I am going to speak about the Employment and Retail section of the plan on behalf of the Conservative Group.  
 
We are generally in favour of this section and would like to commend the officers for their work on it. 
 
We are supportive of DM11 where it states that business floorspace should be flexible to allow for a range of unit sizes and should have good natural light. This flexibility could be very helpful for start ups and small and medium sized businesses that want to expand. We also support the idea that where there is a mix of B use employment the accommodation must be designed to demonstrate there is adequate separation of uses and good standards of installation to prevent any noise problems. 
 
We do not have any amendments to this section of the plan. The Hangleton Councillors did want the Towns Corner Parade included in the list of important local parades but this was not considered to be a large enough parade. We do, however, support the addition of Preston Drove that the Greens have put forward although we understand this was just accidently omitted from the original list. 
 
The Employment and Retail sector are obviously going through unprecedented times. The Corona shock in the UK is of a speed and scale never seen before. Some cities and towns are being hit harder than others. University cities like ours have been hit twice – they have lost all their students and their tourists. Brighton, in particular has seen massive spending falls, plummeting around 60% during the first week in April compared to last year. 
 
One of our great strengths in the city as a shopping destination is the fact that we have so many unique, individual shops particularly in the lanes and on the seafront promenade. It would be catastrophic to the tourist industry if we should lose this vibrant mix of interesting shops. 
 
We appreciate the help from the Government and this Council to help small businesses and the support offered by the Economic Partnership and the Chamber of Commerce etc but sadly they are still going to struggle. -  Our main point is that although this section of the plan is well thought out we are now in a different kind of world and we want to ensure that this section of the plan is kept under constant review as we eventually come out of lockdown and in the longer term. We may need to be more flexible with our planning policies in the future to help our vital businesses and retail outlets survive.