Brighton Marina Regeneration Project


Client: Explore Living
Project: Pre-application public consultation for Brighton Marina Regeneration Project

Brighton Marina Regeneration Project LogoBackground

Explore Living has been given the unique opportunity to regenerate much of the land at the western end of Brighton Marina.

Objectives

The immediate PR challenge has been to create a climate of opinion in which the planning authorities would be comfortable agreeing to Explore Living’s planning application. And to do this, Brighton & Hove people need to believe in the project and want it to succeed. They need to believe that the planning application that Explore Living submits will genuinely help Brighton Marina to meet its potential whilst enhancing the city’s appeal.

Implementation

The Brighton Marina Regeneration Project has committed to an effective and comprehensive community involvement programme and has engaged with relevant stakeholders and the community. As part of the 18-month consultation programme a number of techniques have been implemented to communicate with stakeholders. These have included:

  • Media relations
  • News update letter and leaflets to 10,000 addresses both in and around the marina and to over 400 key stakeholders in the city
  • Community Information Centre – used throughout the consultation as a place to keep the public informed and to hold exhibitions, meetings and workshops
  • Free phone response service
  • Website www.brightonmarinaregeneration.com
  • Design Champions’ forums
  • Councillors’ workshops
  • Residents’ meetings
  • Youth workshops
  • Public exhibitions
  • Local media advertising and leaflets
  • Newsletters
  • Questionnaires
  • One-to-ones

Results

The project is still under way and the application has been submitted.  All the work that has been put in during the last 18 months will ensure that it is welcomed not just by the planning officials but also by the marina residents and the wider city. 

The results of this positive feeling towards the scheme are already being seen. For example, when The Argus reported the latest plans in the paper, instead of the barrage of letters similar to those sent in apposing the King Alfred scheme in Hove the letters page was noticeably blank.  The Argus forums were slightly more active than the letters page with 63 comments added to the story. These responses represented a balanced view of the scheme with twenty negative, twenty neutral and twenty-two positive comments. 

The four exhibitions have seen over 2,000 visitors attend.  Over 2,500 unique visitors have been on the website since October last year.