Councillors consider proposal to give local people more say in the future of Brighton Marina
A proposal to designate Brighton Marina as a Business Neighbourhood Area will be considered by city councillors at a meeting on June 18.
A forum, made up of a group of people living or working at the Marina, has made an application to Brighton & Hove City Council to gain formal approval for a Neighbourhood Forum and Business Neighbourhood Area.
The application was first considered by the council’s Economic Development and Culture Committee at a meeting in January. A decision was deferred until the committee’s June meeting to allow time for more people to give their views on the proposals.
Since then the Brighton Marina Neighbourhood Forum, which is the applicant, and the Brighton Marina Residents Association have carried out further consultation with residents. Council officers have also met with the forum, the residents association and ward councillors.
If the Neighbourhood Forum and Business Neighbourhood Area are given the go ahead, the forum will have the power to draw up its own Neighbourhood Development Plan.
A Neighbourhood Development Plan enables a community to set out planning policies in relation to the development and use of land in the area. Wider public consultation would then be carried out to give other people a chance to have their say. If adopted, the plan then becomes a formal part of the planning system, and would be taken into account when the local planning authority is deciding planning applications for the area.
The area covered by the Neighbourhood Area and Forum applications is bounded by the cliffs to the north of the Marina, the harbour arms to the south, east and west where it is also bounded by the access road.
Councillor Warren Morgan, chair of the council’s Economic Development and Culture Committee, said: “If the proposal is approved, Brighton Marina will become the first Business Neighbourhood Area in the city.”
Notes to editors:
‘Neighbourhood Planning’ was introduced by the Localism Act 2011 and enables parish councils or resident-led forums to draw up a plan for their neighbourhood. Once a Neighbourhood Plan is approved it will be used to help decide the outcome of planning applications in the area. The Neighbourhood Plan sits alongside other planning policy, like the City Plan.
In 2013 Rottingdean Parish Council successfully gained approval for the first neighbourhood area in the city, and two neighbourhood areas were created in Hove in 2014 covering the Hove Station and Hove Park areas.
A neighbourhood can only be designated as a business area if it is regarded as wholly or predominantly business in nature.
Economic Development and Culture Committee agenda and reports, see agenda item 9.