Brighton & Hove City Council is starting a review of the City Plan, known as City Plan 2041. We are committed to involving the local community and stakeholders in shaping and making the new plan.

This Engagement and Consultation Plan outlines how we will work with communities and stakeholders to prepare the new City Plan. This Plan aligns with council priorities[1] and the Statement of Community Involvement. It gives details on how we will consult and engage as we prepare City Plan 2041.

City Plan 2041

The City Plan will set a vision and framework for the city’s future development. It will include policies used to determine planning applications. It will address our need for housing, the economy, community facilities and infrastructure. The plan will contribute to conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and achieving well designed places.

Stages of preparing City Plan 2041

Plans must be prepared in accordance with national policy, guidance, and legal regulations. The plan-making process is summarised below:

Stage 1 – Evidence Gathering

We commission, gather and review a range of evidence to inform the Plan.

Stage 2 – First Consultation and Engagement: Issues & Options

We set out what we think are some key issues for our new Plan, and possible options to address these issues. We want your views on these and whether there are other issues that we have not yet identified. We will do a 'call for sites'. We will also engage with the local community through informal workshops, discussions and events.

Stage 3 – Second Consultation: Draft Plan

Once we have considered the various options and consultation responses, we will produce a full draft of the City Plan 2041 including proposed policies and site allocations. We will publish this for public consultation (known as the ‘Regulation 18’ Consultation). At this stage we will be asking for people’s views on these proposed policies and site allocations.

Stage 4 – Third Consultation: Pre-submission

We will consider all consultation responses made on the Draft Plan during the consultation period, and may have to gather new evidence. We will make changes to the Plan where necessary and publish it for further public consultation. This is the Plan that we intend to submit to the Planning Inspectorate for examination (known as the ‘Regulation 19’ Consultation).

At this stage consultation responses must focus on whether the Plan complies with legal requirements, the duty to co-operate and the tests of ‘soundness’.

Stage 5 – Submission

The consultation responses will be considered and the supporting evidence finalised so that the Plan can be submitted to the Secretary of State. They will appoint an Inspector to examine it. The Pre-submission Plan, evidence base, and all Stage 4 responses will be considered by the Inspector.

Stage 6 – Examination

The examination will assess the Plan. It will check if the Plan follows national planning policy, laws, and procedures. It will also assess if the Plan is sound.

The Inspector will consider the evidence that supports the Plan. They will also consider the responses of local people and other interested parties. In most cases, the examination will involve holding public hearing sessions. The Inspector will decide the format for those sessions and what issues they will examine. It could be in-person ('real'), 'virtual' video, or a mix of both.

We will create an 'Examination website' to host relevant documents. It will keep the public and stakeholders informed of the exam's progress.

We will appoint an independent Programme Officer. They will support the Inspector and help with the running of the examination. The Programme Officer is a channel for all communications during the examination. They link the Inspector, the council, and other participants.

Stage 7 – Modifications

The Inspector may recommend some changes to the Plan. These changes are known as 'modifications'. The Inspector may ask us to consult on the changes, and the Inspector will consider the responses. Additional hearing sessions are only held if the Inspector considers them necessary. When the Inspector considers all matters to have been fully examined they will then send their report to the council. This marks the completion of the examination.

Stage 8 – Adoption

If the Inspector recommends that the Plan has met the various tests or if their recommended changes to the Plan are made, the council can formally adopt the Plan. We will ask Full Council to consider the Inspector's report and to adopt the Plan. Once adopted, the Plan will be used to determine planning applications. We will publish the adopted Plan on our website.

Role of councillors

We have a Member Advisory Working Group which we liaise with regularly whilst we are preparing the plan. At each stage of consultation, the Cabinet/Council will be asked for approval to go out for consultation. Councillors will be able to respond to the consultation and will also be provided with a summary of consultation responses for information.

Branding

All City Plan documents, webpages and consultation materials will be clearly identifiable with a City Plan 2041 logo and colour scheme.

Who will we engage and consult with?

Consultation on the City Plan 2041 will be in accordance with the SCI.

Our public consultations are open to all and aim to:

· have a clear purpose

· be meaningful

· be flexible

· use a range of consultation methods to reach the widest range of people

· be inclusive, reaching groups that are often under-represented in consultations

· be transparent, ensuring feedback is provided to participants and made publicly available.

We have a statutory duty to engage with a range of consultees as set out below. We have an up-to-date planning policy database of consultees and will continue to proactively identify organisations to add to the database through working with other teams across the council.

Statutory Consultees

Planning regulations[2] state that we must consult with certain groups. These are:

· adjoining local authorities

· Parish Councils

· infrastructure providers such as National Rail, National Highways and telecommunications companies

· utility providers including water companies

· health commissioners

· organisations such as the Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England.

General consultees

The regulations also state that local planning authorities should consult with ‘general consultation bodies’, residents or other businesses that the local planning authority consider it appropriate to invite representations.

Consultees in this group include:

· organisations that represent different topics such as the environment and wildlife or different areas in the city

· organisations that represent different communities or individuals such as our Black and Racially Minoritised communities, disabled people, faith communities, young people, older people and LGBTQI+ communities

· partnerships that have a specific focus, such as transport or economic development

· civic and amenity groups

· residents associations

· local businesses

· developers, landowners and planning consultants

· Neighbourhood Forums.

We also consult with individuals who have signed up to our contact database.

