Bestselling crime and thriller writer to host ‘evening with’ for local charity

International bestselling crime and thriller writer, Peter James, famous for the Brighton-based Roy Grace series, is to host an ‘evening with’ in aid of Sussex charity, Care for Veterans.

Mr James will talk about his life and extensive career, as well as answer questions from members of the audience. Some of his works will also be on sale on the evening, and guests will have the opportunity to get them signed by the author.

Elizabeth Baxter, Head of Fundraising and Marketing at Care for Veterans, said: “We are delighted that such a well-known and well-respected author as Peter James is helping to raise money for our veterans. It is so kind of him to undertake this event, which we know will be popular as he has so many fans and is so well read. This is a remarkable opportunity for Care for Veterans and the money raised will be very well spent on those ex-Servicemen and women in our care.”

The ‘Dead Good Evening’ will be held at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing, West Sussex on Thursday 15 February, 7pm. Tickets are £20 each and on sale now from the Care for Veterans’ Fundraising Office on 01903 218444, open 9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Adur Local Plan is approved giving local people control over future development

The Adur Local Plan, which will give residents control over development across the area for the next 15 years, has been approved by councillors.

In what has been a six year process, Adur District Council has consulted with hundreds of residents, businesses and other stakeholders in drawing up the 1,200-page blueprint.

The result is a document which has been found ‘sound’ by a Government appointed Inspector and which now gives the local authority control over where and how much development is built up until 2032.

After the document was adopted at a meeting of Adur Council last night (Thursday December 14), Councillors made it clear the document would provide the policy framework against which future planning applications would be assessed.

Councillor Neil Parkin, Leader of Adur District Council, said: “The Adur Local Plan will have real and lasting impact on all of our communities for decades, even generations.

“After more than six years of work and countless consultation, the result is a fair, balanced and most importantly, a sound document which will guide development across the area.

“I personally would like less development but weighing up all the evidence and competing views, I believe this is the best possible result for everyone across our communities.

“Nothing is perfect but in this case nothing would be a disaster. Not agreeing a local plan would not stop local developments; without a local plan we lose all control in terms of where building can take place, making it more likely our valued countryside will be lost forever.”

Unlike many other authorities locally and nationally, Adur’s plan has been supported by a Government-appointed Inspector.

When backing the blueprint, Inspector David Hogger said that he accepted that the council could not fully meet the housing demand in the area due to “significant constraints of building” in an area buffered by the sea and the South Downs.

However, he made clear he would only give approval to the document if it included the word “minimum of” in regard to number of homes and commercial space in key strategic allocations.

The Plan, which covers all the District except those parts which are in the South Downs National Park, will:

·         Deliver a minimum of 3,718 properties up until 2032 - more than half the housing need of 6,825;

·         Deliver a minimum of 41,000 square metres of commercial space across three main sites - Shoreham Airport, Shoreham Harbour and New Monks Farm;

·         All developments of ten or more homes required to provide 30% affordable housing;

·         Preserving a “local green gap” to ensure individual settlements like Shoreham and Lancing retain their individual identities;

·         Inclusion of greenfield housing sites at New Monks Farm in Lancing and land at West Sompting

The Plan also makes clear that where a development does not mitigate the impact on air quality the application will be refused.

Councillor Brian Boggis, Adur District Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, said: “As a long-standing local resident I too want to protect the unique environment that we live in as far as possible. But we have to make sure we do this while providing places for people to live and work.

“The Adur Local Plan has never been about individual planning applications for specific sites; it is up to the planning committee to use this blueprint as a guide to make decisions as and when they are brought forward.”

As is consistent with emerging government policy, the Plan will be reviewed within five years.

Extra car parking spaces coming to Worthing

Worthing is to be given a car parking boost this winter as new town centre spaces are opened to the public this week.

Worthing Borough Council has converted the former tennis courts in Beach House Park into a car park, creating 63 new spaces including two dedicated bays for blue badge holders. It goes operational this Thursday (December 14).

