Positive attitude to development
Author: Chris WebberDate: 17/02/2009
Publication: The Argus
We are now officially in recession and no city can take its prosperity for granted. Brighton and Hove has performed well over the past 15 years, emerging as one of the UK's most vibrant cities and seeing its employment rate increase from just 65 percent in 1994 to 73 percent in 2007. But it is now facing major challenges to growth that are threatening to undermine its achievements. The latest forecasts suggest that at least 3,000 jobs will be lost this year.
In a volatile economic climate, all cities must work hard to nurture the economic success that they desire. During the course of the downturn, and in the years ahead, Brighton and Hove's greatest challenge will lie in creating the kind of city that can allow its businesses, workers and residents to flourish.
Currently attitudes to new development in the city are luke-warm and this is acting as a brake on development. The risk for Brighton and Hove is that it will soon begin to lose out to other cities able to supply businesses and workers with better housing, business space and transport infrastructure. To overcome this, politicians need to concentrate on building a stronger consensus around the need for economic growth and the type of investments that make growth possible.
Brighton and Hove is not the only city struggling with these issues. Places like York and Cambridge are grappling with a similar dilemma. People want to enjoy the benefits of economic success, including higher levels of employment, rising incomes and increased opportunity, but they are often uncomfortable with the investments needed to spark and sustain it.
Unfortunately, they cannot have it both ways. Economic growth cannot take place without change. For cities, this means dealing with more people, more traffic, more businesses and more demand for decent transport links, housing and business space. Without these fundamentals in place, residents, workers and businesses will struggle to maintain the levels of prosperity that they have come to expect.
In Brighton and Hove, the simmering tension between growth and change has recently been illustrated by the Council's decision to block the Brighton Marina development. This was one of the few major developments in the country still considered to be viable and was set to regenerate a site into a major economic asset for the city. The same fate befell the proposed development of the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital, which was also knocked back by councillors at the end of last year.
Of course councillors have every right to turn down bad development proposals. At the same time, however, Brighton and Hove's residents, councillors, businesses and workers need to consider the damage that planning delays and blockages can do to the city's economic aspirations. These problems can discourage further investment in the city, hold back job growth and increase property prices for businesses, would-be residents and workers considering moving to Brighton and Hove.
The credit crunch and recession means development money will be much harder to come by - plans for the new King Alfred Centre have already been shelved due to lack of funds. Developers themselves will be facing much tighter profit margins and these kinds of issues could well decide whether or not Brighton and Hove secures the investment it needs to return to strong economic growth when the upturn comes.
What needs to happen? First and foremost, Brighton & Hove Council should lead a process of consensus building around the need for economic growth, and the specific development projects that can deliver it. Brighton and Hove councillors themselves have identified growing the economy as a key objective in their Corporate Plan. An important step to achieve this is to deliver the investment that will fuel economic growth and increase standards of living for Brighton and Hove's residents.
Second, Centre for Cities is recommending more economics training for councillors when they join the Council, and periodically during their time on it. This would also help improve political understanding of what Brighton and Hove's key growth challenges are and how planning and investment decisions can help deal with these.
Third, it also makes sense for councillors to get more heavily involved in pre-application planning discussions between developers and the Council. This would help to identify and deal with problems earlier on in planning processes and limit the risk of applications being turned down at a late stage.
The recession will be difficult, but Brighton and Hove's assets - including its highly skilled workforce, two universities and unique quality of life - mean that it is well placed to recapture and sustain its success. But in order to do reach its potential the city will need to adopt a more positive attitude towards new development and create the conditions businesses and residents to thrive.
A version of this article first appeared in The Argus.
