Brighton & Hove update December 2025

Welcome to your 2025 recap for Brighton & Hove!

2025 has been a year of big decisions for our city – and for its green spaces, countryside connections, and climate ambitions. From responding to major consultations on the City Plan and Transport Strategy, to standing up for the South Downs and championing urban trees, we’ve worked hard to make sure nature and people come first.

As we end 2025, we’re reflecting on how we’ve challenged developments that threaten our landscapes, fought for better transport policies, celebrated wins for Stanmer Park, and grown our tree-planting efforts across Brighton & Hove.

City Plan and Transport Strategy

We responded to two really important consultations from Brighton and Hove City Council that could have big impacts on the environment, on the city’s green spaces and urban fringes and on our connections to the countryside.

First up, at the very start of the year, we gave our thoughts on proposed revisions to the City Plan – the local plan that shapes development within the city. The plan sets out policies on everything from tourism to biodiversity, via housing and heritage, as well as identifying major priority sites for development.

While welcoming the prioritisation of brownfield sites and homes for social rent, as well as potential controls on second homes and holiday lets, we said that more clarity is needed on the overall housing target and whether the urban fringe, National Park setting or green spaces will be sacrificed to achieve it. We also criticised a limited approach to climate issues, including an approach to transport that threatens to increase car mileage, and hence congestion, air and noise pollution and carbon emissions.

The Council is expected to run a second consultation on an updated draft soon, and we’ll be watching closely to see whether they have taken these issues on board. It’s so important that we make our voices heard to the people in power and tell them how we want our city to be run!

We again picked up the issue of car-dependency in our response to the city’s draft Transport Strategy. We warned that cutting pollution and congestion will likely need bolder policies around Low Emission Zones, a reduction in parking places in the urban centre and so on, and the reallocation of ‘road’ space to other uses (walking/wheeling, places for sitting, pocket parks and green infrastructure, etc), as well as charging measures to generate the funding for transport alternatives. We were particularly keen to see access to the countryside for walkers, wheelers, cyclists and public transport users maintained, and sounded the alarm on Park and Ride sites that might harm the setting of the National Park.

Major developments harming the setting of the National Park and the city’s green lungs

We objected to the scale of development proposed at the former Brighton Gasworks site near the Marina, given its potential impact on the setting of – and views from – the South Downs National Park. It’s an excellent, brownfield site for affordable housing – but the developers’ plans are for many more units (and hence taller buildings) than allowed for in the City Plan. It was frustrating that Government ministers overruled the Council’s decision to turn the scheme down – and it’s outrageous that they have agreed that the developers need not include any affordable housing on the site at all!

Having objected to the inclusion of Benfield Valley in the City Plan in the first place, and then to the specific planning application for over 100 new homes, we were deeply disappointed when planners gave permission for the scheme in April. We continue to send our support to local campaigners who have been exploring legal avenues to fight the scheme. The fight isn’t over yet!

Safeguarding Stanmer: Boundary Festival

We had much more success with our work supporting local residents and the Stanmer Preservation Society, in minimising the harm to wildlife and heritage from major music event ‘Boundary Festival’. Having run the festival for a number years in the corner of Stanmer Park closest to the already noisy A27 and the built-up university campus, the Council proposed a site move that would have seen the event butted-up against the nature-rich Great Wood and the grounds of the Grade I-listed Stanmer House – pretty ridiculous grounds for a busy music festival!

Working with the South Downs National Park, we used the legal duty on the Council to “seek to further the purposes of the National Park” (of which Stanmer is a part), to persuade them to return the event to its former location, with less impact on this precious and peaceful environment that is beloved by so many of us in the city.

(Later in the year, we were also part of a successful campaign to stop the repeal of this important legal power by the government.)

Trees, trees, trees

Our biggest focus in Brighton & Hove has been on trees: securing new street trees, helping people learn more about trees, planting new hedgerows and much more.

Our Plant Your Postcode scheme has seen us continue to work with residents’ groups across the city to survey sites, generate community support and fundraising and get new street trees planted. We are really proud of this scheme, which can bring trees (and all their many benefits) right to your doorstep – literally!

Earlier this year, we were excited to work with Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, the City Council and the Women’s Rugby World Cup, to plant 16 new trees across the city – one for each of the teams competing in the tournament, which saw games played at the AMEX Stadium. This was a great moment to celebrate not only our local club and women’s sport, but the importance of cultivating trees in urban centres. We also worked with companies including Paxton Access and Carbon Footprint to plant new hedgerows on farms around the city, including at Ovingdean and Truleigh Hill.

We’ve continued to lobby the City Council to spend some of the millions of pounds of ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’ cash, that they have collected from developers to support critical infrastructure projects, on planting new trees. We are excited about this fantastic opportunity to increase Brighton trees like never before – fingers crossed and watch this space!

And of course – our annual Tree Festival also reached its second year, with walks, talks and creative workshops across the city and the surrounding UNESCO Living Coast Biosphere area. This was our biggest event to date: over 750 people took part and over 200 children were engaged in tree education activities – not to mention the beautiful entries to our tree photography competition. We’re already planning 2026’s activities and are on the lookout for businesses who would like to sponsor the event – do get in touch with us if you might be interested, or know someone who could be.

Brighton & Hove local group

Our local B&H group, chaired by Lizzie Deane, met to plan lively local action, and heard from great speakers, including learning about BHESCo’s Preston Park Community Energy project. This is a shining example of the wider work CPRE has been doing to promote rooftop solar across the country. Do let us know if you’re keen to join the group in 2026.

And finally… Our new Argus column

Our Director, Paul Steedman, started a new fortnightly column – in print and online – for classic Brighton publication, the Argus. You can read Paul’s thoughts on a wider range of topics – including the government’s harmful obsession with pitching nature and the environment against growth-at-all-costs at https://www.cpresussex.org.uk/about-us/cpre-sussex-directors-columns-written-for-the-argus/

Thank you

We are so grateful for all of your support in 2025. It’s been an especially tough year for the countryside, nature, climate and our beautiful landscapes, with a government that has seemingly declared war on the environment in both rhetoric and policy. It’s down to the support of people like you that we can continue to stand up and defend Sussex’s green spaces. Thank you for helping us to stand up for the Sussex countryside. We look forward to defending it, together, in 2026!

PS – don’t forget that you can give the gift of CPRE membership this Christmas!

Do you know somebody who loves the Sussex countryside as much as you do? And do you want to give a gift that lasts all year long?

You can buy individual or household CPRE Sussex membership as a gift. As you know, membership comes with a host of benefits including discounts on events and access to houses and gardens across the county – plus the knowledge that you are helping to shape a greener future for Sussex.

Give the gift of CPRE membership.