An accessible, clean, and sustainable city - what we’ve delivered 2023 to 2025

Keeping our city clean and managing waste

We have taken the necessary steps to get on top of weed growth to ensure roads and pathways are safe, accessible and clear for all, following five years of manual weed control. We are now treating weeds in pavements with controlled droplet application of glyphosate. Listening to residents, we have also introduced an opt out for those who want their roads to be excluded from our weed maintenance programme. So far 42 streets have opted out.

Illegal tagging is problem we have been working hard to address. Our three-year action plan prioritises removal of tagging and flyposting promptly and ensures enforcement action is taken. During the summer last year, we invested £100,000 to clean up graffiti hotspots in the city centre and remove hard to reach tagging. We also worked to prevent illegal tagging by supporting streets artists to bring creativity and vibrancy to authorised sites. For example, FRIENDS mural, Hove Lagoon. Local artist Aroe worked with six contemporaries to paint a letter in their own style on this tagging hotspot, supported by BHCC. The mural includes a full-size painting of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel, within the ‘I’.

High-quality, accessible and family-friendly public toilets and changing places are essential for our residents and visitors. We are investing more than £3 million in an ongoing programme to refurbish the city’s public toilets. Since July 2023 we have upgraded 6 public toilet sites and reopened and extended toilet opening hours. We also installed 3 new Changing Places toilets to help adults and children with disabilities get out and about and enjoy the day-to-day activities which many of us take for granted.

Additional saltwater testing. The sea water testing project is a citizen science initiative funded by Southern Water to supplement the bathing water quality testing undertaken by the Environment Agency. The local project has been led by sea swimming residents; they take regular water samples using a testing kit provided by Southern Water. Samples are collected all year round to assess the water quality outside of the bathing season when the Environment Agency have ceased testing. The samples are then tested at the King Alfred Leisure Centre.

Working towards carbon net zero

As part of our commitment to achieving carbon net zero, we published a ground-breaking decarbonisation pathways study in 2024, which looks in detail at how the city can change to low carbon energy systems by delivering high-impact projects delivering energy-efficient and low carbon homes, businesses and transport. The study identifies economic opportunities for the city with the potential to create around 2,500 new jobs.

We have seen great improvements in the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and we are now consistently reporting NO2 levels below the legal requirement of 40 µg/m3 at our three key monitoring locations. We are part of the largest network of air quality monitoring sensors in the UK and last year we launched a website giving people access to real time information to raise awareness of the impact of vehicle and gas boiler emissions and burning solid fuels on the city.

In partnership with Brighton & Hove buses we unlocked a landmark £10m project for zero emission buses at the start of 2024, and in August we were named the local authority with the best on-street electric vehicle charging coverage in the UK outside of London, demonstrating our strong commitment to achieving carbon net zero and a more sustainable city.

Protecting and enhancing the city’s natural environment

We have improved the protection of the city’s trees through enhanced enforcement of Tree Protection Orders. We have also taken steps to manage the spread of elm disease, using new technology to detect and treat infected trees, removing them quickly to protect our prestigious National Collection from a wider outbreak.

We know that good quality parks, green and open spaces are as important for people as they are for nature. In the last year we are proud to have received seven Green Flag awards for parks in Brighton, Hove, Portslade and Rottingdean, demonstrating that we have some of the country’s best-maintained parks with excellent facilities. We have completed significant infrastructure improvements at Stanmer Park and Preston Park, making them safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Likewise, Hove and Saltdean beaches have been awarded Blue Flags for their high-quality bathing water, facilities, safety, and management.

We are the UK’s only accredited urban biosphere and recognise the important stewardship role we have in protecting the wildlife and habitats, and promoting sustainable, environmentally aware communities across a 390 square kilometre designation. In 2024 we submitted our application as part of the Living Coast Partnership to UNESCO to continue our accreditation.

As part of our ongoing commitment to improve the condition of our roads we have agreed to invest more than £3.9 million annually in planned works. Using new digital tools, we are identifying high priority areas to target, and trialling innovative solutions that save time, cost and carbon, whilst improving the longevity of our repairs.

In November 2024 we began constructing Phase 3 of the Valley Gardens project, which is set to transform this city centre public space. The project will enhance and renew this important arrival point for visitors, provide accessible and inclusive public and green spaces, simplify the road layout for motorists, and improve road safety. We have completed significant infrastructure improvements at both Stanmer Park and Preston Park, making them safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Working closely with the city’s bus operators we introduced an affordable day travel ticket, extended bus routes, and introduced a new express bus route to encourage greater use of public transport. In December 2024 we were awarded a further £9.2million of grant funding to continue delivering our Bus Service Improvement Plan. In the last year we saw more than a 6% increase in buses running on time, despite some major works disrupting the road network.

Since we introduced red routes on London Road and Lewes Road in 2023, congestion has significantly reduced and road safety has improved, with almost 86% fewer pedestrian injuries. We listened to businesses and residents about the impact of red routes and installed more loading bays and a motorcycle bay in response to concerns raised.

We are working hard make parking in the city simpler and fairer and to improve people’s experience. For 2023/24 we reduced planned parking hikes including around the Royal Sussex County hospital and for 2025/26 we froze parking charges in council car parks for the first time in a decade, after listening to residents' concerns about the impact of parking charges during a cost-of-living crisis.

A new Active Travel scheme is just being completed on the A23 that enables residents to choose alternative modes to the car by improving cycle lanes and introducing more crossings on a very busy strategic road. The scheme introduces a safer direct connection for cyclists to access the city and improve walking routes into Preston Park. Residents are now able to have the confidence to cycle in the city by being able to store their bikes directly on the city’s streets in the expanded “Cycle hangars” network. Bike storage can be rented within safe and secure facilities across many areas of the city.

The Let’s Get Moving strategy is being implemented, supporting our ambition to be an active city and building on the progress we have already made.