Shaping a safer city for women and girls together

Our next Re-imagine Brighton & Hove workshop is looking at the priority issue of how to make the city a safe and fulfilling place for women and girls so they can live with dignity and thrive.

‘Re-imagine Brighton & Hove’ is inviting everyone in the city to tell the council what they think about how we tackle the issues which affect us all.

We want as many people as possible to take an active part in helping make the city the best place it can be.

The session looking at how we work together to make Brighton & Hove a safer city for women and girls will feed into our developing draft strategy for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Join us from 6pm to 8pm on Monday 29 January at the Brighthelm Centre, North Street, Brighton, BN1 1 YD.

The fourth session will discuss what we can do make Brighton & Hove healthier for all. The workshop is taking place from 6pm to 8pm on Monday 26 February at the Patcham Community Centre, Ladies Mile Road, Brighton, BN1 8TA.

We want to learn from your experiences, hear your ideas and turn your ideas into action to help deliver our Council Plan for 2023 to 2027.

To book your place for either of these sessions, please email lucie.spicer@brighton-hove.gov.uk. Spaces at the workshops are limited, so booking via email is essential.

Tackling violence against women and girls

Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “In Brighton & Hove, like other parts of England we have seen a huge rise in the number of recorded sexual offences in the city. This is unacceptable, intolerable and must be tackled with urgency.

“I refuse to lead a city where the status quo is tolerated or accepted. We want to develop an ambitious agenda that challenge the pervasive misogyny that undermines women’s rights and brings about meaningful change.

“There are some fantastic organisations in our city who are laser focused on ending violence against women and girls. We want to work with them and all our partners on this shared goal.

“Our Re-imagine event is an opportunity for all members of our community to come together and share their ideas how we can reimagine a city that is safer for women and girls.

“Your valuable ideas and experiences with then feed into the action plans in our developing draft violence against women and girls strategy.”

Working together on tagging and the cost of living crisis

Our first 2 Re-imagine sessions looked at tackling graffiti tagging and the cost of living crisis.

The first was held on Tuesday 21 November at Hove Town Hall, and looked at tacking the problem of tagging in the city.

The workshop focused on the 3 areas that form the council’s graffiti tagging reduction strategy – prevention, enforcement and removal.

You can still take part and share your thoughts on this strategy through our online consultation on reducing graffiti tagging, open until Tuesday 9 January.

The second, on Monday 11 December at St Richards Community Centre in Hove, looked at how the cost of living crisis is affecting the city and how we can work together to help each other.

This session looked at 3 areas linking to our draft cost of living action plan - the greatest challenges we’re facing due to the cost of living crisis, how we can engage with all the city’s communities, and ideas around how we can best support res the cost of living crisis.

Both sessions brought together residents, community and voluntary organisations, council staff, councillors and other stakeholders to looking at collaborative solutions.

The feedback from each session will feed into feed into a strategy and action plan. The first event feed into the on-going graffiti reduction strategy, and the second into the on-going cost of living action plan.

Involving young people

Young people play a crucial role in re-imagining the city. And we're giving all young people aged 11 to 19 an opportunity to tell us what they think are the solutions to the challenges we face. We are asking them to design the future.

If you, your school or youth group, or a young person you know would like to get involved, send an email to lucie.spicer@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Join us in shaping the future of our wonderful city, where your ideas matter and can make a real difference!