“The Green Council” – fact: we don’t have a Green council, the city has a majority Labour-run council

• Since May 2023 we have had a Labour-run council in Brighton & Hove (B&H). Despite what residents might have been told about B&H having a “Green Council” Labour actually won the last three council elections, in 2015, 2019 and 2023. Labour have given the impression this is not the case.Labour have controlled the council for the majority of the last decade.
• In recent years, the Greens were only in minority administration of the council between Aug 2020 – May 2023. Greens took over from Labour in lockdown when their administration collapsed on account of councillors being sacked for antisemitism. 
• This was what is called a “minority administration” which means Greens could not pass any local policies without the support of other parties.

      Bins / missed refuse collections

This has been a long running issue for decades and spans the last three Labour administrations as well as the 2020 – 23 Green administration:

• Greens have long said that this issue was larger than just one party but Labour have used it as a political football at every council election.
• At each of the elections where Labour formed the largest party (2015, 2019, 2023), they promised residents they would sort this issue – then blamed others for the problems. Nothing has improved.
• Greens have always wanted to take the politics out of this challenge and just resolve the issue for residents – no single party has been able to sort it alone.
• Before the local elections in May 2023, then MP Caroline Lucas pushed for an independent legal investigation; this finally lifted the lid on WHY the service is so bad: a toxic work place culture at Cityclean (the council service which collects refuse and recycling) caused by local GMB Union reps.
• The investigation revealed racism, homophobia, bullying and sexual harassment in the workforce; even weapons such as knives and nunchucks were discovered on-site.
• Collection trucks were also sabotaged deliberately.
• An independent report by the King’s Counsel also made clear that “there were close links between the Labour administration and GMB Union reps within the Council and concerns were expressed to me that highly confidential information passed between the administration and GMB reps within the Council.”
• The KC report also revealed that councillors also blocked disciplinary action against GMB reps in question which allowed behaviour to continue. With a well-documented political and financial relationship between Labour and the local GMB union, and Labour now refusing to investigate references to political interference in the KC report, residents can draw their own conclusions about what has been going on.
• All the while Labour have politicised the issue to great advantage at council elections.
• All of the above is verifiable online.

Recycling rates – why are they so bad in Brighton and Hove?

• In 2003 Labour locked the city into a 25 year PFI waste management contract issued with the company Veolia.
• This was later extended to 30 years by the Tories – Greens were the only party to oppose the contract. 
• This contract limits what Brighton and Hove can recycle – so currently plastic pots (e.g. dips), tubs (butter) and trays (ready meals) cannot be recycled locally. 
• Rates are also measured by the weight of recycling so councils that recycle food waste (which is heavy) have much better rates.
• Green councillors have tried to get food waste trials introduced on multiple occasions but have been outvoted by Labour and the Tories on at least three occasions.

• The Government is bringing in new laws which will mean Brighton & Hove will need to widen what it recycles, including pots tubes and trays (PTTs) and food waste by no later than April 2026. 

i360 viewing tower

• Politicians from all parties have supported the i360 project at various points over the last decade, Labour’s blame game does not help to solve this predicament. It employs people.
• It pre dates most Green Cllrs but we need to try and make it a success.
• It irresponsible to keep talking the i360 down because the Labour council thinks it’s politically convenient to distance previous Labour administrations from historic decisions that were made. 
• It’s vital for the administration to focus on where things are out now, and what’s best for the city, rather than political point scoring and attempts to distance Labour from a project it championed at the start and finish.
• With local government finances being so dire because of Tory Government cuts, the truth is that outside investment into seafront regeneration is only realistic option.
• There is no £50 million debt.

City council finance

• Literally days before the Labour administration collapsed in July 2020, Labour’s finance lead (Dan Yates) made quite clear that that the Council’s financial forecast was bleak and desperate, noting that “By the end of this year, the council expects to be about £36 million in the red, almost all as a result of the coronavirus crisis.”
• Greens took over the administration at the Council at the height of the pandemic. Greens took over at THE most precarious time this city has known in living memory, at a point when Labour councillors forecast a £36 million overspend – this was as low as £3m by the time Labour took over in May 2023. 
• Greens and Labour know that the real problem is 14 years of Tory cuts to council budgets. 
• Sian will push for more funding for councils, at present Labour have not committed to reverse cuts to local budgets. Ends

The post Our city: facts not myths appeared first on Brighton & Hove Green Party.

Ahead of a meeting of Full Council on 2^nd November, the Green Group are urging the Council to take decisive action on single-use plastics (SUP) such as bottles, plastic cups and straws, that are used just once before being thrown away and are not widely recycled.

The Green Group are also hoping that all parties will support a call to work with residents, businesses and local traders to set up a ‘Plastic Free Network,’ that builds on the best practice of organisations in the city already phasing out the use of plastics, to support people in making the transition to more sustainable alternatives.

