Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)           Petitions: To receive any petitions;

(b)           Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

i.               Councillor Grimshaw - Limit on Number of Days for Public Events

ii.              Councillor Grimshaw – Outdoor Events Strategy

iii.             Councillor Grimshaw – Outdoor Events Policy

iv.            Councillor Bagaeen – Lighting Public Spaces for Community Safety

v.              Councillor Simson – Drink Spiking in the City and Community Safety

(c)           Letters: To consider any letters;

i.               Councillor Simson - Contributions held - Unspent Section 106 agreement and Community Infrastructure Levy funding

ii.              Councillor Bagaeen – Council’s reputation for holding events

(d)           Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion submitted directly to the Committee.

i.               Conservative Group - PSPOs

ii.              Conservative Group – Field Officers

Written Questions

32.1 The Chair invited Councillor Allcock to read the questions regarding limiting the number of days reserved for public events, submitted by Councillor Grimshaw on her behalf, on page 19 of the Agenda. The Chair then gave the following responses:

(1)The council already operates the public spaces in the City under the controls of the East Sussex act which limits the use of public spaces to a maximum of 28 days annually. It is difficult to add limits around the provision of safety cordons around an event site build/break activity as this can be effected by weather conditions and changes in the situation on the ground.

(2)The current strategy was drafted some time ago and so does not, currently, reference DM30 in the soon to be adopted City Plan 2. The Outdoor events department have begun drafting the 2025-2030 plan which will, of course, take DM30 into account.

(3)No. These documents exist in parallel. The policy outlines how the programme is managed while the strategy sets the direction of travel.

32.2 The Chair invited Councillor Bagaeen to ask the question regarding lighting public spaces for community safety on page 19 of the Agenda, and gave the following response:

There is no specific policy to use lighting to improve community safety in public areas, although officers will consider this as part of any new design or development.  Amenity lighting is discretionary, and we manage the city’s street lighting according to standard public highway practices Sussex Police do have a post that looks at designing out crime when some new developments are being undertaken.

32.3 The Chair then invited Councillor Bagaeen to ask a supplementary question regarding why some street lights came on an hour after it got dark. The Chair requested that a written response be sent to Cllr Bagaeen after the Committee.

32.4 The Chair invited Councillor Simson to ask the question regarding drink spiking on page 19 of the Agenda, and gave the following response:

The Council does not provide drink spiking kits to licensed venues but we are aware that some venues and mobile support units have purchased drink-spiking kits as well as products to cover drinks. Police and Council have provided guidance to venues, working in partnership with the Business Crime Reduction Partnership as well as universities and local welfare support agencies to raise awareness. The majority of spiking incidents relate to alcohol and the Council is funding training to raise venue staff awareness, particularly at the beginning of the new university term.

The Council is following the LGA guidance for licensing authorities by engaging in local partnership schemes and raising awareness. The Council are currently working with universities and colleges to raise awareness and provide advice and links on promoting safety as well as reporting incidents to the police.

32.5 The Chair then invited Councillor Simson to ask a supplementary question:

Are the Council promoting alternative ways to stop spiking such as stop tops?

32.6 The Chair gave the following response:

The Council are not currently promoting these alternative ways to stop drink spiking but it would be a helpful discussion to have with the Chair of Licensing, as well as with colleagues within and outside the Council.

Members Letters

32.7 The Chair invited Councillor Simson to introduce the letter found on page 21 of the Agenda, and the Chair gave the following response:

The response to this letter is set out in the report in item 38. In item 38 point 3.8 it states:

In terms of spend:

•It can be challenging to spend multiple small pots of s106 contributions on projects and the pots need to be built up;

•Efforts are underway to improve the spend levels, such as employing project managers to do this in City Parks (permitted by 2019 Regns); and

•Where the monies contribute to existing capital projects, spend will need to fit with the project programmes and held pending implementation.

If you want to discuss this further, please bring up any queries during the item.

32.8 The Committee agreed to note the letter.

32.9 The Chair invited Councillor Bagaeen to introduce the letter starting on page 23 of the Agenda, and the Chair gave the following response:

I strongly disagree that the Council is losing its reputation for holding events and Brighton continues to attract major events, and this was evident with this summer’s hosting of the 2022 Women’s Euro Football Finals. The 2023 event programme to be presented later in this TECC Committee demonstrates that we are still well placed to continue the growth of our programme whilst working within the parameters of the current 2019-2024 Strategy. This includes all of the usual big events, from the Brighton Marathon, Pride, the Fringe and Spiegeltent, and more.

While the economic impact figure of £886m relates to 2016 we are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic with the latest economic impact for 2020 being at just £370m. The 2021 figures are yet to be produced. However, we are confident that the programme going forward and the planned improvements to outdoor event infrastructure will support a return to pre-pandemic figures.

In relation to the Eurovision bid, Brighton, like the majority of UK cities, would not have been able to accommodate the wider requirements for hosting such a large event due to not having a suitable venue or associated outdoor space for the wider village. A total investment of around £160-£200m would be required to establish suitable facilities in the City.

It is vital that we continue to review our focus in the event programme and while every effort is still being made to support motoring events such as the speed trials, we must always acknowledge that the economic potential for some events is waning. All possible effort has been made to ensure that the surface is suitable for racing events and the council’s work with the organisation behind the speed trials, and indeed with the Motorcycle Union (check exact title of insuring body) is well documented.

32.10 The Committee agreed to note the item.

Notices of Motion

32.11 The Chair invited Councillor Bagaeen to introduce the Notice of Motion on page 25 of the Agenda regarding Public Space Protection Orders, and for Councillor Simson to second the motion.

32.12 Councillors Powell and Evans spoke against the motion and indicated that they would be voting against it.

RESOLVED: The Committee refused the Notice of Motion by 8 votes to 2.

32.16 The Chair invited Councillor Simson to introduce the Notice of Motion on page 27 of the Agenda regarding Field Officers, and for Councillor Bagaeen to second the motion.

32.17 Councillor Powell spoke against the Motion and indicated she would be voting against it.

RESOLVED: The Committee refused the notice of motion by 8 votes to 2.