ON THURSDAY we have the first-ever “virtual” full council meeting via Skype. The major item on the agenda is seeking council approval for the City Plan Part Two to undertake a final public consultation, before being submitted to the Government.

The City Plan is a blueprint for providing homes and jobs, as well as protecting the city’s environment, to 2030 and will be used to guide local planning decisions in the city.

Every local authority has to demonstrate how it is going to meet future housing needs in order to have its local planning policies agreed by the Government. In Brighton and Hove, the city has been set a target of providing a minimum of 13,200 new homes by 2030. Our City Plan, which has come together after extensive local consultation, will guide how we meet that target.

When adopted, the City Plan will give communities more certainty about how the city will develop and grow. There will be a clearer set of policies to assist applicants and for making planning decisions.

City Plan Part Two will sit alongside the adopted City Plan Part One which all parties voted for, with almost 90 per cent of land allocated for development on brownfield sites and stringent policies to protect biodiversity and public access. Already 180 brownfield sites have been identified which could provide 8,000 homes. The plan will support the provision of low-cost, well-designed homes, local jobs, welcoming public places, enhanced green spaces and transport, health, cultural and educational facilities.

City Plan Part Two is focused on ensuring communities reap the benefits from well-designed development. It will help new developments provide a variety of housing that offers a choice of good quality and affordable homes to buy or rent. Having a complete and up-to-date local plan is important because it will enable Brighton and Hove to have local policies that will carry weight when making planning decisions.

Part Two will also help to ensure that the progressive priorities that residents voted for can be delivered on. These include addressing the city’s housing crisis, supporting local businesses and building community wealth, improving biodiversity and doing our bit to tackle the climate crisis by working towards carbon neutrality by 2030.

Having City Plan Part Two in place will allow us to advance with an ambitious new planning framework, and I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the key policies it includes and the impacts they will have.

In terms of addressing the housing crisis and meeting the city’s housing needs, the City Plan sets a framework of improving housing quality, mix and choice, making sure new developments help meet the different housing and accommodation needs in the city. This includes the need for more family homes, homes for smaller households, students, a choice of housing options for older people, genuinely affordable homes, and safe and secure supported housing for vulnerable people. We aim to meet our housing target with a focus on affordable, council and social housing.

Introducing minimum space standards for new housing and improved accessibility standards will ensure that all new homes are designed to meet needs that change over the course of a lifetime. This is important as people are living longer and quite rightly want to live independently as long as possible.

We want to bring in tougher management of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs) to reflect residents’ concerns about high concentrations in parts of the city. These tougher tests would also, for example, mean a non-HMO property would not end up sandwiched between two HMOs.

The City Plan also supports sustainable economic development; the arts and creative industries; our local businesses and the transition to a carbon neutral economy. Through more flexible retail policies we are recognising the important social role of community facilities, pubs and local shops and ensuring they will be protected. The plan also ensures developers provide and improve cycle and pedestrian access.

There are requirements for new developments to support and contribute to safe, active and sustainable travel, including more green infrastructure like electric vehicle charging points. There are stronger policies on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

This is an ambitious plan for Brighton and Hove that will help us deliver on our key pledges to residents. I hope you will contribute to the final consultation stage, the details of which will be released on the council website.