Brighton and Hove council bid to win £24m (From The Argus)

Brighton and Hove council bid to win £24m

10:44am Friday 27th July 2012 in News By John Keenan

Brighton and Hove is in the running to scoop a £24 million fund to boost the city’s economy.

Thirty councils from across the UK, including Brighton and Hove City Council , will carry out government-funded studies to try to win the ‘future city’ prize.

Brighton and Hove City Council has been awarded £50,000 from the Technology Strategy Board, the government’s innovation agency, to undertake a feasibility study to show how the city can join up its transport, communications and other infrastructure.

The study will give practical examples of how the city’s service can be improved and will highlight new approaches to delivering a good local economy and excellent quality of life, while reducing the environmental footprint.

The council will submit a proposal for a large-scale ‘future cities demonstrator’, showing how challenges in the city will be addressed.

If successful, the city will be in line for £24 million of funding to implement its proposals.

The feasibility study must be submitted by November 14.

The winning proposal will be announced in January.

One Planet status

Council leader Jason Kitcat said the study would help Brighton and Hove to become the first city in the world to gain One Planet status.

The One Planet Living idea was developed by sustainable development charity, BioRegional, and WWF to encourage businesses, organisations and individuals to reduce their ecological footprint and live and work within a fair share of the planet's resources.

Councillor Kitcat said: “Brighton and Hove is a compact city of global appeal drawing up to eight million annual visits, and inspiring the highest number of business start ups outside London.

“With two universities and a free-thinking culture our city is the perfect location to demonstrate how a city of the future could be.

“We will be working closely with partners to develop the next stage of our bid to be a ‘sustainable super city’, but this is only achievable through integrating smart city systems and encouraging innovation in the public and private sector.”

Iain Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said: “The results will be made public and we look forward to seeing some exciting future city demonstrator proposals.”

Anyone interested in helping the city with its bid can contact the council’s economic development department on 01273 291095.

They can also get involved with the discussion through the #bhfuturecity hashtag on Twitter.

 

Brighton and Hove Future City tweets

The Argus has no responsibility or control over the content on external blogging sites, but you can contact us if you have a complaint.