Agenda item - Deputations from members of the public.

A list of deputations received by the due date of the 5^th December 2013 will be circulated separately as part of an addendum at the meeting.

49.1         The Mayor reported that two deputations had been received from members of the public and invited Ms Harding as the spokesperson for the first deputation to come forward and address the Council.

49.2         Ms Harding thanked the Mayor and presented her deputation: ‘As you can see from the deputation in front of you, I’m concerned about the quality and completeness of the data that we hold in the city about houses of multiple occupation.

Under the Article 4 Planning Rule we make decisions based on this data; if there are too many recorded houses of multiple occupation in certain areas, no one will be allowed. This affects me because I live in Hollingbury Road. When we did a quick assay of our road we find about twice as many houses of multiple occupation as are recorded on the Council’s Licensing List but why should it concern you?

I think the reasons that it should concern you are that as an organisation committed to open data; you should try to ensure that your data is as clear, complete and concise as possible. By underestimating the number of houses of multiple occupation, we run the risk as a city on missing out on rebates for houses where Council Tax is not paid, this should be a real concern in these times.

The Article 4 arrangement for allowing planning permission for HMO’s is a 5 year trial. If we do not base this on correct data, we do not make our decisions on correct and accurate data. We cannot fairly evaluate the trial and see if it has been successful or not also if we do not hold the list which is accurate about houses of multiple occupation we will not be able to protect the tenants therein which is a responsibility that we hold.

I would ask that we make better use of the data that we hold and encourage more preparation between private sector housing group and the planning services so that we can provide a better service.’

49.3         Councillor Mac Cafferty replied: ‘I fully appreciate, especially given the location where you live, why this is a particular concern to you. Where I will start with is some figures.

The Licensing regime that you refer to in your deputation began in 2012 and by April this year we had 1747 applications and 1420 draft approvals, 733 had full licensing and of those 250 had been identified by local people for the Article 4.

I can confirm that the data collected by the Private Sector Housing  as part of a Licensing regime is shared with, primarily, mapped by colleagues in planning.

The Council has mapped private sector housing records of HMO’s up to October this year. All properties that have applied for or have been granted licenses vary mixed either licensing regime. With mapped consultation records for the last 4 years since 2009, that was actually done before the Article 4 was introduced as part of evidence that we were required to bring in the Article 4.

We’ve mapped the consultation records as well of this year, that’s a manual process so that has been decommissioned which has, about 5000 bits of information and we’ve checked that those that have overlapped, nevertheless that’s a slower process and we have to get it right not least because of concerns you and indeed others have raised and it’s interesting that you have voiced this question this week, only yesterday at Planning Committee we had a similar concern to yours raised with us. I’m happy to take a supplementary and as I said I will make sure that you get a full written response sent to you as well.’

49.4         Councillor Mac Cafferty offered to take a supplementary question in relation to his response, and Ms Harding asked: ‘I would just observe that when myself and my neighbours canvassed our road we found 21% of HMO’s that were definitely HMO’s and a further 20% of houses that we could not identify. You’ve got the City stick there where as in the Council’s map it shows us between 10 and 20% of HMO’s and I think there is a serious underestimation.’

49.5         Councillor Mac Cafferty replied: ‘I’m happy to agree with you that the stance of this particular regime will require the co-operation of people like your good self to help us get it right, it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination whether that be how to make sure that housing and planning share the information.’

49.6         The Mayor thanked Ms Harding for attending the meeting and speaking on behalf of the deputation. She explained that the points had been noted and the deputation would be referred to the Economic Development & Culture Committee for consideration. The persons forming the deputation would be invited to attend the meeting and would be informed subsequently of any action to be taken or proposed in relation to the matter set out in the deputation.

49.7         The Mayor then invited Mr Taylor as the spokesperson for the second deputation to come forward and address the Council; before the deputation was submitted Councillor G. Theobald requested that the notice of motion on the same topic listed as Agenda Item 61(c) be bought forward and considered after the deputation; the matter was put to the vote and the Council agreed, by simply majority, to take the associated notice of motion following on from Mr Taylor’s deputation.

49.8         Mr Taylor thanked the Mayor and presented his deputation: ‘The City of Brighton and Hove is somewhere we can all be very proud of, I’m particularly proud of Brighton and Hove being one of the newer Cities. One of Brighton’s greatest assets is that it is a City of great diversity. It welcomes everyone no matter what their background or lifestyle, it allows a freedom of expression that gives power to the individual. It doesn’t criticise, pass judgement or persecute minority interests. In simple words; no matter who you are, what you like or even dislike you will find it somewhere in the City of Brighton and Hove.

