Issue - items at meetings - Urban Biosphere City Status

Report of the Director of Strategy & Governance (copy attached).

(1)      That the Cabinet Committee affirms the council’s commitment to work towards designation of Brighton & Hove as an Urban Biosphere.

(2)      That the Cabinet Committee seeks integration of the Urban Biosphere target into the work programmes of the City Sustainability Partnership and 2020 Community Partnership.

(3)      That the Cabinet Committee, working with the 2020 Community Partnership, publishes an agreed strategy and costed action plan to set out the steps required to achieve Urban Biosphere status.

26.1       The Cabinet Committee considered a report of the Director of Strategy & Governance concerning proposals for Brighton and Hove to achieve the status of Urban Biosphere City (for copy see minute book).

26.2       The Lead Councillor for Sustainability explained that the Urban Biosphere concept had real potential for improving the look and feel of the city in many ways. She added that the proposed timescale was appropriate and that it would be important to communicate the concept to the public clearly. She requested that officers consider an alternative working name to ‘Urban Biosphere’ when the proposal goes public, to ensure its meaning is understood.

26.3       The Cabinet Member for Housing added that the council had already begun to show its commitment to this concept through the work carried out at Wild Park in Moulsecoomb, and that this had also benefited the community in a number of ways.

26.4       RESOLVED - That having considered the information and the reasons set out in the report, the Cabinet Committee accepted the following recommendations:

(1)       That the council’s commitment to work towards designation of Brighton & Hove as an Urban Biosphere be affirmed.

(2)       That the integration of the Urban Biosphere target into the work programmes of the City Sustainability Partnership and 2020 Community Partnership be sought.

(3)       That, working with the 2020 Community Partnership, an agreed strategy and costed action plan to set out the steps required to achieve Urban Biosphere status be published.