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 12 noon on the 14 March 2025

 

(c)          Deputations:              

To receive any deputations submitted by the due date of 10am on the 10 March 2025.

(b)        Public Questions

 

(1)              Community Infrastructure Levy

 

167.1       Mark Strong read the following question:

 

Community Works welcomes the CIL proposals, especially the proposed Neighbourhood CIL process with a more equitable city-wide distribution of funds.

We note this places responsibility on Ward members to agree a schedule of local groups, to determine which projects receive Neighbourhood CIL, and possibly even submit bids.

Community Works would like more information on how this will be done fairly, consistently and inclusively, ensuring engagement with a wide range of neighbourhood groups. In particular we ask Cabinet to consider how our existing work with groups across the City could help support officers and councillors in delivering the Neighbourhood CIL process

 

167.2       Councillor Taylor provided the following reply:

 

Mark, thanks for your question. And as always, thank you for the work for community works and that you do specifically in your organisation does specifically and and thank you for sort of broadly welcoming the update on SEAL and the approach. My sense would be probably a little bit behind some other areas, a little bit further forward on how they administer seal. And so I think the paper we've got today is.

A good step in putting some good framework around that.

In terms of engagement, we're gonna do an engagement process that will use your voice as our typical online platform to seek views from the public and community groups. A separate communications plan is plan is being established to ensure that consultation is effectively promoted throughout the city and through the press, but we would absolutely welcome support of Community works. And so I have asked officers to contact you and the organisation to ensure that the voice of the third sector is part of the development of the overall plan.

 

(2)              Red Routes

 

167.3       Laura Marshall read the following question:

 

It is noted in paragraph 3.7 that there is an intention to apply for DfT funding for the fourth tranche of moving traffic enforcement powers i.e. cameras (July 2025). Paragraph 4.2 references the use of such cameras to enforce school streets, which are currently operated by staff and the goodwill of volunteers. Why has it taken until tranche 4 for school streets to be considered? Will the application include cameras for school streets?

 

167.4       Councillor Muten provided the following reply:

 

Thank you, Laura for your question. Very nice to meet you. The council has not sought to apply for moving traffic enforcement powers previously. The deadline for tranche three applications for moving traffic enforcement powers was in 2023 and this opportunity was not then taken, nor previously. This was this was also before the school streets schemes had been widely established in our city and information about compliance with the schemes could be gathered to support such an application.

Last year the new Labour government issued new guidance for school streets schemes steering away from reliance on volunteers and advising that all new schemes should be enforced through ANPR cameras.

Several of our school streets schemes rely on volunteers and school staff and as an authority, in the absence of moving traffic enforcement powers, we rely on Sussex Police for such enforcement. Their resources are limited and often focus on other priorities. Therefore, as an administration, we conclude that we have a strong case to proceed for applying for these powers. The council will include cameras for school streets in its application for moving traffic enforcement powers as this is likely to provide strong and welcome support for such powers in our city.

 

(3)              New England House

 

167.5       Zenzie Tinker read the following question:

 

Through no fault of our own, New England House tenants now face an intolerable situation, much like the fire risk we have unknowingly been exposed to for years. With little notice and no real support from the council, we are being forced to relocate our businesses—or face closure, putting many local jobs and creative enterprises at risk. Zenzie Tinker Conservation has thrived here for 22 years, renewing our leases last year without any warning of this crisis. Will the council provide a rent-free period from November 2024 and offer compensation to cover relocation and refitting costs to prevent closures?