With the recreation space not being used since 2009, council leaders believe a permanent car park will allow a range of users to use the area throughout the week whilst generating income to support the maintenance of the park.

It will also provide additional parking for those using the Splashpoint Leisure Centre following the closure of the Aquarena site due to a wider redevelopment.

Councillor Diane Guest, Worthing Borough Council’s Executive Member for the Environment said: “Worthing town centre is clearly on the up and this proposal will ensure that visitors from near and afar are able to leave their vehicles within a pebbles throw of the town centre.

“Whether it is NHS workers heading to the hospital, families using Splashpoint or tourists visiting the coast, this gives people another off-street option to safely park their cars. We also hope it will generate thousands of pounds which we can reinvest into maintaining our town’s premier park.”

A planning application for the proposal was approved in August for permission to convert the area until August 2020.

Work to convert the area was undertaken in-house by the council and completed on time and on budget.

Splashpoint users are reminded they can claim back for up to two hours of parking in the adjacent pay and display car parks, including Lyndhurst Road, when they use the leisure centre.

Christmas event marks “superb” first year for Worthing’s creative hub

Worthing’s thriving creative hub continues to go from strength to strength - with new figures showing thousands of people have used the space in the first year of opening.

Sited at the end of Warwick Street, Colonnade House was established after Worthing Borough Council made a successful application to the Coastal Communities Fund for £245,000 to refurbish the building.

Since then, the refurbished galleries and three floors of studio space have been used to support those working in the creative industries - from animators to illustrators, photographers to painters - to provide a showcase for the work of local artists.

To mark the first year, Colonnade House is holding a late-night shopping event on December 14 until 8pm as part of a two-week seasonal Pop-Up Shop, where a host of delights from local artists and designers will be on display to buy.

Councillor Heather Mercer, Worthing Borough Council’s Executive Member for Customer Services, said: “I’m delighted to see the progress that has been made in what has been a superb first year for Colonnade House.

“The popularity of this resource shows that there is real demand for studio and gallery space for dozens of talented locals to display their creative talents.

“It shows that Worthing is a town that’s truly on the up when it comes to the creative industries. I sincerely believe it will only go from strength to strength.”

Colonnade House officially opened as a creative hub in September 2016.

It has been leased to Adur & Worthing Trust, a local charity that supports arts and culture and is managed through a partnership between the Trust and the Council with a team of three members of staff.

One year on, the ten studio spaces are running at around 80% occupancy and are let to people working across the creative industries.

Other headlines from the first year include:

·        Gallery space rented out to 33 different artists and organisations;

·        More than 1,000 visitors a month to the gallery space;

·        Nearly 200 people attend 16 professional development events aimed at the local creative community;

·        Arts Council England backing for a digital installation project Geminate II which ran in March this year attracting large audiences physically and online and gaining TV coverage from BBC South. 

Record number of visitors enjoy the festive fun at Light up Shoreham Christmas event.

The streets were buzzing on Friday night when 7, 000 visitors attended Light up Shoreham, a Christmas market and late night shopping event.

With an excess of 3000 lights on the Christmas tree and 76 stalls festooned with colourful bulbs, the town was alight with festive cheer.

As well as plenty of shopping, visitors also enjoyed fairground rides, carol singing, and a visit from Father Christmas and his real-life reindeers.

Shoppers were also invited to choose their favourite Christmas shop window in exchange for a mince pie. The lucky winners this year were Cancer Research UK!

This was  a fantastic community event and a great night for shopkeepers and market traders in Shoreham too.

Cllr Emma Evans at Adur District Council said, “‘What a fantastic evening we had on Friday, there was such a wonderful buzz throughout the town and so many of our local traders took part making it a real community event.

“We have been so fortunate this year to not only have a great team within the council but also a fantastic and enthusiastic team of Shoreham Elves putting real energy, time and local knowledge into arranging the event.

