Green councillors want to use money that has been set aside to bring back weedkiller to help fund public services for vulnerable people and offset heavy cuts.
The money would be spent on food banks, family contact services and support for young people with disabilities.
The changes are included in a series of Green amendments that the party hopes to make when Brighton and Hove City Council meets to set its annual budget tomorrow (Thursday 22 February).
The proposals are due to be debated when the Labour-led budget for the coming financial year is presented to councillors at Hove Town Hall.
Green opposition leader Steve Davis said: “These are Conservative cuts. That is undeniable.
“What we are witnessing here – and indeed at local authorities throughout the country – is the slow controlled demolition of public services by a Conservative government hell-bent on pursuing its cruel and punitive policy of austerity.
“Fourteen years of Conservative government has achieved little more than dividing this country and grinding this and hundreds of other councils – and the frontline services they provide – to the bone.
“But this Labour administration has chosen how to implement them. What to cut. Who deserves continued support – and who doesn’t.
“And it is undeniable that these cuts will have a disproportionate and devastating effect on the most disadvantaged people in our community, as Community Works concluded in its recent summary of the impact these cuts will have locally.”
The Greens’ proposals include reallocating £397,000 from the reserves held in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which is made up of council tenants’ rents. The move would reduce the reserve to £2.87 million.
The Greens want to reallocate the six-figure sum as one-off funding including
- an extra £77,000 towards supporting food banks and warm homes energy work which the Household Support Fund previously funded
- removing the £115,000 cut to the outreach service for young people with disabilities
- reducing the £72,000 cut to the council’s contact service, which helps children and young people maintain safe contact with their parents, to £22,000
- reducing the £302,000 cut to the Communities Fund for community and voluntary groups to £102,000
These proposals would require ongoing funding so the Greens propose using £510,000 that was set aside to cover contingencies but which can now be used to keep services running – or ease cuts.
They want to switch the £266,000 that has been earmarked for weed management by reintroducing glyphosate, instead using the money to
- reduce the £205,000 cut to voluntary and charity sector commissioning – known as the third sector – by £145,000
- fund the 79 bus service to the South Downs National Park instead of scrapping it
- invest £12,000 in community-led biodiversity projects to give neighbourhoods a say in how to deal with weeds on pavements
- reduce the £200,000 cut to the sustainability team by £60,000
- remove the £20,000 cut to the Disability Advice Centre
Councillor Davis said: “Our amendments look to undo some of the worst and most harmful aspects of Labour’s budget, restoring vital support to vulnerable young people, reinstating funding to services preventing violence against women and girls and returning grants to the many community groups doing fantastic work supporting people through the city.
“We also want to reverse planned cuts to trade union time and to stop the council committing £260,000 each year on using a harmful chemical to tackle weeds when we believe there is no firm demand from residents to do so.
“In fact, recent petitions and the sheer volume of emails we are receiving suggests most people are against the plans.”
Councillor Davis added: “Labour almost certainly won’t vote for our amendments – or indeed any offered by opposition parties, however sensible.
“Despite abandoning a string of manifesto pledges and receiving less than half the votes at last May’s local elections, Labour appears to arrogantly believe it has a monopoly on good ideas.
“But when leading third-sector organisations and local residents talk of the devastating impact these cuts will have, councillors of all political persuasions have a duty to come together, collaborate and vote in the best interests of this city.
“That’s what happened last year when the minority Green administration and Labour worked together on the budget – and voted unanimously for it.
“The fact Labour is now blaming that budget – a budget current Labour councillors and the leader voted for – for many of the challenges the city faces tells me the current administration are more concerned with making political points than protecting jobs and vital local services.
“We will argue the case for our amendments tomorrow – and vote for any other suggestions we think are sensible and benefit the city and its people. I would just urge Labour councillors to do the same.”
The annual “budget council” meeting is due to start at 4.30pm tomorrow (Thursday 22 February). The meeting, at Hove Town Hall, is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
What about all the broken bones and injuries owing to weedy pavements? How much was paid out for by the council in compensation over the past five years? Foi time?
Next to nothing Barry, from the reports. You commented on that at the time. Did you forget?
Well submit an FoI Barry
Stop leaving it to others to do!
The Green Party hates the elderly and disabled, would rather they didn’t exist.
What about diverting the money to pay for the i360 black hole? When will the Greens write an open letter to the city?
Scrap the greens funding the i360 and spend the money on services. Oh hang on….
Well, it was the Green Party that got the Labour Party to implement the ban on use of Glyphosate weedkiller on pavements and gutters before an effective alternative had been developed, and after 5 years still not having found one, they complain when Labour take a pragmatic approach.
Just love Steve Davis saying they would “stop the council committing £260,000 each year on using a harmful chemical to tackle weeds when we believe there is no firm demand from residents to do so”. Firstly it is only harmful to plants (it’s a herbicide), and secondly what proportion of residents believe their scaremongering misinformation.
And he’s still banging on about increasing biodiversity! How much more, quantitatively, do we need to counter the crisis they said existed, and aren’t we still throwing £10m of our council tax at various vanity schemes of dubious benefit to address this and the climate crisis?
But, in reality, who cares what the Greens think anymore a bunch of cluelessly arrogant activists driven by ideology and dogma with no appreciation of economics or STEM?
Maybe Davis can explain why the Beryl bikes were so expensive and why he paid over the odds for the cycle hangars, which he now expects taxpayers to pay for the maintenance of
I think the greens should keep their opinions to themselves. Theyve done enough damage to Brighton and Hove.
The Greens ignoring the fact that the Council has to allocate £2m a year to repay the i360 loan each year that they and the Tories foisted on us.
That’s £2m not available for other things.
Also getting rid of weeds IS a community service and something residents want doing.
The vast majority of residents don’t care how it’s done they just want it done!
Stuff off greens. You mismanaged our money so badly you nearly bankrupted us. I hope you never power ever again as you are unfit to run a city.
In a time of biodiversity crisis, spending £260,000 to poison street plants which will devastate insect and pollinator diversity is obscene. It is also in direct conflict with the Labour Party manifesto from the recent election.
The Labour Party have signed up to the statement of climate and nature emergency but continue to act as though this does not matter. They cannot be trusted with our environment.
Maybe if the Greens had acted with a bit more honesty and transparency and less hubris, when they were ‘running’ the Council, and actually listened to residents, they wouldn’t have got unceremoniously booted out.
Davis himself is a prime example of this.
Please go somewhere else to have your hissy fit.
So far Labour have made 3 u-turns on manifesto had protests outside almost every meeting and been criticised by residents who are using charities in our city and by trade unions, their own staff and adult social care workers for not listening, everyone who commented who is funded by the council in the city has said they were given little to no consultation time on the cuts plans, not to mention have you seen the outcry from people living here about not being listened to re St Peter’s school and st Bart’s school and bright start closing. Say what you want about the Greens they didn’t get a lot right but surely you can’t be thinking Labour are the gold standard of listening – they want a cabinet system
Now which is the end of reaident involvement altogether pretty much
I’m hugely disappointed
Personally I would rather see the weeds gone, Labour knows they need to get the job done and so far NO ONE after 2 years has come up with a viable alternative. If Cllr Davis wants money up the cost of rental for the bike hangers instead of subsidising them with £120,000 in taxpayers money, (after all Cllr Davis and the transport team said they were cost neutral).