three years or so she has been involved with different
voluntary activities in the local community: City Cat Shelter, New Larchwood (Community
Café and other events) and Stanmer Preservation Society, where she gives history talks on
Sundays during the summer at the Donkey Wheel. Although she is not originally from Sussex
she feels at home here in Brighton, particularly Coldean and enjoys being part of the local
community.

Project Manager at the TDC, My Play Space project and New Larchwood evaluation
The Project Manager talked about the Council’s My Play Space project which is being carried
out over 2 years to to improve the quality of the city's play spaces. She had leaflets with
contact details so people could find out more about the plans for Coldean’s parks. She
invited people to look at the display board and offered to facilitate a group on play facilities.

The neighbourhood evaluation carried out recently on New Larchwood yielded a very
positive response, although some people didn’t know what activities went on in the New
Larchwood building. It showed that people think overcame obstacles to get together. There is
a perception of the Community Café as being an older person’s space and not for young
people.

One person asked what the Council was doing to come out to the community. The facilitators
responded that the East Brighton Living Centre had Coldean as part of its area. Through
funding, the Council also supported the work of community organisations such as the Trust,
who supported groups such as the Residents’ Association, Friends of Coldean Parks etc.
Some participants felt we should focus on “not on what they do for us but what we can do for
ourselves.” Another said, “We need to concentrate on building things in Coldean”.

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Coldean Colts Representative
The representative from the Colts spoke about how the Colts started 2 years ago when
Coldean had no football club. He asked the former head of Coldean School for the use of the
school fields. After 2 years they now have 70 players and recently held a memorial event for
Henry Nugent that raised a great deal of money. He felt that sport taught children discipline.
The Colts need more volunteers. Organisations like the Residents’ Association have been
very supportive. There was a proposal for a Mini-school of Excellence, but this did not
happen. He felt they needed wider support from Coldean residents. The Colts would like the
school pitches improved: they need the top pitch repaired and the lower levelled off. “This is
what kids want”. The Colts needed more funding. It costs £90 for 2 teams to play. “We have
no team colours; this means a lot to kids and keeps them off the streets”.

Head Teacher, Coldean School

The Head Teacher understood the situation about the football facilities. School grounds are
owned by the council so Coldean Colts would need the Councils permission to improve the
school fields and any funding bid for school fields. The school does not have the budget.
Children use the field in school time. The field would be out of action for a year if levelling etc
went ahead. The top pitch is laid out and in a state because everybody uses it. He proposed
the bottom pitch is laid out.

Doctor’s Surgery
The New Larchwood Surgery nurse updated people on the Surgery:
 Surgery is open 5 days
 Slowly gaining more people
 It is nurse-led
 Trained for prescribing and diagnosing people
 For surgery to survive it needs to encourage people to change to this surgery
 Needs to be 1,000 patients to be viable (out of 2000 residents in Coldean)
 If not successful in 3 years Coldean will lose surgery in New Larchwood
 Can’t advertise services
 The bigger we make the surgery the more we can get out of it
 Can include Varley Halls
 Carden Hill included
 Can drop prescription at New Larchwood if Carden Hill patient and hand to Mannish at
Beatty Pharmacy

Participants said that some people like to see the same doctors as they have seen for some
time. They suggested information was put in the Newsletter to inform people of options

Prioritising key issues – sticky dots on to post-its

Each person was given three sticky dots to go up to the burning issues and pick their
priorities to stick a dot on. The dots were then counted and everything grouped to different
headings e.g. sports facilities, environment etc. The top priorities ended being grouped
together into five different groups

Break

Action planning in small groups

The room was divided in to small groups and each facilitator went round with a different
subject heading and asked for people to contribute ideas about gaps in services, what could
be improved, what could be changed, what still needs doing and what else can be delivered
locally.