“I am hoping that with their help we can build on this year’s success to make next year's event even bigger and better.”

www.worthingdomeevents.co.uk

Remember its the huge Late Night Christmas Shopping event on Thursday the 14th of December 

The Worthing Town Centre Initiative will be holding its Mega Christmas event on Thursday 14th October 2017 from 4pm to 7pm.

This will be a first for Worthing with 4 laser and pyrotechnic displays and 2 x 30 minute shows from Titan the Robot.  A totally free event to bring people into Town for late night shopping !

The shows will take place in Montague Street at its junction with Montague Place.  We will need to use Montague Place to set up for the entertainment so it will be closed during the day Thursday and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Here is the timetable for the evening to ensure you don't miss a thing.

4.00pm    First Laser Show

4.10pm    Mr Worthing Dave Hunt welcomes Santa Claus to Town 

4.30pm    Titan the Robot's 1st 30 minute spectacular show !

5.00pm    2nd Laser Show

5.10pm    Competition time with Dave Hunt

5.30pm    Jusst Voices choir with some Traditional and Contemporary Xmas Songs

6.00pm    The main Laser Display

6.10pm    RSOPA with some Christmas cheer

6.30pm    Titan the Robot's 2nd 30 minute spectacular show !

Followed  at 

7.00pm    with the Finale finish from our laser and pyrotechnics team  

We would like to thank New River Retail and H&M for their support with this event !!!

Adur restaurant wins an Eat Out Eat Well award for their super healthy menu

A Shoreham restaurant has won a gold award for producing healthy, tasty food produced locally.

Cafe Artisan has been given a five-star hygiene rating and full marks for offering  healthy menu choices which are lower in sugar, salt and fat after an inspection by Adur District Council’s food hygiene inspectors.

And now the restaurant has become the first to join Adur and Worthing Councils’ new healthy eating project called Eat Well.

Under the scheme restaurants awarded top marks by our inspectors will donate a tasty recipe to local residents as part of a campaign to encourage healthy eating. Alongside the recipe a nutritional therapist will explain the benefits of some of the ingredients.

Wendy Anderson, Environmental Health Practitioner and project lead for Eat Well said, “We want to capture people's imagination about food and ingredients. We’d like to see people cooking and eating the good stuff, not simply because it’s healthy but because they enjoy it. For example, choosing a mango over a Mars bar because they love the taste.

“It’s not about the latest diet fads but about inspiring people to eat good food all the time because when the body is in a good place nutritionally you function better.”

The restaurants joining the healthy eating project will be those given an Eat Out Eat Well award which is only awarded after visits by food hygiene inspectors like Wendy at Adur and Worthing Councils.

Cafe Artisan owner Ian McWhirter said he was delighted to receive his gold award and to be the first to contribute a recipe to the Eat Well project. Cafe Artisan’s recipe is for pomegranate and quinoa salad.

“Our food is not cheffy. It’s locally sourced, locally produced fresh produce with low food miles,” he said, “I am dedicated to serving healthy food and it’s great that the council are behind us. Healthy eating is becoming a national food movement.”

Ian received his award  from Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing, Cllr Dave Simmons, who said, “Congratulations to Cafe Artisan on achieving the gold award for Eat Out, Eat Well. It’s important to encourage people to eat well when they are out and about in Adur.”

Notes to Editors:

This month’s recipe is attached

Photo - Left to right: Cllr Dave Simmons, Ian McWhirter.

Further information on Eat Out, Eat Well can be found at http://www.eatouteatwell.org/pages/index.cfm

Eat Well star recipe

Cafe Artisan  Quinoa Salad

This quick and easy salad is bursting with colour and flavour, perfect for a simple supper with friends. Why not serve with warm pitta bread and hummus for an extra kick of protein.

