It is proposed that the Neighbourhood Plan will include a policy for the development of Community Hubs and some sketch schemes to show how these locations can be improved. Several Community Hub Improvement Groups have been meeting to share ideas, develop these schemes and negotiate with developers as they prepare their planning applications to agree public benefit improvements. If you’d like to get involved in these neighbourhood improvement schemes, please visit our next Have Your Say Day or send us an email.
Through online research, site visits and input from residents, we have identified three community hubs in the Plan area:
CH1 – Hove Station Hub – the area immediately to the north, south and east of the station.
CH2 – Sackville- Conway Street Hub –including the Salvation Army building, the Vallance Community Centre., the Honeycroft community facilities, Stockwell Studios and the Decon factory.
CH3 – School Rd – Portland Rd – Stoneham Park Hub – including the school, the new health centre and the Westows site ( to be redeveloped for housing), commercial uses on Portland Road , together with Stoneham Park with its community café..
CH4 – To be included in the redevelopment of the Sackville Trading Estate
What are community hubs?
Community Hubs can operate from a dedicated room within a single building, or – as in this case, key locations in the Plan area where a combination of local businesses and community organisations provide jobs, services and facilities for local people which are key elements of our community infrastructure.
These areas need to be improved to enhance their positive community role. This will need investment from a variety of sources, in particular from developer contributions – the cash that developers have to pay to the Council for infrastructure to support the development which they are proposing.
It is proposed that the Neighbourhood Plan will include a policy for the development of Community Hubs and some sketch schemes to show how these locations can be improved.
How are we developing these proposals?
Each hub has a group of 8-10 stakeholders who meet to:
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- develop comments on the emerging Neighbourhood Plan as it affects their area;
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- identify potential improvements to roads, footpaths, landscaping, accessibility and buildings – to make their hub more attractive;
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- work with urban designers and architects to develop Community Hub Improvement Schemes – sketch schemes which illustrate how their ideas could be implemented and the ‘ball park cost’; and
- establish priorities for the local investment of public and private sector fund to implement these schemes
Implementation
A Community Hubs Policy will be included in the Neighbourhood Plan Part 1 and Improvement Schemes will be included in the Neighbourhood Plan Part 2 – backed by a clear statement of the needs and priorities of local people.
The Forum is negotiating with developers as they prepare their planning applications to agree public benefit improvements – including investment in Community Hub Improvement Schemes.
This co-operative process has already influenced the development of the Matsim Hove Garden Project: hovestationforum.co.uk/tag/matsim
The City Council is under a legal obligation to support the development of the Neighbourhood Plan. Working with Ward Councillors and our local MP, the Forum will seek to ensure that a significant proportion of the developer contributions generated by development in our area will be invested to improve local environmental and social conditions.