Here's a summary of the scheduled topics for the Brighton & Hove City Council meeting on 13 October 2025. The agenda includes discussions on the review of political balance, the council's constitution, a refresh of the council plan, devolution for Sussex and Brighton, a partial review of polling districts and places, and the West Saltdean neighbourhood plan. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask oral questions of the Leader, Cabinet portfolio holders, and committee chairs.

West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan

The council is scheduled to discuss the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement. Following an examination, the examiner's report has been published, recommending that the plan proceeds to a local referendum subject to several modifications. The council is asked to agree to modify the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan according to the examiner's recommendations and publish the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement. If more than 50% of residents vote to support the neighbourhood plan in the local referendum, the council will formally 'make' the West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan.

The examiner recommended several modifications to the plan, including:

• Amending Map 1, the BHCC City Plan Policies, to improve clarity.
• Rewording Policy WS1 on achieving high-quality design to ensure clarity and accuracy.
• Replacing the text of Policy WS2 relating to the South Downs National Park to provide greater guidance.
• Amending Policy WS3 on affordable housing to include robust viability assessments.
• Amending Policy WS5 on adaptable housing by deleting a section lacking justification or evidence.
• Rewording Policy WS8 on small-scale renewable energy projects to improve clarity and effectiveness.
• Amending Policy WS11 on protecting local green spaces to clarify site boundaries and update references.
• Amending Policy WS12 on enhancing green spaces, biodiversity and wildlife to justify the mention of a Wildlife Corridor .
• Amending Policy WS13 on Saltdean Lido to improve the wording.
• Amending Policy WS14 on supporting local businesses to provide greater clarity.
• Amending Policy WS15 on improving facilities and safeguarding the beach/clifftop flora and fauna to provide greater clarity.
• Amending Policy WS16 on retaining Whitecliffs Café/Bar to improve the wording.

The West Saltdean Neighbourhood Plan sets out a vision for the area in 2030, aiming to preserve its unique character, ensure infrastructure supports residents and businesses, and create a healthier, more sustainable environment.

Devolution for Sussex & Brighton

The council is scheduled to discuss Devolution for Sussex Brighton. In July 2025, the government confirmed that the proposal to create a new Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA) for Sussex and Brighton had met the statutory tests and that it would move forward with mayoral elections scheduled for May 2026. Before a new MCCA for Sussex and Brighton can be formally created, Brighton & Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, and West Sussex County Council are required to provide their consent. The report asks the council to endorse the recommendations set out in the Cabinet report and seeks authority to delegate to the council's Chief Executive Officer the task of conferring Brighton & Hove City Council's formal consent.

The Cabinet report notes that the government has set out an ambitious plan to broaden and deepen devolution across England to help drive economic growth, improve living standards and strengthen public services. The report also notes that Brighton & Hove City Council firmly believes that devolution has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the City and the wider region by ensuring more decisions are made closer to local communities, unlocking funding and investment and supporting collaboration.

The Cabinet report summarises the provisions of the draft Statutory Instrument (SI) that would create a new MCCA, and outlines the implications of devolution for BHCC. The report also notes that the government has informed prospective constituent authorities that the time between seeking formal consent and laying the SI before Parliament will be limited and therefore officials have requested that Cabinets delegate authority to Chief Executives to provide consent.

The Cabinet report sets out that the SI will be called The Sussex & Brighton Combined County Authority Regulations 2026. The SI includes the following provisions:

• Establishes the Combined County Authority (CCA) for the local government areas of BHCC, ESCC and WSCC and names it as the Sussex and Brighton Combined County Authority.
• Sets out how Mayors will be elected every fourth year as well as how terms will begin and end.
• Sets out that the mayor will be able to employ a single political advisor, who will be an employee of the CCA.
• Sets out the functions that will transfer to the CCA from the constituent authorities. These relate to the requirement to produce a Local Transport Plan (LTP) and associated statutory requirements and guidance for producing and publishing an LTP.
• Sets out that a CCA may pay a grant to a constituent authority towards expenditure incurred or to be incurred by a constituent council.
• Sets out that constituent authorities must ensure the reasonable costs of the CCA and Mayor are met.
• Sets out that the constitution of the CCA will be included as a Schedule of the SI.

The Cabinet report also summarises the powers and duties of Mayoral Strategic Authorities outlined in the Devolution Framework.

Council Plan Refresh

The council is scheduled to discuss a refresh of the Council Plan 2023-2027. The refresh has been informed by resident, stakeholder and staff engagement, and reflects the recommendations of the recent Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge. The council is asked to approve the Council Plan refresh and note the achievements made since the Council Plan was adopted in July 2023, the progress made in relation to delivering the Council Plan in 2024/25, and the recommendations in the Corporate Peer Challenge.