Preparation time: 20 mins

Difficulty: EASY

Vegetarian/Vegan

Ingredients:

Diced tomato

Cucumber

Red onion

Bell peppers

Lemon Zest

Cooked quinoa

Fresh Coriander

Fresh mint

Fresh Dill

Pomegranate

Method

• Cook the quinoa according to the pack instructions and leave to cool
• Combine the diced tomato, cucumber, onion, bell peppers & lemon zest & quinoa
• Mix in the fresh herbs
• Squeeze over some fresh lemon juice and pile into a generously sized bowl
• Sprinkle with some pomegranate seeds for extra colour & garnish

Nutritional Benefits of this Recipe  

Emma Walder - Nutritional therapist

This dish not only tastes great, it’s bursting with nutritional goodies.

Pomegranate is a good source of fibre and contains vitamins A, C and E, iron and other antioxidants. The bright, pinky-red colour hints at the wonderful benefits of this fruit. The vitamin C helps with the absorption of the plant source iron. Pomegranate juice is also delicious.

Fresh Mint is good for the digestion

Fresh Coriander is High in vitamin K - responsible for blood clotting and carrying calcium around the body, so it’s good for the bones too.

Quinoa - “Keen -Wa” has twice the protein content of rice and is packed with vitamins and minerals. It contains all eight essential amino acids so it's a great protein source for vegetarians and vegans. The Aztecs grew and ate this special grain every day for its nutritional benefits. It also contains good amounts of calcium and trace minerals.

The latest Worthing podcast has gone live!

The latest Worthing podcast features Frances Wetherilt, found and editor of Here & Now magazine. Find out about her vision for the magazine, and a sneak peak preview of December's edition!

Click here to have a listen

Five Rivers make great progress restoring Brooklands lake to its former glory

Diggers are in full swing removing the equivalent of six Olympic swimming pools of stinking, black silt from the bed of Brooklands Lake as work to restore the landmark steps up a pace.

The lake in the park on Worthing seafront was drained earlier this year due to a buildup of silt that was having an impact on the environment and damaging local wildlife.

Expert workers are now scraping out the piles of silt and debris built up over decades, and ingeniously using it to build banks and an additional island to create a new landscape without reducing the footprint of the lake.

Jacob Dew, Operations Manager of Five Rivers Environmental Contracting, said: “We’re making good progress. It’s wet and it’s dirty but we are used to that. There’s been a great response from people who have been asking all kinds of questions including what have we found in there.

“At the moment we’ve found nothing of value but we’ll let you know if we do!”

Work began on the site in October after Worthing Borough Council appointed Five Rivers to carry out the work.

With the heavy lifting now underway, executive members and ward councillors were give a tour of the site earlier this week.

They discovered this is not a regular building site as the ground conditions can change every day - but the weather is no obstacle to the experienced staff of Five Rivers.

Site manager Ben Sharp said, “We work through the rain as we are wet and muddy anyway, we just crack on.”

Five Rivers have been busy staking chestnut poles into the ground and using geotextiles (permeable fabrics with 100-year lifespan) to extend the banks around the lake. Giant diggers have been scooping silt into position and it’s already possible to see how the new riverbed will take shape.

They’ve also made progress clearing the island that was once used for storage.This will be planted with native trees such as hazel, beech and hawthorn to encourage biodiversity and birds like kingfishers and sand martins back to the lake.

Five Rivers have made great progress on the renovation of the lake and this is just the beginning. Over the coming months you can expect to see:

·        Planting of native species along the extended riverbed

·        A new island in the lake

·        The planting of reedbeds to act as a natural silt trap

·        A walkway that will enable visitors to walk amongst the reeds

·        A bank especially designed for kingfishers and sand martins

Cllr Diane Guest, Worthing Borough Council’s Executive Member for the Environment said: “It’s nature at its best and we are helping to facilitate nature for the future.

“We are using the silt that we are taking out to make the banks bigger and to make a third island which is better for the wildlife. In the future people coming here will be able see a lot more diversity in the wildlife here.

“This is just the start of a great project by Worthing Borough Council working with the Friends of Brooklands Park to create a  new vision for the popular landmark.”

Mr Dew added: “I hope that all the work we are doing will really encourage people to feel engaged with the habitat.”

Once the project is finished, Brooklands Lake will regain its former glory and become a haven for visitors and and wildlife alike.