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Subjects to action plan on (these were pulled from burning issues):
• Environment
• Communication
• Sports Facilities
• Transport
• Play Activities & Equipment
• General/ Any Other Issues

Environment
Facilitator – Joanna Hill,TDC Projects Manager for Coldean
Issues:
 Grass cutting and trees – this need to be done more regularly.
 Need trees in Haig Ave
 Bins - refuse collection is regular, but bins are not put back.
 No collection for green waste
 Noise from Raves is a big problem
 Students in Varley Halls - noise and litter on buses. Students living in Coldean leaving
their gardens in a mess
 Car parking and traffic: Grass verges are wrecked by parking, if cars didn’t park on the
verge, the ambulances and buses wouldn’t be able to get through. Parking is a
problem especially around school drop off and pick up
 Hedges are not kept cut e.g. Walton Bank, as dangerous as can’t see round when
turning in car. Chalk Hill Car park is dangerous
 At the library, lorries on pavements block access to New Larchwood
 Speeding on Coldean Lane
 School field: Need safe environment for children to play football and other activities:
need to level the field to make it safe
 Need to improve school grounds: wildlife pond improvement, pond dipping
 Pavements: There are no drop curbs on the pavements for wheel chairs, trikes.
 Generally positive about the environment: tranquil and peaceful
 Many of these issues were highlighted in the Environment Survey that was carried out
by the Resident’s Association.

Communication
Facilitator – Jacqui Swayne, TDC Volunteer

How do people communicate?

 News letter
 Conference
 Word of mouth
 Notice board
 Church magazine
 Library
 Posters or Flyers
 Website
 Coffee morning
 Badger watches
 New Larchwood Café
 E-watch
 GP Surgery – health related issues

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Needs improving
 News letter – more frequency- space factor- inclusion of info/lack of space
 More volunteers needed – busy lives
 Library wasn’t prepared for conference, i.e., display boards – not asked to do anything
 Conference bi-annually!!
 Notice boards
Conference:
 All comments were positive regarding the conference. However the ratio of service
provision to residents was problematic, reducing the true picture of satisfaction felt by
them in regards to issues raised. Residents felt that changing the day of conference
to a Saturday would allow more to come.
 The library felt that they were not properly informed regarding display boards and
supplying leaflets.
 It was mentioned holding the conference bi-annually. However, this would ‘water
down’ the outcomes and confuse its purpose. (Two public meetings could be held
instead)
Notice boards:
 Coldean has several notice boards across the central area, some of which are
displayed in resident’s gardens. General comments included that they needed to be
more visible, and spread across Coldean (i.e. bottom end of Coldean lane). Service
providers felt they could make use of these also, but were not aware to whom they
should speak.
Coldean Website:
 Many residents do not have internet access, but did not feel confident enough to use
the library computers. Some residents felt it could be made easier to use. It was also
suggested that online discussion groups could be developed and the inclusion of an
‘e-newsletter’. Those commenting were not aware if there was beginner sessions held
for residents.
 It was felt that there should be an increase in the promotion of the website.
GP Surgery:
 Information available is restricted to health related issues. Many felt that it would be a
good point of access, due to the nature of ‘waiting’ to see the GP.

Overall feeling from all participants, particularly services, was that communication was quite
good in comparison to other communities.

A suggestion put forward by a service provider to improve communication was for regular
meetings between services and residents to share information and for it to be disseminated
within the newsletter or a similar format.

Sports Facilities – (Including those at the school)

Facilitator – Paul Bramwell, Working Together Project

General issues
 Facilities and activities are needed for young people 13+, although it was noted that
the youth club will be extending its reach to that age range shortly
 67 Centre is the nearest youth Centre – the Coldean youth club could have better
facilities!
 Lack of volunteers to support sports and exercise activities
 That if the School is unable to offer its facilities to the local community outside of
school hours, then the community needs to develop its own facilities
 That there is generally a lack of outside community space in Coldean
 That there is no summer play scheme in Coldean
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  Frustration was expressed in general that community meetings end up focusing on
things like dog poo, which makes it difficult to move issues like sports facilities forward.
This led to a suggestion that it might be more useful to have a general sports interest
group that could move some of these issues forward.
 It would be good if there was a local gymnastics club
 It was suggested that the School could seek funding for facilities and training to
improve the delivery of sports coaching and encouragement of young people to
participate in sport.
 Albion in the Community run football sessions at the school on Wednesday nights

Opportunities
 The School will be piloting a scheme to enable children from financially disadvantaged
families to access extended services. This could enable more funding to go to local
sports activities.
 There is funding around at the moment to tackle obesity. Is this an opportunity to fund
sports activities in Coldean?

