Decision - Withdrawal of Core Strategy to Update and Amend

(1)         That Cabinet recommends to Council that the Secretary of State’s direction to withdraw the submitted Brighton and Hove Core Strategy from the examination process be sought for the reasons set out in Part 3 of this Report.

(2)         That Cabinet agrees that a Cross Party Working Group is set up in accordance with the terms of reference in appendix 2.

The reason for the main recommendation to withdraw the Core Strategy is to allow necessary updates and changes to the document that will allow the document to be found sound at examination.  This is considered the best option to secure an adopted city wide plan in the minimum amount of time.

The proposed Cross Party Working Group will help to build cross party consensus during development plan preparation.

The alternative option is for the Core Strategy to remain in submission stage and proceed towards examination.  This option was considered to be a high risk strategy due to the amount of updates and amendments necessary to ensure the Core Strategy is found sound and that these should be subject to consultation. The Planning Inspectorate has informally agreed this view.