Council

Agenda Item 25

Subject:                    Petition for Debate – Good Development Standards: building homes which meet the needs of our communities

Date of meeting:    11 July 2024

Report of:                 Corporate Director for Corporate Services

Contact Officer:      Name: Anthony Soyinka

                                    Tel: 01273 291006

                                    Email: anthony.soyinka@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Ward(s) affected:   All

FOR GENERAL RELEASE

1.      SUMMARY AND POLICY CONTEXT:

1.1 Under the Council’s Petition Scheme if a petition contains more than 1,250 signatures and is not petition requesting officer evidence, it will be debated by the Full Council.

1.2 The e-petition has resulted in triggering a debate at the council meeting, having exceeded the threshold with a total of 1371 signatures confirmed at the time of printing the report.

2.      RECOMMENDATIONS:

2.1 That the petition is noted.

3.      RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION / CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS:

3.1 The Petition:

Cllr Gill Williams (as Cabinet Member at Brighton and Hove City Council for Housing) and Cllr Liz Loughran (as Chairwoman of the Planning Committee),

We are grateful for the support you have already shown to our Alliance in terms of the Housing Emergency our city faces. Our collective membership of schools, colleges, universities, unions, faith institutions, and community organisations (representing over 55,000 people) appreciates your efforts, as well as the changes that have started to happen across our city (e.g. landlord licencing).

We all know that our city needs radical solutions when it comes to housing.

Too many nurses, care workers, teachers, and other key workers are leaving our city due to the ever-rising cost of housing. Our city's most precious services are under pressure as a result. Our families cannot receive the care they deserve. Our children worry that their teachers will soon leave.

Too many families are leaving our city: friendships are crushed. And schools are closing.

Like you, we worry that developers rarely - if ever! - meet their targets when it comes to affordability and we want to help you hold them to account.

On 25th April, we heard you very clearly, Cllr Williams: you will 'leave no stones unturned', you said, when it comes to housing and we heard you clearly when you said you would work with Brighton & Hove Citizens to develop plans to strengthen housing policies for our city. We thank you for that.

On 25th April, our Alliance asked you to work with us to address the following areas:

1) Affordability: genuine affordability which would include Community Land Trust Homes and Living Rent homes (where the rental cost is based on the actual cost of living, and not the market rate).

2) Availability for key workers: a key focus on supporting those professions which make our city run.

3) The need to make sure that new developments create spaces for people to build a sense of community. Too many new development feel soulless, with very few places for people to meet.

You agreed to focus on all 3 areas and we look forward to working with you!

We know that the Housing Crisis we face won't be resolved overnight. But we also know that collaboration can only be a good thing.

Learning from other areas where Citizens UK alliances across England have reshaped housing policies, we want to work with you to make Brighton and Hove the place it deserves to be: a place where families can thrive and where people can stay.

We ask that Brighton and Hove Council shows its commitment to housing justice in moving in the right direction by developing a set of Good Development Standards and a supplementary planning process which will make it clearer - and more accountable - to developers when it comes to affordability, the need to support key workers, and the need to support and enhance community cohesion.

We ask all Councillors to be our allies. We ask you to be leaders that help rebuild our city in a way that enables our communities to flourish. Let us shape our city for what it needs to be, rather than watch it become a place where dreams vanish.

4.      PROCEDURE:

4.1 The petition will be debated at the Council meeting in accordance with the agreed protocol:

(i) The Lead petitioner will be invited by the Mayor to present the petition and will have up to 3 minutes in which to outline the petition and confirm the number of signatures;

(ii) The Mayor will then open the matter up for debate by councillors for period of 15 minutes and will first call on the relevant Cabinet Member to respond to the petition and move a proposed response. The Mayor will then call on those councillors who have indicated a desire to speak in the matter, before calling on the relevant Cabinet Member to respond to the debate;

(iii) An amendment to the recommendation in paragraph 2.1 of the report or to add additional recommendations should be submitted by 10.00am on the day before the meeting; otherwise it will be subject to the Mayor’s discretion as to being appropriate.  Any such amendment will need to be formally moved and seconded at the meeting;

(iv) After the 15 minutes set aside for the debate, the Mayor will then formally put:

(v) (a) Any amendments in the order in which they are moved, and

(b) The substantive recommendation(s) as amended (if amended).