 

167.6       Councillor Taylor provided the following reply:

 

Thank you Zenzi for asking your question and more importantly than thanking you for asking your question, thank you for what you've done over the previous 20 years in establishing and running an internationally renowned business that contributes significantly to the local economy. I think for people who haven't started businesses, it's difficult to understand the level of commitment that has to go into it and the personal risk that you take and the employing people, it makes a massive contribution and really to reiterate what Bella said at the beginning, I think it's really important that as elected officials and politicians in the city, we make genuine apologies when we think we need. The Council needs to apologise and I think the Council does need to apologise corporately as a council, probably over a period of 20 years, when things probably haven't been done correctly, and we'll talk about that a bit later in terms of lessons learned, but genuinely an apology to you and the rest of the tenants in the building, many of which are here today for the disruption that was caused in November, an absolute nightmare. I completely understand what a nightmare to get it such short notice having to not be able to attend your businesses and then only get in days later in the run up to Christmas, and now, as you said in your question, the prospects of having to leave the building. So, I genuinely want to apologise for that to you and another tenants. To answer your question directly, the Council will be making a compensation offer to all tenants, not just some tenants, but all tenants. I completely understand that tenants want to get that as soon as possible so they can understand the position going forward. I believe that will be coming in the coming weeks. I've obviously got to make the decision today, which is the formal first decision of cabinet, but I'm asking to make those communications and offers as quickly as possible, because we understand why that's important for tenants. But thank you again for your question.

 

(4)              New England House

 

167.7       Alexander Claber read the following question:

 

Our businesses risk closure due to the lack of suitable premises or the cost of relocation if premises can be found in time. How will the council financially support us through compensation? The council’s Firenta 2020 report highlighted that NEH was at substantial fire risk - if this had been communicated we would have made very different plans, rather than continuing to invest in NEH and renewing our leases over the past five years.

 

167.8       Councillor Taylor provided the following reply:

 

Thank you, Alexander, for your question. It's been nice to meet many tenants in circumstances that we wouldn't really want to be meeting each other. But it has meant that I've got to have a better understanding of the brilliant vibrant businesses in the building. Thank you again for the work that you've done in setting up your business, and reiterate again the apology in the difficult circumstance you're in.

On the fire report, I think it's really important that the council properly learns lessons from this, not just pays lip service to it. One of the first things we did when we had the really unfortunate unfolding of events in November is that we requested a proper internal audit report on the sequence of events, and the documentation, and the reports leading up to that point. Not just at that point, the decision we made, but what's leading up to that point. That report will come in the coming months. A full internal audit report on that decision making, who knew what when, which will come to an Audit and Standards Committee and I think it would be really important that the council doesn't try and brush anything under the carpet but properly acknowledges if there were mistakes that were made.

I guess I would reiterate what I said to Zenzie about compensation, completely understood in the coming weeks, I expect, a formal offer of compensation will be made to all tenants.

 

(5)              New England House

 

167.9       Lou Taylor read the following question:

 

I’ve been a tenant of NEH for over 3 years, and as I understand it, the Council has been aware of the dangerous fire situation for the whole of this time. Risking the future of my business as well as the lives of myself and all other tenants in the building.

I know there was money set aside to address these issues but this money has disappeared. As far as I can tell no money has been spent at all in years to support this incredibly valuable resource to the city. Where has this money gone?

 

167.10   Councillor Taylor provided the following reply:

 

Thanks, Lou, for your question. Again, really sorry you’re in this difficult position. Obviously you moved in relatively recently compared to Zenzie, three years. I know many tenants who moved in were excited about moving in, in the sense that the building is a special and unique building that has housed a diverse range of businesses for years and so I'm really sorry we're in this position.

In terms of that money, the money certainly hasn't gone away. The council has a ring-fenced pot of £11 million, some of which came from a city deal a number of years ago. That is ring-fenced for refurbishment of New England House. So far, those funds have been used to develop proposals, but I would reiterate what I said earlier to Alexander that we're very, very serious about properly learning the lessons of whether decisions were made quick enough, in the right order and funds allocated properly. But the money hasn't gone anywhere. It is still there and that money will be used if the council proceeds with ending up refurbing the building to a similar condition and use as it currently is.

 

(6)              New England House– Heike Roesel

 

167.11   Heike Roesel read the following question:

 

What action did the council take when the fire safety report from 2020 described issues with New England Houses fire safety?

 

167.12   Councillor Taylor provided the following reply:

 

It's a very good and important question, apologies for not giving you a direct answer here. That question is what will need to come out in the lessons learned and the audit report which will come to an Audit and Standards Committee, I believe in the coming months. I think we should invite all tenants to come and observe that meeting if they're interested. I will certainly be attending that meeting and we'll need to draw out exactly that question, which I think is really important for the council and for the city to answer. Not just for you as tenants, who clearly want to know those answers, but for the city, we need to get those answers and make sure we're understanding it for other buildings across the city.

