HE WAS perhaps the greatest figure in Brighton’s civic history.

He rightly has roads and a park named after him, close to the current home of The Argus.

Alderman Sir Herbert Carden was a visionary of Brighton Council for over 40 years and was known as the “maker of modern Brighton”. Born in 1867, in 1895 Carden was elected as a socialist councillor and became an alderman within eight years.Thanks to him, the Brighton Corporation embarked upon many of its municipal enterprises such as the telephone and tramway systems. He also saw the need to preserve the surrounding downland, both to protect the water supply and to provide recreational facilities and beautiful countryside for the inhabitants of the town.

He bought large areas of downland himself which he resold to the corporation for the same amount.

He did this for good reason and we can only hope he is not turning in his grave at what the council is being forced to do to make money.

The fact is the stripping of funding for our city council is leaving it between a rock and a hard place.

It must cut £145 million from its budget before 2020 as the money it used to spend is simply not there.

So this situation is only going to get worse.

It has to find new and modern ways to get projects off the ground and save money. It does seem strange to sell off parts of the Downs to fund a project at another part of it – Stanmer Park.

But the big problem is the Government is forcing the council to find ways like this to fill a financial black hole. In this funding situation the family silver is heading out the door – and there is more to go.