Agenda item - Written questions from members of the public.

A list of public questions received by the due date of 12noon on the 22 March 2024 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum for the meeting.

22.1    The Mayor reported that 6 written questions had been received from members of the public and invited Andrew Mosley to come forward and address the council.

Andrew Mosley asked the following question; “I am the General Manager of The Grand. We plant and maintain BHCC land directly in front of the hotel and I am here to ask the council to please plant, or at least cut down the overgrowth and bark, on land on the south side of the A259. It’s been an eyesore for too long on our historic seafront.”

Councillor Rowkins replied; “Thank you, Mr Mosley. I understand that you're the General Manager of the Grand Hotel, which is obviously a very important part of our seafront. I want to start just by thanking you for your maintenance, for the section of land outside the hotel that you maintain. I believe your specific question was around the area of land opposite the hotel on the seafront there. I have asked that we visit that site as soon as possible to undertake maintenance and hopefully get some planting done as well. I will update you when that is going to happen.”

22.2    The Mayor thanked Andrew Mosley for their question and invited Ed Armston-sheret to come forward and address the council.

Ed Armston-sheret asked the following question; “Will parents and carers with children at Bright Start nursery be offered the opportunity to visit the new nursery site at the Tarner Family Hub before the nursery move takes place?”

Councillor Taylor replied; “Thank you for your question. I hope you are well. A short answer - yes. A letter is being sent to parents this week, which will include information on drop-in sessions so they can visit the Tarner Family Hub. Worth noting, this will include a session supported by EMAS so that families where English is an additional language can also visit and ask questions.”

Ed Armston-sheret asked the following supplementary question; “I have actually received that communication, it came through some 4 hours before this meeting. It outlines that there's going to be one session offered which is on a Thursday. As this is a weekday, what will the Council do to make sure that parents who are working are able to visit the new nursery site? There’s one day being offered on a Thursday.”

Councillor Taylor replied; “Thanks, Ed. We will certainly make efforts to ensure that parents can visit at other convenient times and I will speak to officers to make sure that happens.”

22.3    The Mayor thanked Ed Armston-sheret for their questions and invited Gerry Walden to come forward and address the council.

Gerry Walden asked the following question; “It isn’t easy to get at the underlying facts about the future of the King Alfred. I found the questionnaire appeared to be slanted in favour of a move to Hangleton. Has the decision to move been driven about past development problems? I sympathise that the council is struggling financially. I am not clear why a decision is being made now that will be started in potentially changed financial circumstances. Why is the council not looking again at a mixed commercial and leisure centre development on the existing site over the medium term with the equivalent financials?”

Councillor Robins replied; “Thank you for your question, Mr Weldon. At this time, no decision has been taken on the choice of site to deliver the new facility. That decision will be taken this summer. The current site has not been ruled out and remains an option that is being considered alongside the alternative site.

The decision will be informed by the outcomes of the recent consultation and by the work we've been doing over the last nine months with experts Consortium Sport and Leisure to examine  value for money implications of the delivery options. The work has shown us that delivery on the existing site would be more complex, more expensive, more constrained and carry a greater risk. The three past attempts to deliver the new facility on the site, using mixed commercial and leisure centre development, have all failed, highlighting the challenges of this site. It was therefore important to make sure the questionnaire reflected these key messages so that the responses understood the constraints and challenges.

The urgency to replace the current King Alfred has become especially acute in recent times. Running costs for the facility are high, and between January and April last year we were forced to close the pools as a result of flooding damage to the heating system, illustrating the fragility conditions of this facility. We are therefore looking to take the project forward at a pace now to minimise the risk of having to close the existing facility before the plans are in place for replacement.

A key lesson learned for the past projects is that linking the new Sports Centre facility to other mixed-use developments greatly increases the risk of the project stalling. With that in mind, we have taken the decision to deliver the new facility directly as a distinct separate project to minimise the risk.”

Gerry Walden asked the following supplementary question; “Many of those currently using the current King Alfred's site access it by foot, public transport, and bikes. Given that the Council appears to have decided to demolish the King Alfred Leisure Centre, is the only solution being considered seriously to move to the Hangleton location, with a potential legal limitation on use, that has poor bus services, poor pedestrian access and where it does not appear to be very safe to cycle to, especially for younger and older people. For those who currently use the King Alfred site. Thank you.”

Councillor Robins replied; “Thanks very much Mr Walden. As I've said, there's no decision being made. So at the moment the King Alfred is still looked upon as an as an option. The only thing I will say is that there's quite a good bus service to the site that we've been looking at in Hangleton and all that will be taken into consideration when the final decision is made. Thanks very much”

22.4    The Mayor thanked Gerry Walden for their questions and invited David Streeter to come forward and address the council.

David Streeter asked the following question; “We would like to ask the Council about their inconsistency of approach within the planning department towards the privately owned Hippodrome and other Brighton Council owned buildings. As an example, within Pavilion Theatre, Fibrous plaster (Listed Building Consent) application (part retrospective!) BH2020/03419 validated 25 Nov 2020, decided 12 Feb 2021 (11 weeks 2 days). Compared to the Hippodrome: fibrous plaster stabilisation and protective domed roof: BH2021/01079 validated 24 Mar 2021, decided 7 Oct 2021 (28 weeks 1 day) which is 2 and a half times longer to be approved.”

