Cllr Alan Robins with an update for residents of South Portslade:

In November I joined the Lord Lieutenant, Vice-Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff of East Sussex in planting a new hazel tree in the grounds of Emmaus community in Portslade Old Village.

Also present were some members of the Emmaus board and some companions of the Emmaus community. Companion is the name given to someone who lives and works at Emmaus and lives the life of a companion.

The tree came from the Queen’s canopy “Tree of Trees” which stood outside Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Emmaus joins over 300 organisations as recipients of these wonderful trees.

Emmaus is a special place in Portslade, it is an international solidarity movement like no other, its webpage tells us it is made up of thousands of people whose work is motivated by the simple sentences “serve first those who suffer most” and “fight against the causes of poverty” working together to end homelessness.

A few weeks ago, with very little warning and absolutely no consultation, the Green administration on Brighton & Hove City Council closed fourteen public toilets. Unfortunately, both the toilets at Portslade Station and Vale Park were amongst these closures.

As the toilets in Victoria Park were closed a number of years ago and the ones behind Portslade Town Hall were knocked down when the new housing development started (and for whatever reason the toilets at Portslade Town Hall and Easthill Park remain locked), there are now no public toilets in Portslade.

Both Councillor Hamilton and I will be campaigning to get some of these toilets reopened. It is not acceptable in the 21st century to have people unable to leave their homes because there are no public facilities available.

Cllr Alan Robins,
Labour Councillor for South Portslade

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Image: Emmaus Brighton & Hove