Council
4.30pm 13 October 2025
Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall
decision list
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Part One |
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1
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Review of Political Balance October 2025
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Contact Officer: |
Elizabeth Culbert |
Tel: 01273 291515 |
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Ward Affected: |
All Wards |
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1) That the Council appoints/re-appoints its committees with the sizes and allocation of seats between political groups as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
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1
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Review of the Council’s Constitution
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Contact Officer: |
Victoria Simpson |
Tel: 01273 294687 |
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Ward Affected: |
All Wards |
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1) That Council formally approved the changes to the Constitution relating to increased task & finish groups and time for public questions for Overview & Scrutiny as set out in the report and in Appendix 1, with immediate effect.
2) That Council formally approved changes to the Council Procedure Rules relating to Extraordinary Council meetings and the notice period for member written questions as set out in the report and Appendix 2, with immediate effect.
3) That Council authorised the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to take all steps necessary or incidental to the implementation of the above changes, and that the Monitoring Officer be authorised to amend such parts of the Council’s constitutional documents as they consider necessary or incidental to incorporate the changes, and to republish the Constitution.
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1
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Council Plan Refresh
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Ward Affected: |
All Wards |
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1) Council received the report from the Cabinet meeting held on 17 July 2025 and the recommendations for approval:
2) Council approved the Council Plan refresh at Appendix 1.
3) Council noted the achievements made since the Council Plan was adopted in July 2023 as set out in Appendix 2.
4) Council noted the progress made in relation to delivering the Council Plan in 2024/25 as detailed in Appendix 3.
5) Council noted the recommendations in the Corporate Peer Challenge at Appendix 4 and the response to these in the Council Plan Refresh.
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1
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Devolution for Sussex & Brighton
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Ward Affected: |
All Wards |
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1) That Council endorsed the recommendations set out in the Cabinet report attached:
1.1 That Cabinet notes the content of this report including the effect of the Statutory Instrument and the assessment of the implications for Brighton & Hove City Council of creating a new Mayoral Combined County Authority for Sussex & Brighton.
1.2 That Cabinet confirms its approval in principle to consenting to devolution and delegates authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to undertake all steps necessary to provide consent on behalf of the Council to the Statutory Instrument that the Government proposes to lay before Parliament to create a new Mayoral Combined County Authority in the Sussex and Brighton region.
1.3 That Cabinet approves the procurement of the mayoral booklet services outlined in 6.13 of the report and grants delegated authority to the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Director Governance and Law to:
i. Take all steps necessary or incidental to undertake the procurement process;
ii. Award the framework agreement and any respective call-off contracts and take all steps necessary or incidental to recover the costs incurred from the MCCA.
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1
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Partial Review of Polling District and Polling Places 2025
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Contact Officer: |
Michael Appleford |
Tel: 01273 291997 |
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Ward Affected: |
All Wards |
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1) That the Council agreed the revised polling district and polling place schemes outlined in Appendix 3
2) That the Council delegated authority to the Director Governance and Law to take all measures as are necessary or incidental, as required by law, to implement the changes indicated in para 2.1.
3) That the Council delegated authority to the Returning Officer to designate alternative polling places, in the event of any polling place being unavailable, at any poll taking place prior to the next review of polling places, subject to consultation with Group Leaders and respective ward Councillors.
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1
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West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan – Decision Statement
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Contact Officer: |
Carly Dockerill |
Tel: 01273 292382 |
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Ward Affected: |
Rottingdean & West Saltdean |
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That Council agreed to:
1) Determine that the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan be modified according to the recommendations in the independent examiner’s report and as set out in the attached Decision Statement (Appendix 1) and that the Decision Statement be published.
2) To approve the examiner’s recommendation that the Neighbourhood Plan now proceed to a local referendum. The referendum area is the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Area.
3) In the event that more than 50% of residents vote to support the Neighbourhood Plan in the local referendum, that the Council formally ‘makes’ the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan.
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1
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Protect Independent Scrutiny, Save Healthwatch England
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Notice of Motion
This council notes:
1) The Health Secretary’s proposal to abolish the independent local health and social care champion Healthwatch and to give health scrutiny powers over to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). This will mean that the new Sussex and Surrey Heartlands ICB would take on Brighton & Hove Healthwatch’s function locally next April. Social Care scrutiny powers would move to Councils.
2) That 35,000 residents have been supported by Healthwatch Brighton & Hove since 2013.
3) Concerns raised by Brighton & Hove Older People’s Council about the perceived impact the government’s proposal will have on elderly people.
4) The letter by Gary Wilkinson, Chair of Brighton & Hove’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee raising the committee’s concerns about the work Healthwatch does in ensuring people have up to date information, sharing people’s experiences with commissioners and supporting individuals to navigate a complex healthcare landscape.
