A businessman asked Brighton and Hove City Council to suspend four of its members today for misconduct.
Hove shop owner Adam Campbell said that the four Green councillors had abused their power in a way that smacked of third world politics.
He accused them of making a decision to impose a new loading restriction that he said had harmed his business on malicious and party political grounds.
This, he said, contravened the Human Rights Act, the council’s code of conduct and even the Greens’ own code of conduct.
One of the four accused denied any wrongdoing and said that he followed the proper process in making the decision in good faith.
Mr Campbell said that they had been motivated by the fact that he stood for the Conservative Party at the local elections in May last year.
He added that he no longer actively supported any political party nor was he seeking to stand for election.
And that when he had opposed a change to loading times in Western Road, it was as a trader representing nearly 600 residents and businesses who had signed a petition.
He read excerpts from emails between the four councillors – Ian Davey, Pete West, Ollie Sykes and Phelim Mac Cafferty – to support his claims. He obtained the emails using the Freedom of Information Act.
One email, from Councillor Davey, asked: “Do we know this man?”
Mr Campbell said: “Councillor Sykes, replying for both himself and Councillor Mac Cafferty, states not that I am a business owner or that I employ five local residents but simply and to our mind with malice that informed Councillor Davey’s and West’s decision making, ‘Adam Campbell stood for the Tories in Brunswick and Adelaide.’
“These emails were sent seven months after the election.
“I am a private citizen whose politics are no one’s business but my own.
“To have elected officials discussing what they think are my politics and then making decisions motivated by their hatred of another party is intolerable.
“Decisions to calculated to harm me, my business and my family are utterly unforgivable.
“This is the worst kind of third world politics.
“It is the law of ‘you didn’t vote for me so I won’t help you’ or even worse, ‘I will work against you because I don’t like your politics and I have the power to do it.’
“This is an unbridled abuse of your powers and your behaviour has no place in the city of Brighton and Hove.
“Given the serious nature of this discrimination we would ask that Councillors Davey, West, Mac Cafferty and Sykes must be suspended forthwith.
“Secondly, Councillors Davey, West, Mac Cafferty and Sykes must all be summoned before the Standards Committee at the earliest opportunity to account for their behaviour towards a private citizen.
“Thirdly and most importantly, we would urge every citizen of Brighton and Hove who have had dealings with these four councillors since they were elected and felt they were ignored or treated unfairly to ask why?
“Did the former chair of the Planning Committee (Councillor Mac Cafferty) suspect you were a Labour supporter or a Liberal Democrat or even a Conservative?
“Did that have a bearing on the outcome because you were not considered sufficiently Green?”
He urged anyone who shared his suspicions to make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act.
Mr Campbell added: “They have abused my rights so what is to say that they have not done it to you too.
“You have attempted to bully me and my staff but you have now been exposed for what you are – bigots with a thin veneer of elected respectability.
“You should be ashamed and stand down with immediate effect.”
His statement to a full meeting of the council at Hove Town Hall related to a decision by Councillor West earlier his year.
The decision was taken on behalf of Councillor Davey when he was the council’s cabinet member for transport.
It restricted loading times on a short stretch of Western Road in Hove which included Mr Campbell’s shop, Gill’s Home and Garden.
Mr Campbell has since been knocked over by a bus while crossing the road to load stock.
Councillor West said: “Mr Campbell’s made some fairly serious allegations here.”
He said that Mr Campbell was aware of the process for making a formal complaint.
Councillor West said: “I don’t take this matter lightly.”
He said that he made the decision properly in good conscience after a long and fair process.
The mayor, Councillor Bill Randall, told Mr Campbell: “You have made some serious allegations and if you want to take them further you should take them to the standards committee.”
Mr Campbell said afterwards that he would complain to the standards committee and had made an appointment with Sussex Police because he believed that a criminal offence had been committed by the four.
Well, I know Mr Campbell and I have to say he is a hardcore member of the local Tory party, I don’t know why he seeks to deny it or thinks it is something to be ashamed of! I wish him luck in his ploy to suspend these Green councillors but I think it’s pretty obvious where he’s coming from so I think he’ll have to try harder. Keep jumping in front of those buses!
Who was deemed at fault over the bus accident.
If the council have decreed a loading ban on western road they should respect and enforce it.
Bearing in mind that the stretch of Western Road from Waitrose to Brunswick Square is always full of cars and lorries despite the double yellow lines why don’t our councillors sort out that before extending the restrictions?