Swimming Pool
 The community paid for the pool to built, but have limited access to it
 Coldean School have a swimming pool which is open to the public during the summer
holidays
 It was felt that the swimming pool could be open out of school hours
 It was also felt that a swimming session for older people could be offered outside of
school hours
 It was noted that the pool could do with a roof and a heat exchanger
 It was suggested that the school might be able to get private sector sponsorship for
the running costs of the pool if it was open the public
 It was recognised by everyone that all of this would need additional resources to make
it sustainable

Facilities for Coldean Colts

Coldean Colts need a local facility for the youth teams to play. They had been working with
Albion in the Community and Coldean Primary School to repair the current pitch at the
School on the top field and to create a multi-sport pitch on the lower field. It is believed this
plan fell through after there were some misgivings from the School and little response from
consultation with local residents groups. Suggestions for moving the issue forward were as
follows:
 Could the Falmer Academy and / or the new Falmer stadium do anything to help the
situation?
 Could the Brighton & Hove Sports Strategy lend support to the Colts finding a
permanent home in Coldean?
 Could a pitch be fundraised for and put in Coldean Park along with the new play
facilities?
 Could the Friends of Coldean call a specific meeting about the need for better football
facilities in Coldean?
 It was suggested that there should be some work done on understanding how much
neighbouring pitches are used – Stanmer park, Wild Park, Falmer School, University
of Brighton, University of Sussex and if there is spare capacity – which we’re not sure
that there is, to use the central booking system, and to use the affordable minibus at
Moulsecoomb Neighbourhood Trust to transport young people.
 That if there is the opportunity to improve the pitch at Coldean School, there needs to
be some work done about who is able to use it – as at the moment, the heavy use
means that the pitch is a health and safety hazard.
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  That there are opportunities to link into current initiatives like the Take Part in Sport
campaign that are leading up to the 2012 Olympics
 That the Colts need to get support from the new Schools Sports Co-ordinator Darren
Hanbrook.

Transport
Facilitator – Dawn Rennie, Working Together Project
Priority
 Timetables - need to stick to the timetables
 Evening/weekend service needs to be improved, long meandering routes on Sundays
 Kerbs and pavements too low
 Over crowded buses
 Shop hop fares?
 Improved links between estates e.g. Moulsecoomb - people that travel between the
two areas are at a disadvantage/time consuming
 Better communication about route changes and service generally
 Cars parking in bus stops
 Other comments/information
 Brighton and Hove Bus Company
 The bus company could carrying out a "planning for real" or a "participatory planning"
session with residents to see how any new services could work, this would give
residents first hand experience of organising routes around B&H, they could see how
changing something in one place would impact on Coldean, the environment and
other areas the bus services covers.
 Rubbish bus service impacts on house prices and rental values - no one wants to live
here, it's difficult to get to work.
 Free bus trips could be offered to schools to encourage young people to see the
benefit of using buses
 Improved services to areas that have a high percentage of older people, especially
Reeves Hill, Woolsey Road and Middleton Rise)
 Local campaign to make changes

Play Activities & Equipment

Facilitator – Steve Andrews, TDC Community Participation Worker
 Soccer pitch needs sorting (donation)
 Fencing improvements in Haig Avenue need to happen
 Young People congregating around play equipment in a negative way needs to be
addressed
 Varied activities for Young People (including cookery) need to take place
 Fundraising seems to be dependent on Volunteer(s)
 Inclusion is important
 Support gratefully received from outside Coldean thus far, but needs to come from
within the Community
 Support of Youth Group by Development Worker is also appreciated
 Lack of Youth provision needs to be examine
 Positive progress – funding available for playspace within a 12-month framework
 Coldean has strong family intergenerational connections
 Children would appear to be playing on scaffolding of an evening in lieu of play
equipment
 Softball and Skateboard facilities are needed
 Library service has offered successful pre-School play facilities