The Council Plan refresh reaffirms the council's commitment to delivering:

• A city to be proud of
• A fair and inclusive city
• A healthy city where people thrive
• A responsive council with well-run services

The Corporate Peer Challenge noted areas where the council is performing well, including:

• Staff commitment, professionalism and positive attitude
• Strong political and officer leadership
• Positive, values-driven culture rooted in openness, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Positive and respectful relationships between elected Members and Officers
• Outstanding children's services
• Place leadership and high-quality public realm improvements, with a visible impact in the Council's regeneration and infrastructure projects
• National exemplar in equality, diversity, and inclusion
• Transformation efforts within Environmental Services showing early improvements

The key recommendations the Corporate Peer Challenge made were:

• Develop a robust and comprehensive financial strategy to deliver savings and ensure long term financial resilience
• Develop a shared vision with all tiers of local government across Sussex on devolution and local government reorganisation
• Continue cultural transformation within Environmental Services
• Drive culture change across the organisation towards being a learning organisation – communication, leadership and staff engagement
• Operationalise the learning organisation aspiration
• Improve the council housing service
• Accelerate efforts to mitigate homelessness-related financial pressures
• Consider if further work is needed to ensure opposition parties do not feel excluded from the decision-making process through their inclusion more fully in the overview and scrutiny process

Review of Political Balance

The council is required to review the allocation of seats on committees and sub-committees where there is a change to the membership of the political groups in accordance with Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. The Review of Political Balance October 2025 report seeks to review the allocation of seats following a byelection in Queen's Park in September 2025. The council is asked to appoint/re-appoint its committees with the sizes and allocation of seats between political groups as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

As of September 2025, the political composition of the council is:

• Labour (35 Members)
• Green (9 Members)
• Conservative (5 Members)
• Brighton & Hove Independent Group (2 Members)
• Independent Members (3)

The proposed allocation of places on each of the committees takes into account the principles that:

• All seats are not allocated to the same Group
• The majority of the seats go to the Group which has an overall majority on the Council
• The total number of seats assigned to each Group across all committees and subcommittees should reflect their proportionate representation on the Full Council
• The allocation of seats on each committee or sub-committee to each Group shall reflect the proportionate representation of that Group on the Full Council.

Review of the Council's Constitution

The council is required to keep its constitution under review with a view to achieving efficiency, economy and effectiveness. The Review of the Council's Constitution report seeks full council approval for updates to the constitution. The council is asked to formally approve the changes to the constitution relating to increased task & finish groups and time for public questions for Overview & Scrutiny, changes to the Council Procedure Rules relating to Extraordinary Council meetings and the notice period for member written questions, and authorise the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to take all steps necessary or incidental to the implementation of the above changes.

The proposed changes to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rules include:

• Increasing the number of task & finish groups that may run concurrently across the three Overview & Scrutiny Committees in any six month period from one to two.
• Amending the deadline for public questions to the Overview & Scrutiny Committees to four working days before the meeting rather than eight.

The proposed changes to the Council Procedure Rules include:

• Clarifying the requirements for calling an extraordinary meeting of full Council to make specific reference to the expectation of urgency.
• Amending the deadline for submitting a member written question to full Council from eight to fourteen working days before the meeting.

Partial Review of Polling District and Polling Places 2025

The council has a duty to divide its area into polling districts and to designate a polling place for each district for UK Parliamentary elections, and must keep these arrangements under review. The Partial Review of Polling District and Polling Places 2025 report deals with a partial review of polling districts and polling places within Brighton & Hove, seeking to improve polling place provisions after gathering feedback regarding venue suitability following the general election and looking ahead to see what may affect election delivery in the future. The council is asked to agree the revised polling district and polling place schemes outlined in Appendix 3, delegate authority to the Director Governance and Law to take all measures as are necessary or incidental, as required by law, to implement the changes, and delegate authority to the Returning Officer to designate alternative polling places, in the event of any polling place being unavailable, at any poll taking place prior to the next review of polling places, subject to consultation with Group Leaders and respective ward Councillors.

The potential need for change was identified at the following polling places:

• Hove Library, Central Hove
• St Helen's Church Hall, Hangleton & Knoll
• The Spire, Kemptown
• Church of the Good Shepherd Hall, North Portslade
• Whitehawk Library, Whitehawk & Marina
• Woodingdean Library, Woodingdean

Oral Questions from Councillors

The agenda includes a period for oral questions from councillors. The following councillors have indicated their desire to ask an oral question at the meeting:

• Councillor Steve Davis
• Councillor Alistair McNair
• Councillor Bridget Fishleigh
• Councillor Joy Robinson
• Councillor Marina Lademacher
• Councillor Anne Meadows
• Councillor Mark Earthey
• Councillor Bruno De Oliveira
• Councillor Julie Cattell
• Councillor Ollie Sykes
• Councillor Carol Theobald
• Councillor Lucy Helliwell
• Councillor Sue Shanks
• Councillor Ivan Lyons
• Councillor Tobias Sheard
• Councillor Raphael Hill
• Councillor Emma Hogan
• Councillor Kerry Pickett

The questions will be answered by Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet Member for Transport and City Infrastructure, Councillor Alan Robins, Cabinet Member for Sports, Recreation and Libraries, Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of the Council, Councillor Gill Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, Councillor Jacob Taylor, Cabinet Member for Finance and City Regeneration, and Councillor Jacob Allen, Cabinet Member for Customer Service and Public Realm.