Over 56 venues in Brighton and Hove have signed up to the ‘Plastic Free Pledge’, a campaign to limit, or remove, many single-use plastics from their business, such as plastic straws.

Only 14 percent of plastic packaging is ever recycled or re-used and like many other Councils, Brighton and Hove only has the facilities to recycle plastic bottles. With recent studies showing that plastics are now present in samples of British tap water, and present in a third of all fish caught off the British coastline, the Greens have also raised the alarm about the role Brighton and Hove has to play in preventing plastics from entering the ocean.

Local campaigners Claire Potter and Jake Arney, co-founders of the Plastic Free Pledge, have commented on the issue. Jake said:

“Plastic straws were the first target of the Plastic Free Pledge, however we are already helping organisations to look at their single-use plastic waste in other areas. Whether it is plastic cutlery, takeaway containers or coffee cups, there are viable alternatives available. We don’t hate plastic, we hate the wasteful misuse of plastic and the damage it causes.”

Claire Potter added:

“A recent report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation states that if we carry on in this throwaway nature, by 2050 there will be a greater weight of plastics in the ocean than fish. Plus we are yet to outlive a single piece of plastic – unless we have incinerated it, every piece of plastic we have ever created is still on Earth. We need to use and value plastic more highly – single use-plastic needs to be removed from our convenience lifestyles and replaced by for more sustainable alternatives, such as reusable containers instead.”

Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, who is proposing the motion for the Green Group of Councillors, commented:

“A plastic straw – used just once before being thrown away – can take up to 600 years to degrade. This and other single-use plastics in fact break down into smaller fragments, which studies now unequivocally show are strangling the life in our seas, entering our food chain and even our water supply, affecting our health too.

“The Green Councillors are calling on our city to lead by example on this scourge of plastic waste. We want to phase out the use of these unnecessary single-use plastics in all Council buildings, including in our purchasing and supply chain, and to champion alternatives. But plastics don’t just damage the environment; the waste costs us billions a year.  

“As a coastal city we all know about the beauty of our seas. But our seas are incredibly fragile so the time for action cannot come soon enough. We are also a city full of trailblazing organisations who we can learn from, and who already have advice on how they have reduced plastic usage and waste in their own business models.

“We are hoping all of the political parties are aware of the need to take decisive action on this issue and can come with us on what is perhaps the most important environmental issue of our time.”

Proposals to reduce single-use plastics will be heard by the meeting of Brighton and Hove full Council on November 2nd.

Notes…

Unnecessary (i.e. excluding medical items) Single-Use Plastics (SUP) used once before disposal e.g. bottles, cups and straws, are not widely recycled. Studies from Columbia University show SUPs can take up to 600 years to degrade, breaking into fragments that cause damage to the environment and permeate the food chain. Recent studies found that 72% of U.K tap water samples were contaminated with plastic fibres, and a third of all fish caught off the British coast contained plastic.

The Plastic Free Pledge encourages organisations and individuals to reduce SUP waste https://plasticfreepledge.com/ A petition calling on the Council to issue guidelines to local businesses on plastic reduction is here: http://bit.ly/2gtwqFC and a petition calling on Government to reduce and end SUPs here: http://bit.ly/2xSFLhs

Several businesses and organisations in Brighton and Hove have already implemented plastic free alternatives, such as Brighton Catering Supplies, Silo, HisBe supermarket and The Tempest Inn.

The post Greens and local campaigners call for a ‘plastic free’ city appeared first on Brighton & Hove Green Party.

News that cardboard meant for recycling may have instead been sent to the incinerator by the company in charge, Veolia, is scandalous if true.  Residents in this city pay the Council a considerable amount every month to have their refuse collected, and many residents spend time sorting their rubbish to ensure as much of it as possible is recycled. If they now learn that the people they rely on to process that recycling are simply burning it because they don’t have the staff needed to do the job properly, they are entitled to be furious.  Both Veolia and the Council need to be open about what is going on – the Council’s statement, which placidly accepts Veolia’s ‘assurances’, will put no-one’s mind at rest.

Local Labour are once again failing to get even the basics right.  The city is becoming dirty and run down and recycling rates are still in the doldrums. Let’s not forget: it was Labour who landed the city with this regressive 25-year waste PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deal in the first place, a deal which pays us not to recycle effectively, or even to reduce our waste. The Tories then extended the agony for another five years. Neither Party can be trusted on this issue. If the investigation finds a breach of contract has occurred, the Labour group must commit to serious review of the terms of the contract.
Residents deserve better.

Original article on the claims that cardboard recycling in Brighton and Hove is being incinerated available here: http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/15522573.Cardboard_collected_for_recycling_is_being_incinerated_claims_whistleblower/

The post Are plans for recycling in Brighton and Hove simply going up in smoke? appeared first on Brighton & Hove Green Party.