Opposition councillors asked whether lessons were being learnt in the wake of the toxic working culture exposed in the rubbish and recycling service at Brighton and Hove City Council.
Green councillors asked a series of questions about the environmental services team, formerly known as Cityclean, when the council’s cabinet met at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Thursday 15 May).
The report detailed historic and recent problems in the service including incidents in January when two managers had their tyres slashed and threats were made to them and their families.
Green councillor Pete West asked whether Labour was just as responsible for the toxic culture at Cityclean as the GMB union.
The union came under fire in a report by barrister Aileen McColgan who said that weapons, including nunchuks and knives, were found in the GMB offices at the Hollingdean depot.
Councillor West said that the report also found that managers expected their decisions to be overturned if they disciplined workers because of political links between Labour councillors and the GMB.
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, the cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said that councillors had been removed from the disciplinary process.
Green councillor Raphael Hill asked what support was given to workers who had received death threats and other abuse.
Councillor Rowkins said that those who needed help – for example, with security – had been given help and workers who had received threats had been given tailored support.
Green councillor Kerry Pickett urged the council to follow auditors’ advice to carry out a “lessons learned” exercise – and asked why an earlier report by trade union leader Gerry Doherty was still secret.
She said: “In terms of transparency and truthfulness that this administration claims to support, it is still vitally important that they agree to a further investigation into these accusations.
“Why is the Doherty 2019 report as opposed to the McColgan 2023 report not in public circulation?
“Why is the suggestion of political interference not being openly investigated as a way of tackling what this report calls ‘deep-rooted issues that have existed for decades’?
“Furthermore, the second recommendation of the 2025 auditors’ report was for the council to undertake a ‘lessons learnt’ exercise to establish why these behaviours were able to go unchecked for so long and if improvements may be applicable to other service areas.
“As of yet, I am not aware of a lessons learnt exercise happening.”
Councillor Rowkins listed the actions taken since the McColgan report including disciplinary action against taken workers who sabotaged vehicles.
When staff appealed against disciplinary action, appeals were heard by senior managers who had not previously been involved in the matter – with councillors no longer have any input.
The council had also carried out a review of agreements between the council’s environmental services team and its workers – some of which were said to have been undocumented.
Councillor Rowkins said that everything was now in line with council terms and conditions.
The two recognised trade unions, the GMB and Unison, also now had equal facilities and roles in the service – and there was a push to recruit a more diverse workforce.
In the months after the investigation into Cityclean by barrister Aileen McColgan became public in 2023, collection rates improved, Councillor Rowkins said.
But in the first quarter of this year, missed collections more than doubled from a three-monthly average of 573 to 1,369 compared with the final quarter of last year.
Councillor Rowkins said: “I want to make it very clear that such action comes from an ever-smaller number of individuals who are resistant to the change that is necessary.
“Having been out on many rounds and met many of our staff, I can tell you that the majority work very hard.
“They get up before dawn, whatever the weather, work long shifts and just want to provide a good service for the city.
“I want to make it very clear to those staff that they have our gratitude and our full support.”
Another issue was the ageing fleet, with 17 vehicles more than 10 years old and 13 of them more than the recommended operational lifespan of seven years.
He said that five 26-tonne bin lorries and five smaller vehicles for use in narrower streets were on the way, having been budgeted for in the council’s capital programme.
Five jetwash vehicles were also on the way to support the street cleaning and graffiti removal teams.
Has the person in charge of renewing the fleet been disciplined? More likely promoted given the track record of successive administrations. They obviously weren’t doing their job properly.
No he stole 2 million quid doing back hander deals with vehicle firms, and was going to get sacked for sexual harassment, but quit before he was pushed. So I’m guessing he was one of the 50 that left.
Sorry what? Why aren’t the police looking at the sabotaging of vehicles instead of BHCC just taking disciplinary action? If the council has enough evidence to take disciplinary action against individuals (as Tim Rowkins seems to say), why on earth are the police not being mentioned by him. Surely the council has passed all evidence it has on to the police if it knows who individuals committing crime actually are so they can prosecute them.
This whole thing stinks. Still so many unanswered questions about how all this was left to just carry on for so long.
The “sabotage” relates to a broken-down vehicle that caught fire because it was left so long with a load of detritus which overheated and caught fire. The council have no evidence, just ask the police. No charges will be brought regarding alleged death threats or slashing of tyres. It’s all part of a sequence designed to deflect the true root of the problem, incompetence in management and oversight.
Sabotage is a very specific term that means an action was deliberate to cause damage. If what you’re saying is correct, that the vehicle damage was not deliberately caused, then Tim Rowkins should not be using that word really.
However, if he is correct and the damage was down to a deliberate act the police should be involved. Either way, if the council is blocking a lessons learnt exercise and still they refuse to look into accusations made against councillors, something is very wrong with it all – if there’s nothing to learn and no substance to the accusations made by both Doherty and the KC, then they shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
Can tell you now Rowkins is full of it as he’s not been seen on many rounds
Management needs a good clear out to be honest. A lot of people on nice salaries who don’t ever leave the office to see what’s going on, on the ground. Not all but a majority have been there far to long and really hate change. Blaming the staff is the play book of a manager who can’t manage.
The management are by in large incompetent and have little or no experience. They just recruited new managers mainly on a platonic basis not one based on suitability !
The KC report was a whitewash and complete obscene waste of money.
The police have zero proof of Sabotage, which in truth is rodent damage as the yard is full.of them….(the furry brown ones )
The place will never change all the time they have the same old faces making bad choices
If sabotage is happening that is NOT acceptable nor are ‘death threats” …although who is going to threaten somebody life over a £27k job ?
Stop blaming the foot soldiers and start looking at the top…..after all, a fish stinks from the head down , so the saying goes.
Just my opinion, other people may well take an alternative view.
Council services certainly are rubbish….