Agenda item - Chair's Communications

177.1   The Chair provided the following Communications:

“I would like to start by acknowledging and recognising the terrible tragedy that took place in this city just a matter of days ago. Early yesterday morning, our emergency services discovered and recovered the bodies of three women off the coast of Brighton, just along by our Marina.

I want to pay tribute to the emergency services for a very swift, collaborative and professional response. I know that the police, the RNLI, the Coastguard, our seafront team have been working exceptionally hard to try and identify these three women and to understand the circumstances of their deaths. I understand from the police today that the women have been identified and that their loved ones have been informed and are receiving support from specialist trained officers.

It's an absolutely devastating thing to happen and I know that I speak on behalf of the city when I say that we are deeply saddened and deeply distressed at this tragedy and I want to send my very sincere condolences, heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of these women who will be receiving the news today and I do that on behalf of everybody in Brighton and Hove.

I also want to take a moment at the start of this meeting to recognise and express our collective horror at the terror attack that took place in Golden's Green just a matter of weeks ago. The latest in anti-Semitic terror attacks have taken place across London over the past several months and obviously we saw last year

in the autumn, a similar terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester. I know that these attacks have had a very real impact on Jewish people in this country, Jewish residents including in this city. The whole point of terrorism is to invoke terror and fear.

in those that are being targeted and that has happened. I know from speaking to Jewish residents in the city across many months and years that that fear is real and it is understandable. People feel concerned going about their day-to-day business, going into the centre of town, being and appearing visibly Jewish in the current climate of a rise

in anti-Semitism. I want to once again send my message of solidarity to say that this city council is doing everything that we can and should do to try and reassure our Jewish communities, whether that is removing offensive and racist graffiti, whether it is implementing anti-Semitic training for our staff and partners.

and thinking about specific security concerns that the community has in the city and that work continues and our solidarity continues. Since we last met three weeks ago, we've been continuing to put residents' priorities into action and to make progress. We released evidence

just last week or the week, possibly the week before, about the impact of red routes in Lewis Road, where we have seen an improvement in air quality, a reduction in safety incidents, and also an increase in footfall since that red route was implemented. And today, residents will have seen our announcement

Of a new red route planned for Western Road.

We have started restoring our heritage lanterns on the seafront. The first five lanterns are being put back up along our promenade. And it was a pleasure to go down there, speak to the team and to see all the brilliant hard work that has been done to restore these beautiful and unique

Brighton assets and we look forward to seeing more of those go up in the coming weeks. We've opened our paddling pools for the summer and reopened Victoria Park public toilets in Port Slade. We've reopened Colin Lane, which I know is a very popular walking route for residents. And from the 1st of May, the Renters Rights Act

has come into force, which is incredibly important and significant in this city, where we know we have such a high number of renters. So from the beginning of this month, you cannot be evicted without a valid reason. Your tenancy will be periodic with no fixed end date. There'll be a maximum of 1 rent rise per year with two months notice.

and renters can challenge unfair rent rises in the tribunal. Landlords cannot discriminate based on benefits or having children and you can request to keep a pet and any refusal of that request must be reasonable. These are real, genuine, tangible increases in renters' rights, thanks to our Labour government, and we're working hand in hand with them

On implementation and making sure that renters in Brighton can have their rights upheld.

We have also in the last few weeks appointed an independent chair of our inequality review, a woman named Polly Herbert, who has a huge amount of experience with the city, lived experience of the issues that this review is getting to grips with. I had a really good meeting with Polly earlier this week. I think she's excellent. I think she's going to do some brilliant and much needed work.

in the city. Our children and our primary schools have been naming our waste food trucks and we've got some brilliant names. West Blatchington children have named their food truck Food Waste Hunters. We've got Leftovers Express thanks to Rudyard Kipling. We've got a Waste Warrior thanks to Hartford.

primary. But I must say that my absolute favourite is Breddie Mercury. And it's not down to the fact that that was the idea that emanated from Stanford Infants, which is my old school. But I think they look brilliant. The designs and the pictures look lovely as well. So thank you to our children for all their creativity and imagination.

We've put forward our final design for the A259, including listening again to residents and ensuring that we're getting the details of that design right. And I thank everyone that contributed to that consultation. And earlier this week, the government has launched its next consultation on local government reorganisation. I'm really pleased to see that our proposals

for expanding the footprint of this city and merging with areas to our east has been put forward as a proposal by the government and I urge residents to take a look at the proposals, to think about the issues and to respond to the consultation. We've had a boost to the funding available for our school and hospital meals and we will be driving towards more nutritious meals in the city.

one of five places selected by the government for this pilot programme, which is really exciting. And just to let everybody know that I've got a leader surgery in Round Hill coming up next week. There are still places available if anyone wants to come and speak to me or to ask me anything. Turning to today's Cabinet agenda, we are formally commencing work on the new city plan.

or that's being proposed today. This is potentially a decisive step towards a plan for the city which supports housing delivery, sustainable growth, and the protection of our valued green spaces. We've secured over 100,000 pounds in government funding linked to clear milestones, including getting to Gateway One by October.

And this work will build on the very strong engagement that we saw last year, with more than 700 residents already having a say on our priorities, such as affordability and density, with further consultation to follow this summer if we decide to go ahead today. We are on track meeting deadlines and unlocking funding for this work.

We're also responding today clearly to residents' expectations on electric vehicle charging, with a report coming on that subject. People have told us that reliability and access matter the most, and the proposals before us set forward a path to move us from around 500 charge points that we currently have in the city to more than 6,000.

by 2040, supported by Levy funding, long term contracts, ultra rapid hubs and cross pavement solutions. I personally am particularly excited by the cross pavement proposed trial for Blue Badge holders and taxis as a first step towards making electric charging more affordable for those households that don't have

driveways in the city because we know that we have many of them. On public transport, we're proposing an additional 1.5 million in this financial year to extend free bus travel for older and disabled residents beyond the statutory minimum. This is a clear statement of our commitment to fairness, access and independence.

and we are seeking to manage financial and contractual risk carefully. On cleaner air, we have a report today that is all geared towards strengthening our smoke control areas to reduce harmful domestic pollution, protect health and support our climate objectives. And we also have a report today on our housing asset management plan about prioritising safety,

bringing long-term voids back into use for temporary accommodation and taking strategic decisions where they will deliver better outcomes overall. We have a paper on housing safety and quality. Resident safety remains A non-negotiable priority for this administration.

The progress update before us, I think, shows real momentum. Surveys commencing from July, accelerated action on damp and mould in line with our law, and regular resident forums to strengthen accountability and trust. This is about sustained improvement, not one-off fixes, and maintaining pace is what really matters here.

We also have a late paper today on Brickfields, and we'll come to that later on in the agenda.

This is a council that knows what it's here to deliver, understands the national context that we're operating in, and is confident in its ability to act. And I commend today's agenda to the Cabinet as another step forward for a stronger, fairer, and greener Brighton and Hove.