Councillor Steve Davis, Green Party convenor of the Green Group of Councillors and leader of the opposition on Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “We welcome the publication of the independent King’s Counsel report into conduct at the Cityclean depot and thank Aileen McColgan KC for her hard work, diligence, and professionalism.
“Each of the people who came forward and shared their experiences should be thanked again for their bravery and willingness to engage with the investigation and the part they each played in making sure the toxic culture at the depot has come to light.
“Now the report has been published in full and the horrifying extent to which people were subject to misogyny, racism, homophobia, bullying, and threats of physical violence is clear, I encourage the council to provide on-going support to anyone affected by the issues raised and make sure this type of completely unacceptable behaviour stops now.
“We do have some unanswered questions which fell outside of the remit of the report, including how far the influence of the GMB reaches and whether that influence has frustrated previous attempts to tackle the culture at the depot – particularly as the potential for that has been specifically mentioned in the King’s Counsel report.
“It is important that these questions are answered as part of the next steps, but as a group we will now offer our full support to the council in its effort to tackle the appalling behaviour.
“We trust that all opposition councillors will be given the opportunity to publicly address and discuss the findings of the King’s Counsel report at the next Full Council meeting and that whatever steps are taken moving forward are done in a completely transparent way and open to full scrutiny from elected officials.
“The most important thing now is that real changes are put in place, that management at the depot are given our full support, and that improvements are made which not only immediately stamp out the toxic culture at the depot, but also deliver a working bin service for the people of Brighton and Hove.”
You can read the full report from Aileen McColgan KC at https://www.11kbw.com/content/uploads/McColgan-Brighton-report.pdf