The Conservative Group has today vowed to keep fighting the City Plan Part 2 on behalf of residents and community groups as the plan it goes through its public consultation phase, following last night’s decision by Labour and the Greens to vote for the plan that builds on 16 urban fringe sites.
All 13 Conservative Group members spoke on and voted against the City Plan Part 2 last night and transcripts of their speeches can be found here.
Last night Councillor Robert Nemeth provided statistical evidence to the Special Council meeting that Brighton & Hove was able to meet its assessed housing targets without building on the 16 urban fringe sites.
“Most are aware of the agreed minimum target of 13,200 homes – achieving which is ultimately the point of this document” Councillor Nemeth said.
“But we are currently above the agreed minimum target by over 20%.
“This is not mentioned in the agenda before us and is calculated by taking the total housing supply figure of 14,875 from the Housing Provision Topic Paper from October 2019 and adjusting it to take into account increased predictions for the Hove Station Development Area following to give nearly 16,000 homes in total – or nearly 2,700 homes over.
“There are only 930 homes in the whole urban fringe proposal, which could be taken out of this plan while allowing this Council to still comfortably meet its target.
“From private discussions with Labour or Green Councillors, none seemed aware of this when considering support or otherwise. This is concerning” he said.
Steve Bell said that there was no question that section H2 could easily be taken out of the plan and the environment spared.
“Madam Mayor it is clear that Labour and the Greens are not listening to the people who elected them. They are trying to blame the Government, No surprises there…. But this plan is still sound without H2 included” he said last night.
“As the administration for the City, they are supposed to work within Government guide lines to ensure they comply but to be seen to take our best interests at heart. This plan would have worked without including H2, which if allowed to go ahead will damage forever our green fields and break of ecosystem” he said.
Councillors Dee Simson and Dawn Barnett gave passionate speeches about the importance of the 16 green sites across the City, which can be found here.
