Barbecues on the beach or in the local park could face a ban after councillors adopted a raft of measures to cut waste and improve recycling rates.
The proposal comes as Green councillor Jamie Lloyd said this week that sachets of ketchup should also be outlawed in Brighton and Hove.
There were doubts about how legally possible it would be to scrap single-use sauce sachets.
But councillors approved a broader plan which – subject to consultation – would include measures to “end the use of single-use barbecues on the beach and in parks and open spaces”.
And the proposal is expected to be implemented within a short timeframe – although an official Brighton and Hove City Council report did not say how soon this might be.
Green councillor Elaine Hills picked up on the proposal and said: “It’s a small thing but I think it’s a symbolic thing. It would be a great idea to stop people using these.
“It’s not just obviously … the disposability of it but there’s the dangers of them (as well as) the fact that they’re single-use.
“They’re a hazard. I think they caused the Hollingdean fire, didn’t they? So I would love to see a consultation on that and get rid of them once and for all.”
The Hollingdean fire – at the council tip in August 2019 – was blamed on a disposable barbecue left in a bin, probably on the seafront.
It caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage to the rubbish and recycling centre – and angered hundreds of neighbours.
They were told to keep their windows closed on a hot summer night over the bank holiday weekend as firefighters tackled the blaze.
After hearing that seafront traders could be persuaded to ditch sauce sachets under a proposed accreditation scheme, Labour councillor Carmen Appich also backed a ban on barbecues on council land.
She said: “I get extremely angry when I see shops selling barbecues. Maybe we should expand our accreditation scheme and stop shops that are near the seafront from selling them. There are stacks and stacks of them in some of the little newsagents.
“I’ve also got a thing about them. I don’t eat meat so the smell is offensive to me as well as the litter.
“So if we could do something to actually stop them being sold in the city, that would be great.”
A senior council official Rachel Chasseaud said: “We are going to be doing a consultation on ending the use of single-use barbecues on council land and beaches.
“As part of that, we would work with the environmental protection team about where they are being sold as well if that goes ahead and if that’s agreed.”
The calls to ban ketchup and beach barbecues were made at a virtual council committee meeting on Tuesday (16 March).
I do agree that a single use barbeque should be outlawed as they are often used irresponsibly and can cause damage both to property and the environment (being used directly on lawns which kills the grass, or stones which retain heat)
However, any person who does have a barbecue outdoors on a reusable barbeque should be allowed to as they must extinguish the fire and coals to be able to take the barbeque home. These are also environmentally safer as they do not allow for litter being left behind or damage the surrounding areas.
As not everyone has an outdoor area at their residence for entertainment, it is often their only time to be outdoors with the family
God these people are so so so stupid.
Stop carping on about crud and concentrate on what the city needs.
Stop playing in your ‘green sandpit’ and act like grown up councillors.
Stop wasting time and money and treating the citizens of this city like cash-cow-serfs.
We want, no demand, your full and best effort in guiding the city out of this pandemic and relaunching it to become a beacon on the south coast not the butt of everyone’s derision.
The council doesn’t enforce most of the rules that it currently has – so why invent more? You can’t litter the seafront. Yet, after warm weekends, literally tonnes of rubbish has to be removed. You can’t camp on council land – yet people do. You can’t cycle along the prom (you should use the neighbouring cycle lanes) yet lots of people do. You can’t drive more than 20mph, but everyone does (including the police). And the list goes on and on…..
So no BBQs isn’t really a problem. In many areas they aren’t allowed already due to damage to grass etc. There were PSPOs for years which were ignored and have now expired. So no real need to get worried – the councillors will just make up rules and we learn to ignore them….
As someone once said Brighton born a village, lived a town and died a city.
Great to hear dipoaabel BBQ’s a a PITA all round and are mostly used in teh wrong places by idiots and abandonded without care
Councillor Lloyd. Give him enough rope and he will strangle himself. Barking mad.
According to their press release they are NOT banning BBQs.
Which means they are.
He wants the bbq banned because he doesnºt eat meat, so the smell bothereºs him…. That was the most ridiculous complaint i ever heard!!!!
Why donºt control the influx of people from other cities that we are having on sunny days instead??? Local people are the ones being put at risk and not able to enjoy the sun at their own town…what our businesses are earning in 1 or 2 months of sun don’t compensate the rest of the months that we have to close because of the virus spread…
It’s not rocket science is just stupidity!