FOR a lot of people, the council’s latest pledges will be welcome news.

Plans to ramp up housing provision, make homes affordable and protect tenants in financial trouble will benefit plenty of Brighton and Hove residents if the city council pulls through on its promises.

And on homelessness, a visible problem obvious to everyone, it is good to see councillors promising to set up a night shelter and get rough sleepers housed.

But for all the council’s ambition on the environment, education and crime, two big questions come to mind.

The first: how much of this can the city council afford to do?

The city plan itself admits the authority will have to make “tough choices” in the coming years, something which will not make for reassuring reading for many people.

As with authorities across the country, increased demand and decreased Government funding means the city council is under huge financial pressure.

Papers from last year show the authority predicts a £15 million gap between income and spending in the next financial year.

Whether these latest pledges have been factored into that figure or not, £15 million is not pocket change.

Secondly, how much of a dent can the city council make in problems we are experiencing nationally?

The housing crisis is a national crisis, so it will require action from the Government as much as it will from the council.

And in education, Labour’s pledges to create “workload agreements” for teachers may not be enough to make up for a decade of funding cuts.

Where will we be in three years? Only time will tell.