A decision has been taken by Brighton and Hove Council not to accept the Brighton and Hove Motor Club application to run the 2014 Brighton speed trials on Madeira Drive. From the comments passed on to the club, this is predominantly due to a view that this event does not fit in with a modern Brighton. We believe this decision would be detrimental to the City both now and in the future.

A great City is not judged solely on the present day which by its nature is transitory and fast moving, but it builds on the foundation of its past to create an exciting future, Brighton is renowned as the City of many cultures and prides itself on its longstanding combination of both the modern and the old. Its history is known throughout the United Kingdom and Worldwide.

The Brighton speed trials is at the very heart of that heritage, Brighton has the very real and unique privilege of being the only holder of a specific act of Parliament that enables a motorsport trial of speed to take place on the public highway. It is ironic that at the same time as Brighton’s considering this decision there is work taking place at Westminster by the Motorsports Association to campaign for greater access to the public road network on mainland Britain for motorsport activities.

Progress is being made in this regard with enthusiastic support from Local Authorities that recognise the huge benefits accrued by such events. Brighton has the enviable advantage but must surely seek to retain it’s unique position with the valuable legislation that it enjoys.

The idea for the speed event in Brighton was first suggested in 1902 however it wasn’t until 2 years in 1905 that a local man Sir. Harry Preston persuaded the town corporation to surface Madeira Drive using the pioneering material of tarmac as its surface and this was in fact the first of it’s kind.

The Town Council collaborated with the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland later to become known as the Motorsports Association, to organise an event know as Brighton Motorweek which ran from the 19^th-22^nd July and consisted of a series of Motor races.

The first event ran westwards from Black Rock to the Aquarium, the opposite direction to which the race currently runs, it attracted over 400 entries timed by the flying Kilometre. During the first event there were 3 world records set. The BHMC believe the trials have and continue to bring considerable economic benefit to the town resulting in hoteliers, restaurateurs and all manner of retailers enjoying the impact of the event.

Motorsport is often misunderstood as a sport casually dismissed as an environmental catastrophe which in fact the opposite is true. Motorsport and it’s engineering challenges have driven the development of all major environmental benefits to the internal combustion engine allowing ever greater efficiency in the power extracted, furthermore the rate of change within the sport enabled progress of mainstream technologies to be significantly sped up.

This has included hybrid technology and kinetic energy recovery systems. We urge the Council not to throw away history but instead to look for inspiration to their forefathers on the Town Council. The loss of this even will also result in the closure of Brighton and Hove Motorclub after nearly 100 years and the loss to the Council of a tenant.’

49.9         Councillor Bowden replied: ‘We have a notice of motion which is being brought forward which tackles the same subject. Can I say first of all the recommendation not to proceed with your event next has absolutely nothing to do with ideology or this administration and I speak as someone who probably, maybe one of the only people, who have taken a motorcycle around Donnignton Park at high speed and has been a passenger going round the Isle of Manx TT circuit so there is no ideology involved in this but, very conveniently out of the notice of motion that is being presented by the opposition and in your submission, no mention has been made of the death in 2012 and the serious injury sustained by a motorcycle and sidecar combination.

This is for purely safety grounds that officers are making this recommendation as the notice of motion makes clear; this will come to my Committee as a matter of report and those members of Committee will then take a vote on it. So until that report has been debated within in my Committee no decision on the future of your event is being taken but it is purely on safety grounds, and if I were to comment also on your deputation; businesses have to close.

My inbox and fellow Ward Councillors and the Ward Councillors neighbouring Ward are inundated with complaints from residents who cannot access the beach. Businesses like Yellow Wave, the Volk’s Railway all have to close as a result of this event so we have to take into consideration, access issues as well as traditional. So I will not say anymore now because we are coming to a notice of motion which we will debate.’

49.10    The Mayor thanked Mr Taylor for attending the meeting and speaking on behalf of the deputation. She explained that the points had been noted and the deputation would be referred to the Economic Development & Culture Committee for consideration. The persons forming the deputation would be invited to attend the meeting and would be informed subsequently of any action to be taken or proposed in relation to the matter set out in the deputation. The Mayor noted that concluded the item.