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  Playbus scheme and swims successful at School during summer holidays; Permanent
cover needed for School pool so that it can be used by the public throughout the year
 Regular summer scheme to be hosted on alternative site(s)?
 Wii facility at new Larchwood & Library – precursor to series of intergenerational
events i.e. Young People playing against Older
 Disused pond on School grounds needs cultivating as a ‘green’ community event
 No shelter from direct sunlight during hot days in School grounds
 Need identified for soft play facilities
 School has a breakfast club and can provide childcare and halls for hire, although
there are some disability issues
 There needs to be provision for the 13+ age group, to alleviate boredom
 There needs to be a quiet area for gentle reflection
 There needs to be a place for a pool table and basketball hoops
 We need to celebrate in Coldean two major successes:
- The Doctors’ Surgery being at New Larchwood &
- The Youth Group’s future use of the old GP Surgery

General/ Any Other Issues

A key issue that came up was the resource of day centre services at New Larchwood

Lunch

Continue Action planning in small groups

 Solutions to issues
 How are we going to change things and who is going to do it?
 Key priorities
 What achievements
 Timescale
 Who is responsible?
 Training needed

Environment Solutions:
Facilitator – TDC Project Manager

What’s been done/Suggestions for solutions

 Grass cutting hasn’t improved, although residents have phoned about maintaining the
trees and grass verges. Parks have come to cut the trees
 Speed calming: Residents have asked Highways to address this, but they have looked
at number of accidents criteria. Coldean Lane is not a priority on this basis
 There was a suggestion to follow the examples of other areas, like Carden school
getting children to design “20 is plenty” signs.
 On Coldean Lane, there is a speed camera but people know where it is and slow
down there. Could try training residents to hold speed guns.
 They could try a pedestrian crossing. A bridge could be built over Coldean lane
 Students should take more responsibility for their behaviour.
 In the same way that the bus company goes to schools to talk about responsible use
of buses, they could go to the university and have a meeting. The bus company could
take packs to the university like CityClean do
 Landlords: Residents could work with the landlords and the university to check the
landlord’s agreement re keeping gardens clean and tidy.

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  Noise from the road was a big problem: could they try highway shielding to decrease
noise.
 Parking is checked regularly by Neighbourhood warden, traffic warden
 Annual clean up of woods: this was tried with the youth group and Lewes Road
Consortium. There was less involvement from the wider community. There was a
suggestion that there should be an awareness campaign to get Coldean Residents to
respect their environment. Solar panels, e.g. on the library would have to be discussed
with Hanover.

Varley halls expansion

Positive aspect could be that the students would get on and off the bus near their Halls rather
than in the middle of Coldean, which would keep noise down. Residents would like to know
more about what Kevin (Community Liaison officer) does and work with him to improve
relations with students.

Refuse: what needs to be done

 improve communication with CityClean; garden waste
 Redo environmental survey
 Send to CityClean
 Invite CityClean to meeting with Residents Association
 Update information on website regularly
 Residents Association would do the above

Vehicle parking: what needs to be done

 Residents Association will take the issue to the SCLAT
 Where parked in the wrong place, get PCSO to talk to
 Residents Association to put in school newsletter for awareness about double parking

School field: what needs to be done

 School and Colts should discuss funding for levelling the pitch with the Sports funding
manager at BHCC
 Organise a meeting to discuss with the school and sports facilities

Communication Solutions
Facilitator – Community TDC Volunteer

What needs to be done to make changes?

 Regular set meeting with service providers
 Resident reps to update in the format of conference
 E news letter – discussion groups online
 The involvement of more volunteers. Members of the Residents Association currently
deliver the Newsletter, which they fit into their busy lives.
 A ‘volunteer bank’ was suggested, which could match volunteers according to their
skills, not only on the newsletter, but on other groups that rely on volunteers.
 The library felt they could hold some copies of the newsletter to ease the problem with
circulation. This was felt unhelpful, as it would not reach all residents.
 Using estate agents to ‘mail-shot’ the newsletter was also suggested.

