There have been issues to fix at our much loved Hove Park, with a twice-vandalised defibrillator, bins that are too small and increasing collisions on a shared path at the forefront of residents’ concerns over recent months.

Hove Park is well-known to all residents and visitors alike, popular with local residents, dog walkers, runners and tennis players.  It is complete with is own miniature railway and maze.

With so many active users and an upsurge in footfall since the pandemic, council facilities and equipment at Hove Park need to be kept in top order - but a to-do list for the Council has built up.

As reported by The Argus earlier in the year, Hove Park had been left without a working defibrillator after one stationed at the Hove Park Cafe had been vandalised for a second time, leaving the box empty and filled up with bottles and rubbish.

This was such a great shame for the local Rotary Club who paid for the original and for the cafe which offered to host it.  The Manager of the Hove Park Café, Carla Lampreda, said that due to the recurrent anti-social behaviour at night by the Hove Park Café, a replacement defibrillator should be located elsewhere in a more secure location.

Cllr Samer Bagaeen asked that the Council commit to providing a replacement defibrillator for Hove Park as soon as possible at a new site within the park.  He has also suggested the installation of CCTV cameras at Hove Park to tackle persistent antisocial behaviour at night next to the Hove Park Café.

In good news, a new defibrillator has recently been installed on the fence line of the Tennis Courts and there are now plans to remove the vandalised box at the Hove Park Café.  There are hopes to be able to refurbish this box and put it in a location less prone to vandalism which would mean the park would have two defibrillators in future.  Well done to all concerned for filling this gap.

In the central part of the park, a number of collisions have been reported on shared paths involving cyclists and members of the public and dogs, leading the Friends of Hove Park to call for action.

In particular, there have been reports cyclists have been going too fast after descending down the very steep hill at the Droveway, using a shared path which also forms part of the cycle network.  While this is a shared path, the signage is virtually non-existent and needs to be improved.  One resident whose dog was injured by an e-bike would like to see it made explicit that this is a shared space with cyclists encouraged to slow down and also to encourage caution for the safety of all park users.

Cllr Vanessa Brown has taken up the issue and asked the Council to commit to review the current system and install some more appropriate signage.

Around all corners of Hove Park there is a further need for bigger capacity bins.  Following the increased use of the use of City’s Parks during the pandemic, the under-capacity of bins at city parks was identified as being an issue that needed to be addressed. Litter from overflowing bins continues to be an issue which has a negative impact on the park environment.

Capital investment was set aside at the City Budget in 2021 to install these, with Hove Park, Hove Recreation Ground, Greenleas Park and Knoll Park being nominated as the sites most in need.

However nearly over a year since the funds were made available for bigger capacity bins none in Hove Park have been upgraded, much to the frustration of the local groups and residents.

When asked why no work had been done to install the new bins, the Council responded that here is a lack of qualified staff who can complete the groundworks, with one person working across Cityclean and City Parks to do this.  They said this has impacted on the replacement of bins following the agreed capital investment at Budget Council.

This once again raises questions about the Council’s ability to use funding it has available to fix issues in a timely manner.

We have seen this at Old Steine Gardens, where 9 out of 10 street lamps were left broken for over a year in one of the most crime-ridden parts of the city and of course on a bigger scale with projects such as Madeira Terraces restoration and Black Rock, where funding has been available for years but with little action.

These require oversight and management from the Council and the Administration to get things done and ensure expenditure is undertaken however this is not happening.

There is much to do to keep Hove Park in a good condition, so it can continue to be enjoyed by the residents of Brighton & Hove and all the users that love visiting it and we will continue to hold the administration to account if they continue to let the park and its users down.