5) The
campaign led by local Healthwatch teams to oppose this proposal and
to ask the Health Secretary to undertake a consultation with the
public to codesign the future of scrutiny services. This council resolves to:
1) Requests the leader of the council to ensure stronger democratic accountability and improved senior representation of elected members within strategic decision-making bodies following the formation of the new Sussex and Surrey ICB.
2) Requests the leader of the council to work with existing upper tier authorities, new Mayor and unitary authorities under LGR to develop a common approach to capture the voice and viewpoints of users of the local health system and where possible to maintain local oversight.
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1
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Gaza and Council Financial Exposure
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Notice of Motion
This Council noted:
1) The welcome news that a peace plan has been agreed in the Middle East ensuring the release of all remaining hostages and for life-saving aid to reach Gaza.
2) The widespread view, including of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)1 on 31/08/25 and a UN Independent Commission2 on 16/09/25, that the Israeli Government has been committing genocide in Gaza;
3) That recent legal analysis has raised concerns that third-party states, including the UK, must ensure their activities do not contribute to violations of international law;
4) That this analysis has further suggested these responsibilities apply to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and other local government activities under domestic law;3
5) The recent letter from our Council Leader to the Chair of the ESCC Pension Committee requesting an update further to report A/HRC/37/39 of the UN Human Rights Council and East Sussex Pension Fund (ESPF) exposure;
This council therefore resolved to:
1) Request officers to bring a report to Cabinet detailing any exposure of ESPF, of our treasury management and of our freehold landholdings to ‘involved companies3 ’;
2) Notify other local authorities who may have exposure via the East Sussex Pension Fund of the letter from the Leader of the Council and request that they seek the same information
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1
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Enforcing Covenant on land in West Saltdean
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Notice of Motion
This council notes:
1) The 1938 agreement between Saltdean Estate Company Ltd, the Borough of Brighton and The Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Brighton which details various conditions attached to three separate plots of land known as The Mount Estate in West Saltdean – and described as open spaces in the Covenant.
2) That Clause 4 of 1938 agreement gives BHCC the powers to formally designate the land as public open space.
3) That the three plots of land are designated as Local Green Spaces in the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan which gives them the same protection as land in the green belt.
4) That locked gates have been installed meaning the land cannot be enjoyed as the open space the covenant intended.
This council resolves to:
1) Request that officers prepare a report to be presented to Cabinet about the processes, timescale and costs of invoking Clause 4 of the Covenant for plots 2 and 3 of The Mount Estate.
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1
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Inequality and Life Outcomes in Brighton & Hove
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This council notes:
1) That the UK remains one of the most unequal countries in the developed world, with child poverty rising sharply under the previous government.[1]
2) That inequality is particularly stark in Brighton & Hove, with a recent Sutton Trust report highlighting that parts of our city have some of the lowest social mobility in the country.[2]
3) The steps already taken locally to tackle inequality; creating a fairness fund to directly support residents; priority school admissions for those on Free School Meals; new school bus routes and free bus passes for Whitehawk families; free school meals for those educated at home.
4) Government’s steps to alleviate child poverty including expanding eligibility for Free School Meals and signals that the former Coalition Government’s two child benefit cap will be scrapped.
5) The welcome news from government of £20m for Whitehawk through the Pride in Place programme, with local residents directly shaping how funding will be invested.
This council resolves to:
1) Request the relevant Cabinet Member to consider a formal review of inequality in the city, and the impact it has on life chances; drawing on lived-experience, and welcoming input from residents and experts in a 'call for evidence'
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1
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King Alfred Leisure Centre
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This Council notes:
1) Residents are worried about the financial viability of the plans at a time when the council is struggling financially; 2) The phase three consultation process in 2024 attracted only around 3600 responses[3]; 3) The proposed facility is smaller than the existing one (e.g. 25m pool, modest 6-court hall), despite claims of a “world-class” centre[4] while costs have inflated from £47m (2024) to £65m (2025 RIBA 2); 4) The residential build is intrinsically related to the build of the leisure centre, and that they should be considered together; 5) There is no clear contingency for construction inflation, climate adaptation, or operator underperformance; 6) The King Alfred is already popular, and that popularity will be hard to increase given the small-scale nature of the upgrade; 7) The predictions of visitor numbers are highly speculative, and the cost will be much higher than the council is forecasting. This is potentially another i360. 8) The council is very unlikely to ensure that 40% of the housing stock is affordable.
This Council resolves to:
1) Request that Cabinet reconsider:
a) A pausing of the approval by cabinet of £2.3m in resources until the plans for housing have been set out;
b) And a pausing of approval until the whole of the site is provisionally costed so taxpayers are not left counting the cost.
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