What is being Tasks for improvement Who’s Timescale for Resources

discussed responsibility change needed

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 Newsletter Easier access to inputting Residents Volunteers
information Association from
community
Service provider
provide information No comments Meeting space
Library Developing it as central All residents/service given/ongoing?
point for information/ sign providers ? Increase
posting financial
Changing culture towards Library services support (for
methods of communication additional
Coldean Website E-newsletter Residents printing etc).
E-forums association and
Service Providers

Play Activities & Equipment Solutions

Facilitator – TDC Community Participation Worker
This issue was left at a table for later exploration in the afternoon but there were no takers

Transport Solutions
Facilitator – Working Together Project
Who (some of these cover more than one
Solution/Action
issue)
Better consultation and input from residents
Ask local councillors to support. - Pat
More buses at peak times/trial changes to Stringer is the commercial manager if the
current bus services and then consult bus company, talk to him
Survey residents using the newsletter,
these could be collected in the post office,
Get consensus of opinion from residents and doctors surgery, library and other public
approach bus company (survey) places. Hold a public meeting.
More buses at peak times/smaller buses at slow
times. Buses are often full with students and go
to the universities first - buses could come into
Coldean first and then on to the universities
Contact/Invite bus company to comment Contact bus company to find out
Expand the Asda bus service to take in more
areas of Coldean
Better consultation
Clearer road markings

Sports Facilities Solutions

Facilitator – Working Together Project

Suggested ways forward

 There needs to be a meeting with the School and the Albion, and then a steering
group should be formed to move the issue forward. This would be similar to the
steering group that was set up to support the development of the new library in
Coldean.
 There was a suggestion that a short term solution to keep the under 8s playing in
Coldean is to repair the top pitch. The Colts are willing to pay for a third of the costs if
the School and the local authority will allow them to have a port-a-cabin on site for
changing and storage facilities.
 There is likely to be some section 106 funding available for the improvement of
community facilities.

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  That Carol Page at the Sports Development Team at Brighton & Hove City Council will
help identify funds and develop a plan for the development of the lower field at the
school as a multi-use sports pitch and associated facilities.

Sport and Exercise for Older People

 Older people would like the opportunity to use the swimming pool
 Tai Chi for older people stopped because only regularly attended by four people – but
those four would like the group to start again
 There was quite a lot of interest in ballroom dancing. It was identified that there should
be a class to cover the basics before each tea dance – particularly for men.
 Games afternoons, including skittles / short mat bowling

Conclusion of the day

Participants:
 It would be important to go to the local council and say what Coldean wants
 Give individual people from groups a task to take forward the actions
 Generally people felt there has been a positive result since last conference although
some felt that more could have been done; Conference reports could have been more
widely circulated
 It was suggested to have the next conference on a Saturday so that people who are
working can come to it
 It was the hope of the participants that there will be action from the Conference
TDC Community Development Worker (CDW)
 The Report was available from last conference very soon after the conference
 The CDW will begin to address issues that have arisen from this conference
 Explained that we all need to work together to get the work done in Coldean- the
groups and the CDW will work together to take it forward.
TDC Project Manager
 Thanked everyone for coming and participating
 TDC will identify issues from the Conference to take forward
 Thank you to facilitators, service providers, WTP, Kalishia for organising conference
 Participants were asked to fill in the Evaluation Form

Thank you & Goodbye

Evaluation of the day

A summary of participants’ evaluations has been compiled. Overall, this feedback indicates
that people felt that they had learnt something new and found the conference useful. The
Conference could have been improved by having more of a balance of service providers and
residents throughout the day.

Facilitators met to evaluate the event on 1 October. Their comments have been noted in
order to feed into future events. Overall, facilitators felt the day went well and the aims had
been broadly achieved: there was a good turn out; it generated a lot of discussion and a
number of issues and actions have been noted. It will be important to ensure participants and
their groups are involved in the follow-up of the Conference. The report and action plans will
be sent to service providers and residents who participated and to the different community
groups for further follow up.

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