Local action to improve air and water quality, public spaces and encourage behaviour change is having a positive effect on making Brighton & Hove a cleaner and healthier place.
The ENDS report, an independent source of intelligence on sustainability and the environment, has put the city third of 55 urban areas in England in its Clean Cities Index 2022. The research is based on more than 30 environmental factors grouped around air and water quality, climate, public realm and sustainable behaviour.
Councillor Amy Heley, co-chair of the city’s environment, transport & sustainability committee, said: “It's great to see the progress we’ve made on air quality reflected in this report, but we know we have much more to do to truly make Brighton & Hove a clean air city.
“We’ve been really focused on improving public spaces, connecting our residents with nature, and making it easier for people to travel sustainably and help drive down toxic emissions for a cleaner city, reduce waste and re-use materials.”
Working to improve air quality
Some of the actions that have led to the city’s high ranking include creating a new city centre park and sustainable transport connections in Valley Gardens. The project planted more than a thousand square metres of wildflower meadow and 37,000 new plants.
Schemes such as school streets has helped reduce the impact of the school run by reducing traffic emissions on main roads and around school gates. The city has an ultra-low emissions transport zone and is working with bus companies on low emissions public transport.
Air pollution is a major concern for residents and we’ll shortly be consulting on our next air quality action plan. This will map out how we can work together on long-term solutions to tackle poor air quality wherever it occurs in the city. As part of this we’ll be improving our air quality monitoring and making the results publicly available.
We’re also re-wilding a former golf course at Waterhall and planting thousands of trees to create a new woodland on Carden Hill.
A collaboration with tourism partners to develop and promote sustainable tourism is encouraging visitors to be aware of their carbon footprints.
We require developers to seek opportunities to improve air quality in locations where they are proposing new development through our local planning policy and have run an education campaign to highlight clean home heating and avoid emissions from open fires or stoves.
Working together to be more sustainable
As well as organising beach cleans to prevent waste ending up in the sea, we’ve worked with local organisations to prevent trawlers from inshore fishing to help protect underwater kelp forests and created a new native coastal habitat on the Eastern seafront.
We’re also working with partners to make a ‘rainscape’ in Wild Park which will filter out water-borne pollution, conserve water and improve the area for nature.
Engaging and enabling people who live and work in Brighton & Hove to make individual and collective actions is crucial to success and is an ongoing process.
The city won the Gold Sustainable Food place award thanks to the efforts of community groups and volunteers coming together to reduce food waste and set up local food systems through the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership.
We’re encouraging people to make more sustainable travel and transport choices by building sustainable transport infrastructure, an electric vehicle charging network, and offering rewards for walking, cycling and using public transport through an incentive scheme called ‘Move For Change.’
We’re working on making it easier for people to reduce waste, re-use and recycle through schemes such as the award-winning home collection ‘tech takeback’ recycling scheme.
We recently launched our circular economy champions scheme – a volunteer scheme for residents, and will be establishing a carbon neutral advisory panel made up of people outside the council to help us work with the city to reach our carbon neutral programme goals.
More about the ENDS report
The ENDS Report is an independent source of information and analysis on the carbon, environmental and sustainability agenda. The Clean Cities Index, put together by industry experts, looked at a range of environmental factors in towns and cities in England, with the aim of encouraging environmental improvements across the country.