Councillor Allen replied; “Mr Streeter, thank you for your question to my colleague, Chair of Planning Councillor Loughran who is unwell today. Every planning application is assessed on its own merits. The type and complexity of the information required depends on the circumstances of the site and the specifics of the proposal. Application BH2022/02443 was published in August 2022 and amendments to the scheme were received in November 2022, again in February 2023 and then again in March 2023.

Following amendments to the scheme, and consultation in April 2023, the Council received comments from the public, both supporting and objecting to the scheme. The Planning Committee are conducting a site visit to the Hippodrome on Tuesday 2nd of April next week, with a final debate and decision to be taken on Wednesday 3rd of April.

David Streeter asked the following supplementary question; “As I said earlier, a week is a long time in politics and since tabling this question, we’ve had the chance to see the Council’s full planning report, which I'm pleased to say concurs with our long-held view that the Hippodrome, as quoted, its restoration as a flexible events and entertainment venue should be strongly recommended.

So we would, we would therefore hope that the Planning Committee, which meets next week, as you said, will approve the planning application and allow the careful restoration to continue. We'd like to be assured that the Council can maintain a consistency in the planning as obviously is fundamental by the planning committee. So we believe that is essential to maintaining public confidence in the whole planning process.”

Councillor Allen replied; I'd just like to concur with what Mr Streeter has said and just to reassure him and everyone else that there's no particular bias from the planning department in terms of applicants. It doesn't matter whether it's private or the Council itself that's the applicant, the time frames are still statutory and are followed.

22.5    The Mayor thanked David Streeter for their questions and invited Nigel Furness to come forward and address the council.

Nigel Furness asked the following question; Could you please confirm to this Chamber, Councillor Sankey, the approximate cost of the two forthcoming By-elections to the City’s council-taxpayers and from whence come the funds?

Councillor Sankey replied; “Good afternoon Mr Furness, it's good to see you again, and thank you for your question. I'm really pleased that the by-election's in Queens Park and Kempton have now been called and they've been called for the 2nd of May. Due to the by-elections taking place on the same day as the Police and Crime Commissioner election, many major costs are going to be shared between the Council and Central Government. These include poll card printing and postage, polling station staffing and polling place hire. It's expected that the Council will incur cost of £18,000. Within the electoral services budget is an allowance for one by-election per year. The £18,000 that we are expecting to incur will be covered by this budget.”

Nigel Furness asked the following supplementary question; Councillor Sankey, these council prospective candidates that you’ve announced, you've been making very large of the fact that they are thoroughly local people with thoroughly local connections. Indeed I know them both, so you are telling the truth I'm glad to say. Can I therefore ask, are you prepared to go further with that statement and confirm that you are now in control, or your party is now in control locally, of future candidates who are being selected rather than regional, or worse still, Labour Central Office. Thank you.

Councillor Sankey replied; Thank you for the supplementary question Mr Furness. I can confirm that both of our Labour candidates, selected for both Queen's Park and Kemp Town, were selected by local branch members.

22.6    The Mayor thanked Nigel Furness for their questions and invited Angela Vitolo to come forward and address the council.

Angela Vitolo asked the following question; “With the current trend of falling life expectancy resulting from poor nationwide public health plans, what is Brighton and Hove Council doing the improve the health and wellbeing of its residents?”

Councillor De Oliveira replied: “Thank you very much Angela Vitolo. Increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between people living in the most and least disadvantaged areas of the city are the key aims of the city-wide health and wellbeing strategy. We do this by focusing the health and wellbeing outcomes for the city and across the key life stages of all local residents, with particular focus on those who are the most disadvantaged.

Evidence shows that there are many factors that determine our health. Not just health services, but also the wider socio-economic circumstances of our life such as income, educational attainment, transport, employment, housing, and community cohesion. These are the building blocks of good and healthy society and wellbeing, and actions to strengthen them sit across the whole system. This includes the Council, the NHS, the voluntary sector and many other partners.

Our work to influence these areas is to be evidence based: looking at our local data, our local communities and their experiences and priorities, what works, and what is cost effective.

There are many examples of our ways of working, one is our programme of working around reducing harm from smoking. Evidence tells that supporting residents to stop smoking would halve the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest in the city. I’m pleased to say from April we will have £400,000 of new money, via national grant, specifically aimed to support people to stop smoking.  We will be using this money to add to our current work on helping people to stop smoking, working with partners to support all residents to stop smoking and targeting groups with the highest smoking rates. 

Our current Brighton and Hove Health and Wellbeing Strategy is informed by our Brighton and Hove Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and runs all the way to 2030 and is published on the council website. I encourage all residents to read it. Thank you.”

Angela Vitolo asked the following supplementary question; “Councillor, I would like to know please, what are you doing specifically for mental health?”

Councillor De Oliveira replied: “Thank you very much. So mental health sits at the heart of this Council, of this administration. I’m someone who works on mental health, and we've been working tireless with the local NHS, with partners to make sure that we understand mental health. We want to be a Council that supports people. For example, we passed a fantastic suicide strategy to make sure that we reach every single person out there who needs support with that side of mental distress. We need to be a listening Council and make sure that every single resident of this city knows that their Council is trying their best to look after their mental health because mental health, like physical health, is about a holistic being. It's about the person being able to achieve many things in society and we’d like that to be for every single resident in our city, from the richest to the poorest.”