27/01/2017 South East Today

People sleeping rough in Brighton could soon be offered the chance

to stay in empty council buildings during freezing weather

It comes as new figures show the city has had the highest

increase in rough sleeping in the country.

And in an almost one in 50, the steepest increase in the country.

The number of people has doubled to almost 150, the steepest increase in

the country. Bedding down and covering up

against the biting January air. Claiming a space in the city

is tough - such is the demand that those sleeping rough

here daren't even move their belongings, but many say

more temporary shelters Temporary solutions are not

necessarily the way forward because it doesn't help the individual

to move forward. In order to establish any kind

of grounds for a future, you have to have a stable base, you

know, and some sense of security. Proposed by the Green Group,

councillors voted unanimously last night

to explore the use of empty council buildings

for homeless shelters. A similar scheme's been rolled out

in Manchester this winter using a former library

and children's home In Brighton, no building has yet

been earmarked for the scheme but the council says

it is open to options. We don't have as a council

lots of vacant buildings, we're obviously going to be putting them

to immediate use for housing, etc. If there's a possibility that there

might be commercial buildings out there that, you never know,

voluntary and charities would be able to work with that commercial

provider and open up so we're Those who spent years

on the streets though say safety in any

new shelter is vital. I tended to avoid them having been

in a few times - they were noisy, violent, really rather

unpleasant, such that actually even the horrors of sleeping rough

were better than some They need to be very

closely supervised. Something the council says it

acknowledges and also says that with new funding from the Government,

it will bring the number of Little comfort, though, for those

making their bed here tonight. Meanwhile concerns about the plight

of rough sleepers have also been raised in Medway

following the deaths The Labour group, supported by local

charities, had suggested opening council shelters as soon

as the temperature drops to freezing, but this was rejected

by a majority vote last night. There is an emergency

refuge which is manned They open up whenever

the temperature is 0 degrees, but as you can feel it

tonight, the temperature is allegedly three degrees but with

the wind chill it's freezing. The leader of Kent's County Council

says, "The Government needs to get its cheque-book out"

as the cost of looking after asylum seeking children after the age of 18

is set to effectively double next year, leading to a ?4

million deficit. Paul Carter says Kent is already

facing a ?2 million shortfall after looking after unaccompanied asylum

seeking children. I've suggested that they vow a bit

of the foreign aid budget. After all, we are supporting people

taking refuge in this country Therefore it shouldn't

fall on the ratepayers, The Home Office should be

reimbursing us in full, and that's what we expect

them to do. A ?6 billion plan to build a second

rail line linking the Sussex coast to London will be pitched

to the the Transport Secretary The Brighton Main Line 2 proposals

would include restoring an old line between Hever and

Uckfield, building 20km of new track around

Lewes and running trains in to Canary Wharf in

London through a tunnel. Plans for two huge communications

masts, one taller than the Shard in London, have been rejected

by Dover councillors. Two separate companies wanted

to build them in Richborough to speed up international

high-frequency financial trading. But the council said

they would have been an eyesore Turner Prize winning artist

Keith Tyson has brought a huge display to Sussex -

both in terms of the size of the artworks,

and their sheer numbers. Called Turn Back Now, it features

twenty years of what he calls studio wall drawings,

inspired by events and happenings. Robin Gibson met him

at the Jerwood Gallery He's an enigmatic figure - happy

to talk about his work, his life and The Jerwood Show

is almost a scrapbook So drawn to this one

because, you know, you've taken on JMW Turner and all sorts

of different styles. Yeah, in there we've got Turner,

personal painting, a Lego thing from my child and this is the boat

in the background of The Simpsons. But this was to do with

the idea of a naval battle He left school at 15 to go

to work in his native Cumbria, where the idea

of a life in art I was in the shipyard for five

years, I wasn't very happy there and I always wanted to go

to art college but I was a working-class guy and they said, no,

you go and learn a trade, so I became a fitter and turner, tried

out nuclear submarines and then I I didn't know I wanted

to be an artist, I just It was a right turn -

he's had critical acclaim, Just look at all of this, every

square inch of wall space covered - the Jerwood has never seen anything

quite like it. You get the real impression

of an artist who is truly prolific. Keith is someone that we have

wanted to work with since before the gallery opened -

he's been on our radar. Sussex-based artist, he won

the Turner prize in 2002 and has had sort of international fame

and exhibitions around Yes, with a home in the Sussex Downs

near Brighton, we can An extraordinary show by an artist

for whom working is breathing - Take your time -

there's a lot to see. Now let's look at the weather

for the weekend in the South East Rachel, it's turning

milder, but wetter. That's right, yes. It will be less

cold but we lose the sunshine, it is wet at times and also very windy. Of

course there will be an icy start, lots of clothes during the

afternoon. Look at these temperatures, overnight lows of six

or 7 degrees, very mild as we start the weekend. Very mild through the

day. For Saturday, a good deal of cloud, rain at times, highs of eight

or 9 degrees, very wet into Sunday. This is