Conservative home affairs spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe will join a protest in Hove on Monday.

Miss Widdecombe and Tory election candidate Jenny Langston will join residents outside Hove police station in Holland Road.

They will be there to draw attention to proposals to merge Hove and Brighton police divisions to form a single city-wide force.

They will then host a public discussion on law and order at Somerhill Junior School, Somerhill Road, at 6.45pm.

Councillor Langston said: "People responding to our surveys over the last few months are seriously concerned about the rise in crime.

"They are also concerned that proposals to form a single city police force will affect the quality of policing in the area."

Meanwhile, a home for community organisations has been given a £245,000 lottery grant.

Community Base in Queen's Road, Brighton, will use the money to pay for a new roof, new lifts and external repairs.

Last year, more than 20,000 people from all over Brighton and Hove were given help by groups based there.

The grant has been given by the Community Fund, formerly the National Lottery Charities Board. The news was welcomed by Ivor Caplin, Labour election candidate for Hove and Portslade who helped Community Base to obtain the money.

He said: "I am happy that I could help them to get the lottery grant.

"Our community would be much poorer without the excellent work by all the volunteers and organisers of charities based there."

May 17, 2001