Marginalised and seldom heard from groups

Marginalised and seldom heard from groups are individuals or groups that may require more time and resources to hear from. It is important to try to reach all members of our community to ensure that everyone can have their say. The following groups may be more difficult to reach and people may fall into more than one of these groups.

Young people

Children and young people are normally under-represented in planning consultations. Involvement will be encouraged through links with local universities, colleges, schools and youth groups or other voluntary and community organisations. To effectively engage young people we will need to provide information which is accessible, relevant and engaging.

Older people

Some older people may find accessing material online more difficult than accessing hard copies. Their involvement will be encouraged through engaging local organisations representing older people and through face-to-face exhibitions or staffed displays. We will provide consultation materials and publicity in hard copy.

Black and Racially Minoritised communities

We need to ensure that people from a wide range of backgrounds are engaged in the planning process. Information will be disseminated through voluntary and community organisations representing our Black and Racially Minoritised communities, and made available in different languages where appropriate.

LGBTQI+ communities

We will seek to engage with people identifying as LGBTQI+ as well as local organisations representing this community.

Disabled people

We will seek to engage with disabled individuals, which includes those with a physical, sensory or cognitive disability through local organisations representing disabled people. We will ensure that consultation is inclusive and accessible, for example by making sure our online documents can be read by screen-readers, and using venues for consultation events that are fully accessible.

Faith communities

We want to ensure that people from a wide range of faith backgrounds are engaged in the planning process. Voluntary organisations representing our faith communities will be consulted, and information may be disseminated through places of worship.

Gypsies and travellers

We will seek to engage with the gypsy and traveller community through local liaison groups such as Friends, Families and Travellers and the council’s traveller liaison team.

How will we engage and consult?

We will consult for a minimum of 6 weeks and will use a range of different methods to publicise the consultation, engage with communities and gather views.

Stage of City Plan Review	Publicity	Activity
Issues and Options consultation – 2024	· News article on our website · Videos made available on our website and Youtube channel · Press releases · Public Notice in local papers · Social media updates using Facebook, X and Instagram · Digital copies of documents available on our website · Hard copies of documents available in all libraries and council Customer Service Centres · Email mailout to all contacts registered on the Planning Policy database · Email mailout to other groups via council contacts, such as Community Engagement team · Email to all councillors · Posters in publicly accessible council buildings	· Online survey available on YourVoice.Brighton-Hove.gov.uk consultation platform · Paper copies of the survey available in libraries and council Customer Service Centres · Staffed exhibitions and drop-in sessions across the city · Webinar with Q&A for statutory consultees · Webinars covering different themes for general consultees · Targeted engagement with marginalised/seldom heard communities where appropriate · Presentations to city partnership groups such as Strategic Transport Partnership, Economic Partnership and Strategic Housing Partnership.
Draft Plan consultation - 2025	· News article on our website · Videos made available on our website and Youtube channel · Press releases · Public Notice in local papers · Social media updates using Facebook, X and Instagram · Digital copies of documents available on our website · Hard copies of documents available in all libraries and council Customer Service Centres · Email mailout to all contacts registered on the Planning Policy database · Email mailout to other groups via council contacts, such as Community Engagement team · Email to all councillors · Posters in publicly accessible council buildings	· Online survey available on YourVoice.Brighton-Hove.gov.uk consultation platform · Paper copies of the survey available in libraries and council Customer Service Centres · Staffed exhibitions and drop-in sessions across the city · Online webinar with Q&A covering different themes for all consultees · Targeted engagement marginalised/seldom heard communities · Presentations to city partnership groups such as Strategic Transport Partnership, Economic Partnership and Strategic Housing Partnership.
Pre-submission consultation - 2026	· News article on our website · Videos on our website and Youtube channel · Press releases · Public Notice in local papers · Social media updates using Facebook, X and Instagram · Digital copies of documents available on our website · Hard copies of documents available in all libraries and council Customer Service Centres · Email mailout to all contacts registered on the Planning Policy database · Email mailout to other groups via council contacts, such as Community Engagement team · Email to all councillors	· Online survey available on YourVoice.Brighton-Hove.gov.uk consultation platform · Paper copies of the survey available in libraries and Customer Service Centres

Evaluation of consultation responses and engagement

We will prepare a statement of consultation after each stage of consultation setting out what we did, who we consulted with and who responded. The statement of consultation will include a copy and summary of the responses. We will also say how the responses have informed the next stage of the plan preparation. We will review our level of reach for each stage of consultation. We will feedback results in the consultation statement and on the “Your Voice Brighton-Hove” platform.

Duty to Co-operate

We have a duty to co-operate on strategic planning issues that cross administrative boundaries and must work with other local authorities to identify any relevant strategic mattes.

Cross-boundary issues relating to City Plan 2041 might include accommodating unmet housing need and highway issues.

We will liaise with relevant bodies in identifying cross-boundary strategic issues and work jointly with them during the preparation of the plan.

Timetable

· Evidence gathering and scoping - 2023 to early 2024

· Key Issues consultation – November 2024 to January 2025

· Draft Plan consultation – late 2025 - early 2026

· Pre-submission Plan consultation – summer 2026

· Submission to Secretary of State – late 2026

· Examination – 2027

We will keep this timetable up to date with any changes. Progress on each stage and will also be available on the City Plan 2041 section on the Your Voice Brighton-Hove platform and council website.

Contact us

If you have any queries throughout the City Plan review process the planning policy team can be contacted using the following email address: Planningpolicy@brighton-hove.gov.uk

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