On Tuesday (25 May) some of my fellow Labour councillors and I took part in a vigil at The Level, commemorating the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, organised by Black Lives Matter.
The 9 minute 29 second silence, marking the duration of police kneeling on George’s neck, was very powerful, as were the speeches we heard.
We are committed to continue working with our residents and communities to make Brighton and Hove an anti-racist city.
To get to the vigil, I used a Bikeshare cycle. The scheme was introduced by Labour while in administration and has been a resounding success, giving easy and affordable access to cycling to our residents and visitors.
In May last year, we were awarded government money for e-bikes, and in June the city recorded its millionth journey.
We continue to support the Bikeshare scheme and look forward to extending the existing network and the introduction of the new e-bikes across the city, making the scheme much more accessible.
Labour also introduced electric vehicle charging points across the city.
We have a total of 272 at the time of writing and there are more in the pipeline. On a per resident basis, this is 17 per cent more charging points than London.
We applaud the latest initiative to create some disabled bay charge points.
In December last year, I was approached by the Brighton Electric Vehicle (EV) Car Share project. This is a co-operative owned by local residents, not a big national business.
I introduced them to some of our residents and fellow councillors, all of whom have been hugely supportive.
Council staff are now working with Brighton EV car share on an initial pilot project and I look forward to seeing this reported to us at committee in the autumn.
I am looking forward to working with them, supporting local living streets and “20-minute neighbourhoods” initiatives.
And finally – I am very excited to welcome us all back to the Festival and Fringe and hope that you will be able to get involved in some of the fantastic events and exhibitions that are on offer.
Councillor Carmen Appich is the joint Labour opposition leader on Brighton and Hove City Council.
Carmen, are Labour now going to provide an effective opposition to the Green lunacy? How do you stand with the OSR and A259 cycle lanes? Are Momentum still in charge?
With you on this Toby. Nice to hear about the bikeshare etc BUT where is there any mention of opposition and representing and actually listening to the views of their voters. This seems like more of the same capitulation, which worked really well for Labour at the two recent by-election, not.
How about sorting the bins, rubbish, planting some trees, traffic issues in your constituency, graffiti, parking – all for starters. This is your job – not a pseudo National Politician?
………………..and beggars!