Agenda item - Public Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by members of the public:

(a)          Petitions:  

To receive any petitions presented by members of the public.

(b)          Written Questions:

To receive any questions submitted by the due date of 5pm on the 7 January 2025

(c)          Deputations:              

To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 5pm on the 7 January 2025

(B)     Public Questions

(i)             Devolution White Paper Update

120.1   Ben Thomas read the following question:

Is Brighton and Hove City Council actively seeking to be exempted from the required threshold of 500,000 residents in the new proposed unitary authorities, or will the authority boundaries have to expand beyond the city, thereby ending Brighton and Hove’s unique identity?

120.2   The Chair provided the following reply:

Thanks Ben very much for your question and just to be really clear for anybody who is in the room and everybody that's watching, Ben is referring to the proposals that also exist in the white paper around unitization, principally of areas that are currently two-tier areas. So, for example, in our neighbouring areas of West Sussex and East Sussex, you have county councils, and you have districts and borough councils that sit underneath them each responsible for a mix of services that we here in Brighton & Hove as an existing unitary authority, already provide comprehensively and holistically.

As Ben says what the government has said in the White Paper is that they want to move to tier areas into being unitary authorities. So, authorities that are the same as us in terms of delivering a comprehensive whole of public services. And they've also said that they believe that the optimum size or a more efficient size for unitaries to operate is at a larger size than Brighton & Hove currently is at 280,000 people.

I think it's worth saying initially that what's clear in the White Paper is a real vote of confidence in unitary authorities, including unitary authorities like Brighton & Hove. It's really clear to me from the White Paper and from my discussions with government that they believe that unitary authorities like us are best place to deliver high quality public services. I think it's also clear that they see more potential in unitary authorities that we could deliver better and potentially more and have greater coverage and really be in the driving seat of total place leadership.

So, I think it's an exciting moment to be in a unitary authority, and it's an exciting moment to look at what the government might have in store on the very specific question of what this means for Brighton & Hove. That is a conversation that has not yet started with government and has not yet started in earnest or in substance with our neighbouring authorities, although we are obviously cognizant of what the White Paper has set out.

The government has been very clear though that they believe there will be flexibilities around that number that they have identified in the White Paper of 500,000 and they've said about that that they're keen to work with places and with unitary authorities to understand what will work best in local areas. So, there is flexibility there to ensure that the best size unitaries are reached across the country from place to place. I think I would say additionally in response to your question that there is absolutely no possibility or any chance of Brighton & Hove as a proud city with city status being diminished in any way, even if we were to become part of a unitary that was slightly larger than our current footprint. We would still be the city of Brighton and home with everything that that means about our identity, our very proud history and who we are as a people and a place. So, it's important that we don't conflate the delivery of local authority services with place identity as they are distinct. And I'll be very clear with anybody that I'm speaking to about this with the neighbouring authorities or with the government that Brighton & Hove is a very special and a very specific place and will retain our identity as such.