HOUSING experts and councillors discussed how the city’s housing market can keep pace with the growth in population.

Leading figures in Brighton and Hove’s debate over housing met on Friday to discuss letting regulations and planning issues at two scrutiny sessions at Hove Town Hall.

Geoff Raw, executive director of Brighton and Hove City Council, said that the market could not keep pace with the demand for housing.

Mr Raw said the Greater Brighton area’s population is predicted to rise from 680,000 to 800,000 by 2020 and the implications of this on the housing market would be ‘significant’.

There have been calls for landlord licences to be introduced but Mr Raw wanted a ‘carrot and a stick’ approach.

But Paul Bonnett, director of Bonnett’s estate agents, said: “We all hate the word regulation but maybe anyone who wants to set up as a letting agent has to be a part of some kind of local initiative.”

Councillor Bill Randall, chairman of the housing committee, said: “You need a licence to clip a poodle but not to start a letting agency.”

Gary Waller, of the Southern Landlords Association (SLA), said landlords did not feel there was a need for more regulation but he called on the council to “enforce what they have already got”.

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, said a ‘one size fits all’ approach should not be taken.

He said: “There is a danger of over-regulation. The approach I would encourage is one of co-operation.”

Mike Stimpson, from the SLA, said he has had properties unoccupied for 25 years, including a redundant church off Elm Grove, because of what he called the planning department’s “philosophy of its own”.

He said: “If private landlords are going to fill a gap that should be filled by social housing we need the opportunity to offer what we know our clients require and not what the planning department thinks is best for our clients.”

Councillor Phelim MacCafferty spoke in support of a rent cap but landlords asked how one could be set and enforced.

A meeting on private renting will be held on January 23.