Council Agenda Item 39
Subject: Written questions from members of the public
Date of meeting: 1 October 2026
A period of not more than thirty minutes shall be allowed for questions submitted by a member of the public who either lives or works in the area of the authority at each ordinary meeting of the Council.
Every question shall be put and answered without discussion, but the person to whom a question has been put may decline to answer. The person who asked the question may ask one relevant supplementary question, which shall be put and answered without discussion.
The following written questions have been received from members of the public.
1. Ian
Needham:
The Living Rent Campaign welcomes the new prime ministers pledge to deliver the “biggest council house building programme since the post war period” The post war council house building programme provided secure affordable homes for millions and much needed jobs. Between 1950 and 1970 Councils built on average at 136,000 homes a year rising and peaked over 400,000 in 1968. To make his pledge a reality at social rents for 120,000 homes a year, the prime minister needs to increase current plans by 800% using already committed social housing grant for the remainder of this parliament and topping it up by returning £6 billion of the money extracted from council housing under the self financing settlement. Given the growing number of homeless households in our cities temporary accommodation, will the council publicly call for this much needed investment in council housing to address the homeless crisis in our city?
Response from Councillor Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing.
2. Ian White:
On behalf of the 50 plus local children who use the outdated and worn out cricket nets on Nevill Sports Ground each week, please can you tell me when will the council distribute the circa £90,000 CIL monies allocated to the Westdene and Hove Park ward and the recently received Moda S106 monies so Brighton and Hove Cricket Club can begin our net renovation project in time for the 2027 cricket season?
Response from Councillor Taylor, Cabinet Member for Finance & City Regeneration.
3. Daniel Harris:
Brighton Pride CIC holds landlord’s consent for
Preston Park, yet its two flagship events, Pride on the Park and
the Brighton Street Party, are owned and delivered by BN1 Events
Collective Ltd, a private company.
In January 2025, majority control of BN1 passed to Louder
Entertainment Ltd and Joy Entertainment Group Ltd, entertainment
businesses with no prior LGBTQ+ community role. Louder
Entertainment has since been majority-acquired by Live
Nation.
Meanwhile, CIC-declared turnover fell from roughly £4m
(2018/19) to £830k, and charitable transfers dropped from
£367k (2022) to £0.
Is the council satisfied that the current structure provides
sufficient transparency over who controls the event, where income
flows, and how community benefit is protected?
Response from Councillor McGregor, Cabinet Member for Economy, Culture, Heritage & Tourism.
4. Sam D’Arcy-Darling:
‘Disabled Persons Bus Passes are an incredibly
valuable mobility resource that enables disabled people to live
with independence. However, Brighton and Hove is also well served
by railway infrastructure, which can be more accessible
(air-conditioned in the summer), more reliable during peak traffic
periods, and cheaper per journey per person (given that anyone who
has a Disabled Persons Bus Pass also qualifies for a Disabled
Persons Railcard).
Given the nationalisation of GTR a few months ago, the Government's
announcement that disabled bus passes will not be time restricted
from April 2027 (presumably meaning Government will begin covering
more costs here), and the soon-to-be-established Strategic
Authority, will Brighton & Hove City Council consider working
with GTR, the Department for Transport and the Interim Strategic
Authority Board to introduce rail access within the local authority
boundary for holders of the Disabled Persons Bus
Pass?’
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
5. Robert Brown:
Lights along the Black Rock boardwalk have remained switched off for around four years, which this administration has attributed the continuing delay to UK Power Networks (UKPN). However, UKPN has said that it issued the Council with a revised quotation on 17 July 2026 and is awaiting confirmation and payment from the Council before proceeding.
Can the Leader therefore explain why this administration has failed to ensure that these lights are operational, including whether the Council has now formally accepted and paid UK Power Networks’ revised quotation, and if not, what exactly is preventing it from doing so, how much the costs involved in ensuring the lights are working are, and whether this administration will commit to a specific date by which all of the Black Rock safety lights will be operational?
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
6. David Gibson:
In order to get a fuller and more detailed picture of the progress made providing homes for our city, in the previously provided in snapshot table public question (July 26) to Sarah Gorton (LRC)) giving the number of households in occupied general needs and seniors housing for each April from 2014/15 to 2025/16 provided in a previous answer please can you separate out the occupied seniors from the occupied general needs in this table and add in the data for occupied council owned temporary accommodation (including occupied homes leased to seaside homes) each April (2014/15-2025/6) and the number of council homes sold under the Right to Buy during the previous year?
Response from Councillor Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing.
7. Paul Evans:
I own a care home in West Saltdean where older and vulnerable people live out their final days. Our next door neighbour's garden is a dumping ground which is unsightly, smells and attracts rats. Councillor Fishleigh and I asked the council to intervene and were told that although a letter would be sent threatening legal action, the council doesn’t have the resources to take the matter further. Do you have any suggestions for what we can do next to get the debris cleared once and for all?
