Agenda item - Chair's Communications

62.1      The Chair provided the following Communications:

“These remain challenging times financially for local authorities across the country, but this Council will remain committed to investing in transformative projects, thinking of creative, creative ways to tackle inequality, and ultimately working towards our ambition of creating a better Brighton and Hove for all.

We will always do the most with what we have and do our best to secure more funding for this city to invest in the lives of our residents.

The A259 Hove to Portslade Active Travel Scheme is a fantastic example of this approach and I want to commend Councillor Muten for his report today.

The proposed scheme will make walking, wheeling and cycling better and safer in a key part of our city, an area which includes the amazing Hove Beach Park development and which will be home to the new King Alfred Leisure Centre, a part of our city that I know so many residents from right across the city really enjoy spending time in, an important part of our seafront and our city and one that deserves a modern and efficient travel scheme.

Our six week consultation asked residents for feedback on the scheme, and we were delighted to receive more than 900 responses. Almost two thirds of those who responded live in Hove and Portslade, and it's always heartening to see so many local people keen to input into our local decision making. The results that we received showed strong support for widening pavements, better pedestrian crossings, upgrading cycle facilities and routes, and improving public spaces. A majority also felt it would improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists and make them more likely to visit the seafront, local shops, businesses and attractions.

But there were also some suggestions for the ways in which the scheme could be changed and improved and under this Labour Administration we will always listen to our residents and do our best to reflect their views. As a result, we've made several changes to the original design of the scheme, including increasing the number of parking spaces, relocating bus stops and adding extra green space. This scheme will make a huge difference to the area, which is why Cabinet is also being asked to approve plans today to secure additional funding on top of the £4.3 million we have secured from active Travel England to extend the scheme further to the east. This has been a genuinely collaborative project, with residents and businesses helping to shape the final design and a great example of this Council, our local businesses and local people working together to get the best outcome for everyone.

Another project everyone at the Council is rightly proud of that we're also looking at today is for 306 new affordable homes at Sackville Road.

This Labour Council is committed to increasing the number of affordable homes available to local people in our city and this development is a key part of our efforts to deliver at least 2000 homes by 2030.

Councillor Gill Williams is leading this scheme, which recently received planning permission, and is the latest from Homes for Brighton and Hove, our partnership with the Hyde Group. This will be the partnerships third scheme following the delivery of 104 new homes at Clarendon Place in Portslade and 242 at Denman Place in Coldean.

It will include 183 council rented homes and 123 homes for shared ownership and the plan is for this ambitious scheme to be delivered as 100% affordable.

These homes are so desperately needed in our city and once delivered, will make a significant and lasting impact to hundreds of local people and families. Everyone deserves a safe and secure, affordable and high-quality home, and that is an ambition that our Labour Council and our Labour government is working every day to realise.

This Council will never waiver in that belief, and councillors and officers should be rightly proud of the work that's gone into this latest initiative so far.

Thirdly, school admissions is something we know means a lot to families and parents across our city. The Council has taken innovative and proactive steps to address long standing educational inequalities in Brighton and Hove and our Labour Council will continue to do so.

We believe that every child deserves access to quality education and we're incredibly proud of the work being done by our hard-working community of schools, teaching and support staff right across the city.

Today's agenda item relates to school admission changes for the academic year 2027-28 and councillors are being asked to agree a small number of potential changes, changes which will then go out to public consultation. These include a potential change to the admission priorities for secondary schools to enable the sibling link to be applied regardless of the catchment area where a family may live and a change to the way waiting lists are operated, as well as potential adjustment of the published admission number for two local schools.

I'm pleased that the Schools Adjudicator found in our favour on the vast majority of objections that were brought to our admissions and catchment package of change brought earlier this year and I'm proud that as a Labour Council, and unlike the Conservatives and the Greens, we are prepared to take action on educational disadvantage. As a result, we now have one of the fairest and most progressive school’s policies in the country. This is labour values in action.

Lastly, we have an item on our agenda about women's football, part of which will take part take in Part 2 of this meeting due to the legal requirements which are prescribed as part of the host city bidding process.

The power of women's football to inspire girls and women right across our city to participate in sport and create lasting legacies is something we're passionate about. And as a host city for both the UEFA Women's EURO’s 2022 and this year's women's Rugby World Cup, we've already seen the amazing impact that Elite women's sport can have.

Not only of these events promoted the best of Brighton and Hove to people across the world and seen us welcome thousands of people to a wonderful city, they have also inspired more local women and girls than ever before to get active, and I see that in my own household.

As a result, we're proud to be considered as a potential host city for the FIFA Women's World Cup bid in 2035. If the UK is successful in its bid to host the tournament, it will be FIFA who decides which host cities are selected. So, for now, we will discuss today whether we want to put ourselves forward as part of that process”.