Investing in our city - what we’ve delivered 2023 to 2025

Developing Brighton & Hove as a place where people want to live, work, and learn

As one of the city’s most treasured assets, the restoration and rejuvenation of the seafront is well underway. We are transforming underused and run-down public spaces into attractive, accessible places for visitors and residents, including rejuvenating Black Rock and creating Hove Beach Park complete with wheeled sports area, new padel courts, bowling green, skate park, tennis courts and outdoor sports hub. We’ve also kickstarted the restoration of the historic Grade II listed Madeira Terrace, beginning with the first 28 arches and a new lift to improve access to the eastern seafront.

We have made great strides improving the city’s sport and leisure facilities as part of our 10-year Sports Facilities Investment Plan. Four 3G all-weather pitches and a new soft play area were opened at the Withdean Sports Complex and the seafront basketball court refurbished. Our swimming pools were kept open after securing almost £400,000 of grant funding, and solar PV installed at our leisure centres has generated 350,000 kWh of renewable energy each year, contributing to our decarbonisation plans for the city. Year on year we are seeing attendance numbers at our indoor sports facilities increase, with almost 1.8 million visits in the last year. We were announced as a host city for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, building on our international sporting reputation and creating opportunities to further promote girls and womens sport in the city.

As part of our playground refurbishment programme, we have spent more than £5 million in section 106 contributions from developers on outdoor play and fitness facilities to provide upgraded, inclusive and accessible play areas at 45 sites and 6 new outdoor gyms.

Growing a diverse and sustainable city economy

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing and inclusive city economy we adopted a new three-year Economic Plan in 2024. As a member of the regional Local Visitor Economy Partnership, we also launched a new 10-year Visitor Economy Strategy for Growth to enhance

Sussex’s reputation as a thriving, vibrant and regenerative destination, with the aim to increase the total value of the local visitor economy from £5 billion to £7.5 billion by 2034.

In the last year alone, the council-led Business and Intellectual Property Centre Sussex, based at the Jubilee Library, supported 2,670 entrepreneurs, inventors, and small businesses from across the county. Focused on our goal of boosting economic growth and tackling inequality, we have seen high take up of our offer from women, Black and Racially Minoritised groups, disabled people and young entrepreneurs.

We have set up a new Brighton & Hove Growth Hub – a digital service supporting city businesses to scale and grow, creating more jobs for residents. The Growth Hub has recently completed its first Scale Up programme, with 32 businesses participating from across our economy.

Promoting and protecting what makes Brighton & Hove unique

Our focus on protecting the city’s heritage has seen the reopening of Brighton Dome’s refurbished historic Corn Exchange, following a six-year refurbishment programme. In early 2024 we secured more than £4 million grant funding in partnership with Brighton & Hove Museums to restore the Royal Pavilion Garden. Plans that ensure the long-term sustainability of the city centre gardens were approved in August 2024.

We are working to protect live grassroots music venues, recognising the important part they play in our vibrant night-time and visitor economies. Together with the Music Venues Trust, we have published a comprehensive guide to the planning system to support grassroots music venues and ensure the music scene continues to thrive.

Developing talent and enabling lifelong learning

We’ve increased the use of our libraries. Across the city we saw an increase in footfall in our libraries, rising to over 1.2 million visits in the last year. We reopened Saltdean Library in the newly restored Saltdean Lido.