Response from Councillor Rowkins, Cabinet Member for Net Zero & Environmental Services.
8. Derek Wright:
Black Rock has significant potential, but residents still lack clarity about the Council’s longer-term vision for the area. Separate from the determination of any individual planning or event application, what is the Council’s timetable for setting out a public strategy for Black Rock, including its intended mix of public space, leisure, events, transport and seafront connections; and when will residents, businesses and visitors be able to shape that strategy through a meaningful public engagement process?
Response from Councillor Taylor, Cabinet Member for Finance & City Regeneration.
9. Robert Ellson:
After repeated flash floods in autumn 2025, Cllr Muten and Principal Engineer Nick Bean visited Ovingdean in January 2026 and agreed work was needed to re-site and install new drains to prevent run-off from higher ground causing flooding on Ovingdean Road, Greenways Corner and Beacon Court. But since then there has been no progress despite the best efforts of Cllrs Earthey and Fishleigh. When can we expect some progress? Recent heavy rain in late August saw another flood, right up to the doorsteps of residents in Beacon Court – the situation is urgent.
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
10. Nigel Furness:
In the highly likely event of a successful outcome for East Sussex County Council’s legal action against this authority for its proposed land grab to the East under the auspices of the Government’s ‘devolution’ proposals, what is your Plan B, Councillor Sankey, always assuming you have one?
Response from Councillor Sankey, Leader of the Council.
11. Andrea Lewis:
Over the past five years, how much has been spent annually from the Brighton and Hove Adult Social Care budget on supporting people with complex needs, including the average cost per individual, and, when making decisions affecting this group, such as the closure of Wellington House, were the emotional and human costs to those individuals and their community considered and reflected in the supporting analysis?
Response from Councillor Alexander, Cabinet Member for Communities, Equalities, Public Health & Adult Social Care.
12. Anna Webb:
Ovingdean is currently served by the number 52 bus which is subsidised by the Council. We have no direct bus route into Rottingdean to give us access to its local services, which would benefit many residents. Councillor Fishleigh has asked the council’s bus team to ask Compass for passenger usage numbers for the 52 between Ovingdean and Woodingdean and within Woodingdean. Would the Council consider a route alteration for the 52 to provide a service that includes Rottingdean?
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
13. Sally De Rooy:
For weeks my neighbours and I have been disturbed by the noise of vehicles driving over a new manhole cover on the road outside our homes which is raised above the road surface. Every time a vehicle drives over the cover it makes a loud clunk. We live on the A259 which is very busy day and night. We have reported it to the council multiple times as has Councillor Fishleigh but nothing has happened. Please would you help us.
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
14. Geof Corbie:
Traffic data indicates nearly 15% of vehicles exceed the 30 mph limit on Dyke Road near the Three Cornered Copse / Hilltop Cafe. The current central safety island is only the width of a pram, leaving families, school children, cyclists and pedestrians exposed to fast-moving traffic on a downward incline. Given these ongoing safety risks, what specific measures or timeline can the council commit to for installing a safer pedestrian crossing or effective traffic calming at this location?
Response from Councillor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport & City Infrastructure.
15. Alison Gray:
The Conway Court to Livingstone House Residents'
Association Committee is concerned that we are receiving an
ever-increasing number of complaints from disabled residents on my
estate about how they are being treated by council officers and how
their complaints are not being resolved. Frequently, the complaints
seem to involve clear breaches of their protected rights under the
Equality Act 2010 and UK human rights law. We have also heard about
increasing numbers of complaints about similar breaches in other
areas of the city.
Why is this being allowed to happen and what is the council
proposing to do about complying with its duties to its disabled
tenants and residents?
Response from Councillor Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing.
16. Diane Montgomery:
Under the Right to Buy (RTB) governments of both political
colours have privatised over 1.5 million social homes. (Nationally
between 1988 and 2015 £12,668.7 million worth in public
assets went in RTB discounts -Britain’s biggest
privatisation) In Brighton and Hove around 40% ex RTB homes are now
privately rented at 3 times higher rents! Last year, 69 council
homes were sold under the Right to Buy in Brighton and Hove. That
is half of the number of additional council home were lost to the
RTB! Andy Burnham rightly recognised a good home provides the basis
for people to thrive and expanding council housing is his priority.
However the current Housing Bill proposes tinkering of the Right to
Buy, rather than abolition as happened already in Scotland
and Wales. Will the council leader join the Living Rent Campaign
publicly calling to abolish the Right to Buy in the forthcoming
Housing Bill?
Response from Councillor Williams, Cabinet Member
for Housing.