Brighton and Hove Fairness Commission report now available

Making Brighton & Hove a ‘fairer city’

University researchers have supported the Brighton & Hove Fairness Commission to produce a major report on how “organisations and communities can work together to make the city a fairer and more accessible place”.

​Our university supported the work of the Brighton & Hove Fairness Commission (BHFC) by analysing the evidence from nearly 1,500 residents, 70 groups and 25 experts. The final report and evidence was published on Monday 28 June. You can read the report here.

This report is the culmination of nine months’ work by the Commission to find out how Brighton & Hove can be a fairer and more equal place to live and work. The strength of engagement with the Commission’s work was impressive with people submitting their views to the Commission on what they thought was fair and unfair about living in the city together with suggestions for making it fairer for everyone. The opportunity for researchers to be involved was created by the university’s Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp), which aims to create sustainable partnerships that provide an enduring benefit to local communities. David Wolff, Cupp Director, also served as a Commissioner on the BHFC.

Dr Mary Darking, Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Science (SASS), was the lead researcher on the analysis of the findings. She said:

“The ‘Coding for Fairness’ workshop we organised was a really positive example of the university, students and the local authority working together for the city of Brighton & Hove. Our approach, based on the principle of ‘every voice heard’, meant that we reflected carefully on each individual response to the consultation put forward by residents and used this to inform our report to the Commission.”

Debra Humphris, Vice Chancellor, said:

“Tackling poverty in Brighton & Hove must be a priority for us all. We are one of the largest employers in the city and we are also educating the next generation of teachers, nurses, social workers and doctors, so we understand that we do make a big impact on the city. I’m keen to explore how we can work closely with partners to achieve the aims laid out in the report and make early progress in some specific areas.”

The report makes a number of recommendations on ways the city’s organisations and communities can work together to make the city a fairer and more accessible place, covering areas such as housing, travel, education and ways of working.

The report stresses that the whole city needs to take the recommendations forward, and the changes needed are not in the gift of one partner.

Vic Rayner, Chair of the Commission, said:

“We would really like to thank the residents and communities who came forward and spoke to us and shared their passion, energy and vision of fairness for Brighton & Hove.  After our engagement with the city we came away with much to think about and many possible ways to tackle unfairness”.

Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) Leader, Warren Morgan, has welcomed the launch of the Commission’s report.  He said:

“On behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council, I would like to thank Vic Rayner for her dedication as chair of the Fairness Commission, and the other commissioners for all their hard work over the past year.  The report is a powerful reminder to the city that more must be done to tackle poverty and inequality and I am committed to making Brighton & Hove a fairer place, and doing whatever we can to ensure that everyone shares in our economic success.”

The Commission has urged all partners in the city, as well as the UK Government to consider the recommendations. They will continue to meet in 6 and 12 months’ time to review progress.

The report can be found here https://t.co/pNkhm41VNx

and here is a write up in the Argus http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14583518.Tolerated_stopping_places_f…

and the Brighton and Hove news http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2016/06/27/fairness-commission-u…

here is a link to a radio interview with Vic Rayner, the chair of the commission

http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2016/07/08/make-brighton-hove-fairer-place-fairness-commis…

and above is the University of Brighton team commended for their data analysis work for the report