Not enough houses for young people in Brighton and Hove, claims senior councillor
Amanda Evans says oligarchs are being given priority
Too many new homes are built for oligarchs rather than would-be council tenants and young people in Brighton and Hove, according to a leading councillor.
Amanda Evans, who chairs a Brighton and Hove City Council scrutiny committee, said that even if “the right number” of homes were built, too few were for young people who needed housing.
The Labour councillor said: “Some … are flats built for the council at social rents and others are flats built for oligarchs to live in for one week a year. No one else can afford them – and they’re not equal value.”
Councillor Evans was speaking as the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed preparations to update the City Plan – a strategic blueprint for the number and location of future homes, workplaces and other facilities.
The City Plan also contains a series of planning policies – and the council’s Planning Committee refers to these when deciding planning applications.
The council is preparing to update its City Plan Part One which was agreed in 2016 and covered the years up to 2030. The refreshed version will look ahead to 2040.
A linked document, City Plan Part Two, was approved two years ago and contains more detail in support of some of the broader aims and policies in the Part One document.
The council’s head of planning Nicola Hurley told the committee that the City Plan needed to be updated in part because it could be overtaken by real-world changes.
For example, private build-to-rent schemes, such as the Moda project in Sackville Road, Hove, were not on the cards when the City Plan Part One was drawn up.
The process is set out in law. Ms Hurley said: “There are no draft policies at this stage because the early stage in consultation will frame what the policies will be later.
“There will then be a further round of consultation once policies have been drafted and then there will be a further round of consultation prior to the submission to government.”
Community and voluntary sector representative Mark Strong said that the process needed to reach children and young people because of the way that the City Plan would affect their lives.
He said that, in the past, few people had responded to consultations about the strategic plan, adding: “Hopefully, you’re going to have a bit more of an engaging engagement to try to reach out to people.”
He was told that those who would be contacted included the Brighton and Hove Youth Council and schools and sixth-form colleges.
Conservative councillor Ivan Lyons asked about housing quotas, saying that most new buildings going up in the city were flats – but houses were needed to keep or bring families here which might prevent more school closures.
Councillor Lyons said: “People are saying to us over and over again they don’t want flats.
“In terms of units, there are targets to hit but it’s the wrong type of properties that planning seem to be committing to for agreement to hit the units.”
He was told that the policies would be formed based on priorities – and the government had not yet revealed Brighton and Hove’s housing targets.
Labour councillor Tobias Sheard challenged Councillor Lyons, saying that working young people were struggling to make ends meet and wanted a home of their own but did not have time to fill out surveys.
He said: “There are places in the city where the price of a bedroom in an HMO (house in multiple occupation) costs the same as a four-bedroom house in Yorkshire.
“People aren’t concerned how pretty the flat is or how high it’s built. They care that they’ve got somewhere to live and call their own and make a plan for the future.”
As well as housing, the current City Plan includes policies aimed at protecting pubs and small shopping parades and preventing areas from becoming saturated with shared houses.
The committee was told that updated city plan for 2040 would be structured around eight topics
Homes for everyone
Sustainability and climate change
A diverse and sustainable city economy
Design and place-making
Culture and tourism
Healthy city and communities
Biodiversity and green infrastructure
Transport and infrastructure
An extended eight-week consultation was planned on the Your Voice section of the council’s website.
Hard copies of the consultation text will be available.