Decision - City Downland Estate Plan

Brighton and Hove Policy & Resources Committee Decided 1 Dec 2022 approved GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Policy & Resources Committee

Report author

Angela Dymott

Published

1 Dec 2022

Reference

6793

As published

the council's own words, unedited

RESOLVED : That the Committee – (i) Approved the City Downland Estate Plan attached at Appendix 1 of this report as policy; (ii) Noted the extensive consultations undertaken over a two year period to inform the CDEP and that following approval and SDNPA's endorsement in February 2023 the focus will be on the first phase of implementation as set out in the two-year Next Steps section; (iii) Agreed that any additional net income or capital receipts raised from the disposal of Downland Estate assets should be retained for reinvestment within the CDEP through the council's capital programme and that an appropriate reserve fund be maintained; (iv) Noted the implementation of the CDEP will be monitored and progress reported back to Policy & Resources annually, the Asset Member Board being the primary reporting point.

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 32043/2936 tokens · 18988ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 11:53

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

The plan sets out how Brighton & Hove City Council intends to manage and improve the 12,862-acre City Downland Estate. Its priorities are restoring biodiversity and chalk grassland, supporting sustainable farming and local food, improving public access, addressing climate change, and keeping the estate in public ownership and financially self-sustaining.

Recommendation

Adopt and implement the City Downland Estate Plan and its programme of actions, subject to coordination with wider council strategies, annual budget approval, and business-case analysis where appropriate.

Financial impact

No fixed total budget is stated. The plan states that proposals are subject to annual budget approval and, where appropriate, business-case analysis; the estate is intended to remain financially self-sustaining, with additional income ring-fenced for reinvestment.

Ward affected

city-wide

Decision maker

Brighton & Hove City Council

Stakeholders named

parsed

Brighton & Hove residents and communitiesFarmers and agricultural tenantsLand managersAllotment holdersVisitors, walkers, cyclists, horse riders and dog walkersPeople with disabilities and special educational needsEthnic minority communitiesYoung peoplePeople from disadvantaged backgroundsEnvironmental and wildlife groupsFood producers and local retailersTransport operatorsNational park authorities and environmental bodies

Next steps

parsed

Implement the action programme across the short, medium and long-term timeframes set out in the plan.
Publish a new public access and visitor management strategy.
Develop local nature recovery networks and finalise the Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Appoint an ecologist and prepare management plans for key habitats.
Prepare farm plans with farmers and land managers and support the transition to organic, regenerative and carbon-zero systems.
Complete the Stanmer Park master plan and assess opportunities to bring selected sites under direct council control.
Prepare woodland management plans and identify opportunities for grassland restoration, wilding and improved water management.
Develop new income streams, seek grants and prepare a rolling capital investment budget.
Establish management arrangements and report progress annually to the council’s policy and resources committee.

Precedents

not built

"Decided elsewhere" is not built Finding the same decision in other councils needs semantic matching over decision text, which is part of the search rewrite. Until then, the council's own decisions list is the way through.