 

(c)         Deputations

 

(1)              New England House

 

167.13   Cabinet received a deputation that raised a number of points in relation to the future of New England House.

 

167.14   Councillor Taylor provided the following response:

 

Thank you, Ria genuinely for your deputation. One of the reasons it's so important that as a Council we have public engagement deputations and questions is, as you implied in your question, you know we're sitting here and we're looking at a Council decision in front of us with numbers and consequences and we're going for the legal implications and we have to make the decisions that we think are right at any given time.

But we have to have members of the public, whether we're talking about schools, streets, whether we're talking about talking about sports equipment or in this case, commercial tenancy in a building, we have to have those members of the public come and bring it alive and make it real and make us understand genuinely what's happening in our communities and in our businesses. And I thought your deputation was extremely powerful and it brought to life a number of really important things it brought to life the range of different makers, artists and creators in the building that I think probably most members of the public aren't necessarily aware of across the city. And now, as I said earlier, sadly, have become aware through these really unfortunate circumstances, but that was really, really important for us to hear, and I think what you say about creativity and that hub is clearly probably fairly unusual in the South of England to have a building of this nature with so many creative and tech businesses in one place, and unfortunately one of the things that you highlight is that there is a lack of space in the city for that light industrial creative space which is different to office space. Office space, that's you know above ground floor retail space in the city centre is not the same thing that we're talking about here in terms of light industrial, creative space. And we've observed in previous studies the Council that we have a lack of that light industrial space in the city and that's something that we need to and are feeding into all of our planning considerations for the city and something that we'll need to feed into the city plan that we've recently done our first consultation on, but will come out in the coming months and years. I think it's important that you flagged the concept of this word decant, which as you say whilst we're talking about a commercial building, this is a commercial building that's not full of objects, it's full of people and businesses and creativity. And so I think it's really important that you flag that and it's important that what we talk about the unfortunate decisions that we're facing tonight, which will be asking tenants to vacate their leases and which brings on to the next part about support the Council is committed to try to support in in sort of two main ways. The first is compensation that I've mentioned in previous answers and which will be forthcoming in the in the coming weeks. And I know it's important to get that as quickly as possible for tenants. And then the second piece is around support and alternative premises and whilst I'm committed to the Council helping with that and I will keep asking officers to help as much as they possibly can, I also don't want to be a politician that over promises in the room, right. And we know that there is a lack of space and we know that it is going to mean difficult decisions and circumstances for many of those tenants because in talking to some of you, as I have been in the previous weeks and months, we know that there aren't perfect spaces for every tenant in the centre of Brighton. So some may need to look at further afield within the city or really tragically outside of the city, but I'm committed to the Council helping as much as we can, using both contacts in the city and our own portfolio of property. There may be some creative solutions that are being looked at on other properties that are not currently commercially let properties, but are operational buildings that may provide some solutions. And then I think the final thing which is really important is the spirit and not even just the spirit, the practical reality of what the building offered in terms of that creative hub and not losing that going forward. What we are not voting on this evening is the final proposal to what will happen with the building. However, the options in the paper do indicate that a potential refurbishment and essentially establishing and maybe even improving the business, the building in its current state in its current offer, it does look like a fairly possible option which you know at the beginning of this process. I had been worried frankly that it just wouldn't stack up that that might be a viable option. I know Councillor Miller who represents the creative industries from a cabinet perspective, is really keen to maintain that creative hub as am I. And so let's work together. I realise many of these, the businesses and tenants will now be understandably focused on their next steps and their businesses, but let's continue to work together on what the longer term next steps might be so that we can continue to maintain the much needed creative and light industrial space in the city and if possible, maintain the sort of spirit and the creative hub nature of what the building is represented for, for, for, for many, many years. But thank you again for your deputation.

 

167.15   Resolved- That Cabinet note the deputation.