a brief history of the brighton society…

FOUNDATIONS :

THE BRIGHTON SOCIETY was founded in April 1973 by John Morley, then Director of the Royal Pavilion, and Selma Montford.

In the same year they had founded the Preston and Old Patcham Society, but felt that there was a need for a Society to deal with schemes which effected Brighton & Hove as a whole, for issues such as housing, public transport, traffic, shopping provision, new conservation areas and the character of neighbourhoods.

It was to be an amenity society, not just a conservation society. The Regency Society and Hove Civic Society were already in existence, but they dealt almost exclusively with listed buildings and the then few conservation areas.

The society was formally launched at a public meeting to oppose British Rail’s plans to demolish Brighton Station and replace it with a 14 storey hotel, moving the station underground. Information was presented about the general aims of the society, which included a wider brief to deal with plans which affected the town as a whole, to check planning applications, particularly in areas which did not have local amenity societies. We supported the Save Our Station (SOS) group who opposed an illegal office development on the adjoining site.

The Brighton Society was to be concerned with both the aesthetic and social issues involved in town planning.
Our initial success was in getting Brighton Station listed Grade II.

SCHEMES :

The next major scheme following our launch was the Wilson Wormsley Plan, which proposed an elevated motorway from Preston Circus across North Laine to a multi-storey car park in Church Street. This involved the demolition of 700 houses in the Preston Circus and North Laine areas.

We set out to be a campaigning society and to use the media to support our campaigns.

It took the Brighton Society 2 years to win a seat on the Conservation Areas Advisory Group, which advised the Council on listed buildings and conservation areas. Subsequently the Society provided the chair of the Group for more than 2 decades.

After several years the Society achieved registration with the Civic Trust following a chance meeting with one of their trustees.