Brighton & Hove is starting a new City Plan, with scoping consultation running to September 2026. The city's assessed need is 2,333 homes a year; its target is 660.

Brighton & Hove has formally started work on a new City Plan, the document that will decide where the city builds, and how much, into the 2040s. The public scoping consultation is running now, from July to September 2026, which makes this the single best window for residents to shape the plan before the big decisions harden. Behind the process sits one uncomfortable number: the government’s standard method assesses the city’s housing need at 2,333 homes a year, while the current plan’s target is 660. This page explains where the plan is, what the numbers really say, and which allocated sites are the ones to watch.

Where the new City Plan is now

The council’s cabinet agreed on 14 May 2026 to give formal notice that a new local plan is being prepared, a step that had to be taken by 30 June 2026 and which unlocked £108,000 of government plan-making funding (Brighton & Hove News). The timetable from there, as set out to that meeting and in later discussion:

  • July to September 2026: scoping consultation, open now via the council’s City Plan pages.
  • Spring 2028: draft plan published, with a further consultation in May 2028.
  • Submission for examination around 2027 to 2028, aiming for adoption around late 2028 to 2029 (Brighton Chamber’s account of the timetable; the council’s own page gives 2029 as the adoption target).

Until the new plan is adopted, the existing City Plan Part One (2016) and Part Two (adopted October 2022) remain the development plan, and applications are judged against them.

The numbers: 660 versus 2,333

The current City Plan runs from 2010 to 2030 and sets a target of 13,200 homes, 660 a year. That figure was never the city’s full need; it was what the council judged could physically fit, squeezed between the sea and the South Downs National Park. Measured against the government’s standard method, which includes a 35% uplift for the top 20 urban areas, the city’s assessed need is 2,333 homes a year, and the council itself has acknowledged in formal agreements that the current plan provides for roughly 44% of the city’s objectively assessed need (Statement of Common Ground with Mid Sussex, July 2024). Business voices in the city now round the need figure to about 2,500 a year (Brighton Chamber).

Delivery, meanwhile, just had its best year on record within the plan period. The council’s own monitoring shows 1,298 net new homes completed in 2024 to 2025, the highest figure since 2010, though past shortfalls mean the city now needs 808 homes a year to 2030 to hit even the 660-a-year plan target. Affordable housing lagged badly: 208 affordable homes, about 15% of completions, against a 30% policy target (Authority Monitoring Report 2024 to 2025).

Bar chart comparing Brighton and Hove homes per year: the current City Plan target of 660, actual delivery of 1,298 net homes in 2024 to 2025, and the government standard method assessed need of 2,333

The gap between those bars is the whole story of the new plan. Closing it inside the city’s boundaries means density and height; not closing it means asking neighbours like Mid Sussex to take Brighton’s unmet need, which is exactly what the Statement of Common Ground process exists to negotiate.

The sites to watch

Two allocations from City Plan Part Two remain the city’s most contested planning ground, both named when the new plan process was approved (Brighton & Hove News):

  • Benfield Valley, the green corridor between Hangleton and Portslade, part-allocated for housing in 2022 over sustained local objection. Any application here will test how the new plan treats the city’s remaining urban green gaps.
  • Swanborough Drive, Whitehawk, allocated despite opposition on the east side of the city, where pressure for family homes meets some of Brighton’s most valued open ground.

The new plan will revisit both, alongside the bigger question of whether the city’s tall-building and urban-intensification policies go further.

How to have your say, and how to track applications

The scoping consultation is open on the council’s City Plan 2041 pages until September 2026; this early stage sets the agenda, so a short, specific response now counts for more than an objection in 2028. For individual applications week to week, the council’s Public Access portal is the register of record; our Brighton planning applications page explains how to search it, comment and read committee papers, and application references take the form BH2026/00490. New housing also lands directly on the numbers behind Brighton house prices and, eventually, on your council tax band.

Frequently asked questions

What is Brighton’s housing target?

The current City Plan target is 660 homes a year (13,200 over 2010 to 2030). The government’s standard method assesses the city’s actual need at 2,333 homes a year, a gap the new City Plan has to confront (Statement of Common Ground, July 2024).

How many homes did Brighton build last year?

1,298 net new homes in 2024 to 2025, the best year of the current plan period, of which 208 were affordable, about 15% against a 30% policy target (Authority Monitoring Report).

When will the new City Plan be adopted?

The council’s timetable points to a draft plan in spring 2028 and adoption around 2029, after examination by a government inspector. The scoping consultation runs to September 2026 (council City Plan pages).

Why can’t Brighton just build more?

The city is hemmed between the sea and the South Downs National Park, so its plan has always provided for less than its assessed need, about 44% of it. The options are density inside the city or negotiated help from neighbouring districts, and the new plan must choose the mix.

Sources

Planning timetables move. Figures above are from the council’s own documents and formal agreements as of 7 August 2026.