Agenda item - Chair's Communications

138.1   The Chair provided the following communications:

We have a substantial agenda this afternoon which goes to the heart of our ambitions for Brighton & Hove: a cleaner, safer, fairer city, where every child has the best start in life and every community can thrive.

We begin with a set of reports on our city environment and public realm – building directly on our recent street maintenance and public realm investments.

Through the proposal to modernise our Hollingdean Materials Recovery Facility, we are investing in the future of our recycling service – upgrading an ageing plant so it can safely handle more complex waste streams, meet new national requirements, and increase the amount we recycle. This Labour Administration is determined to turn around the Council’s previously underwhelming record on recycling and become a leading authority.

Alongside that, our refreshed Environmental Enforcement Service sets out a more proportionate, prevention-based approach. We have listened carefully to residents and businesses who told us the previous model could feel overly punitive for minor incidents while not going far enough on serious repeat offenders. The new framework will focus on education and early engagement, backed up by CCTV and robust action against those who persistently blight our streets and fail in their duty of care.

The “Cleaner City Centre” report is about pride in our place. It reflects the work we have started with businesses, the BID, hoteliers and other partners through the Station to the Sea pilot, and proposes an overnight cleansing service to raise standards in the areas most visible to residents and visitors. The City Centre Manager role is already making a difference, and this package gives us the tools to match the expectations people rightly have of a major coastal city

Transport is another cornerstone of our agenda, linking to our active travel improvements. The Local Authority Bus Grant Delivery Plan for 2026–27 sets out how we will use national funding to keep buses moving, support key routes, invest in more accessible stops and corridors, and continue to make bus travel an affordable, realistic option. At a time of pressure on public finances, this is a deliberate choice to back reliable, low-carbon public transport.

Community safety runs through this meeting too – our proposed Community Safety and Crime Reduction Strategy for 2026–2029 is a statutory plan, but more importantly it is a shared commitment with our partners to tackle crime, anti-social behaviour, violence against women and girls, hate crime and serious violence. It has been shaped by evidence and by residents’ voices, and it focuses on prevention, support for victims and communities, and tackling the root causes of harm

We will also consider the proposal for DPW’s Crisis and Resilience Fund, the next iteration of the Household Support fund and recognising that too many of our residents are still living with the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis and wider shocks. This is about working across the city with partners to offer targeted, practical support that strengthens people’s ability to cope and recover, not just short-term sticking plasters – and it explicitly aligns with our Inequality and Life Chances Review as we work together we identify what will provide the best most effective support to those who experience poverty and inequality in our city.

Our Best Start in Life Strategic Plan sets out how we will work with partners to support children and families from pregnancy through the early years, close the gaps in outcomes, and ensure that where a child is born in Brighton & Hove does not determine their life chances. It sits alongside our decisions today on the Planned Maintenance and Asset Management Fund allocations and the Education Capital Programme, which are critical to keeping our schools and public buildings safe, warm and fit for purpose.

We then turn to the Pride in Place proposals in Whitehawk and the Marina – a clear statement that investment, high-quality public realm and a sense of belonging must reach every part of our city, not just the centre, and directly supporting our deprivation-focused Review. In the same spirit, the Affordable Housing Planning Advice Note clarifies our expectations of developers so we get more, and better, affordable homes through the planning system – extending our recent housing delivery

Our Annual Procurement Forward Plan will ensure that the way we spend public money is transparent, strategic and aligned with our priorities, delivering social value and environmental benefits as well as good commercial outcomes.

Finally, we will look at the next steps on Large Panel System estates and the associated rehousing and leaseholder offer, and at statutory notices for Middle Street. These are complex, sensitive decisions with real implications for residents’ homes and neighbourhoods, and we will approach them with care, openness and a focus on safety and long-term regeneration

Across all of these items, the thread is clear. We are using the levers we have – investment, enforcement, partnership and planning – to deliver a cleaner city, tackle inequality, support families, and build resilience in the face of national and global pressures. Today I am asking Cabinet to consider each report in that spirit: pragmatic about the constraints we face, but ambitious for the Brighton & Hove we want to create.