- Brighton and Hove City Council had to do a u-turn on a ban on weedkiller
- They also had a scrap plans to introduce a Low Traffic Neighbourhood
- Homeless flock to the city due to easy access to Class A drugs
Brighton and Hove City Council has been slammed for ploughing money into failed ‘pet projects’ while residents rage over potholes, overflowing bins and drug-fuelled homelessness.
The seaside resort’s tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stunning seafront promenade have attracted day trippers from London and visitors from farther afield for centuries.
The bohemian seaside town is also a hub for artists with Zoe Ball, Fatboy Slim, Adele, Steve Coogan and Cate Blanchett all calling it home at some stage.
But residents say the once-beautiful seaside resort is a shadow of its former self, ruined by a council – which has announced it will increase tax – that has wasted money on pet projects like banning weedkiller and a futile Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme.
Litter, graffiti, uncollected bins, a huge homeless problem, potholes and a city-wide weed infestation are just a few of the things residents are enraged
And it doesn’t look like the problems are going away anytime soon as the council recently announced cuts to services and savings worth £30million.
Add complaints of open drug dealing, the constant smell of cannabis in the air, vandalism and fly-tipping and you get the sense of a crumbling city.
Now the Labour administration has announced a 4.99 per cent rise in council tax, the maximum increase councils are allowed to impose without holding a referendum.
They are also cutting services to the tune of £30million after council leader Bella Sankey said the authority’s finances were in an ‘extremely perilous position’.
Residents have been left in poverty by the cuts and increase in tax at a time of a cost-of-living crisis.
Labour seized overall power of the council last May and in the last six months has been forced into making embarrassing U-turns on several policies it supported while the council was run by the Greens.
A ban on glyphosate-based weedkiller in 2019 has had to be ditched after the city’s streets became infested with weeds.
The council also shelved a LTN scheme after residents and businesses in the proposed area near the city centre complained.
While it rowed back on plans to shut almost all of the resort’s public toilets after locals and visitors led a major backlash.
Jan Turner, who is a long-time Brighton resident, said: ‘These are the ills that affect lots of cities but are made much, much worse in Brighton by the council ploughing money into crazy pet projects.
‘The waste of money by the city council is shocking. They have thrown it at ridiculous initiatives that haven’t worked and completely ignored our essential services.’
Recently Ms Turner, who is disabled and drives a VW Caddy mobility vehicle, hit a giant pothole which almost caused her to crash and damaged her car.
‘It cost me almost £400 to repair,’ she said. ‘But that’s not the point. The danger to road users and pedestrians from these potholes is very real. I see cars swerving all over the place trying to avoid these holes.’
Lynn-Ora Knot, 69, agrees. She has ridden a bike since she was a child and is now thinking of giving it up.
‘It’s too dangerous,’ she said. ‘The roads have become an assault course for cars and cyclists due to the severity of the potholes.
‘If you hit any one of a number of potholes in this city it could cost you your life. Trying to avoid these gigantic holes while on your bike is a real mission.
‘It’s not helped by the fact the roads have been damaged by weeds and plants which had been left to grow out of control.’
The ban on glyphosate-based weed killer led to an explosion of weeds on pavements and roads, which left many pedestrianised areas impassable during the summer.
Conservative councillor, Ivan Lyons, condemned the council saying the city looked like a ‘pig sty’ with ‘people tripping and getting injured’.
He said the policy discriminated against the elderly and the less abled, who had a right to expect public thoroughfares to be cleared of dangerous obstructions.
Laura King, a campaigner, said: ‘The weeds got out of control and then, to add insult to injury, the council tried to get residents to weed their own streets for free. It was so ridiculous.’
After causing up to £60m worth of damage to roads and pavements and making the city look scruffy and unloved the council has, in the last few weeks, ditched the policy.
Brighton and Hove also has a major drug-fuelled homeless crisis and has the fourth highest rate of homelessness in the UK, according to homeless charity Shelter
Outside of London, Luton has the highest rate of homelessness with one in 65 people homeless, one in 74 people are homeless in Manchester, followed by Brighton and Hove where one in 78 people are homeless.
The council has recently cracked down on the number of people living in tents on the city streets in a bid to tackle the problem.
But John, who has worked with homeless charities, said: ‘They’re just sweeping it under the carpet. There is no new money to support these people – it’s just cosmetic.’
He said many homeless people who had addiction problems came to the city for the ease of access to Class A drugs.
One resident said: ‘The drug problem just does not seem to be policed in this city. You see open drug dealing all over the place and you can’t walk across the city without being enveloped in a cloud of cannabis smoke – the city is famous for it.’
While the city has a reputation for graffiti artists producing high-quality murals, the city is also plagued with taggers and vandals.
A recent renovation of a children’s park was halted after taggers vandalised the new play equipment and toilets causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
‘The council needs to tackle the tagging and unwanted graffiti problem in this city,’ said one mother. ‘It’s out of control and there’s no point in installing new equipment for children if it’s only going to get damaged.’
As well as having one of the worst recycling records in Britain, the seaside resort also has a litter problem.
Disputes between the council and the refuse service, CityClean, are common and resident’s bins and recycling often go uncollected.
Public rubbish bins are often left overflowing into the streets for the seagulls to pick over and further scatter.
Ellie Dean, 25, who was visiting Brighton from London this week, said: ‘It’s a bit of a mess to be honest. It looks horrible.
‘I saw a seagull tearing into a baby’s soiled nappy. Why can’t they empty the bins?’
A cut in central government funding coupled with a soaring demand for services has left councils across Britain struggling to balance their budgets.
The council says that due to increasing costs and demands it has to make £30m in cuts and savings for the financial year 2024/25.
It has scrapped a bus route, slashed funding for a domestic violence support service and axed dozens of council positions.
However, the council says the savings prevented cuts to frontline services, including public toilets and libraries.
Council leader, Cllr Bella Sankey, said: ‘Central government funding simply hasn’t kept pace with the growing demand and high inflationary costs of meeting the needs of our local community and a sustainable future funding solution is needed.’
Many residents in the city feel the cuts will only exacerbate the problems in Brighton and Hove.
‘The city appears unloved,’ said Jan Turner. ‘I just hope some common sense will prevail and the council will stop wasting what little money it has.’
Back in 2016, the 530ft tall and 13ft wide Brighton i360 tower, which transports tourists in a doughnut-shaped pod to the summit, was opened.
Eight years later, the company that operates the tower failed to pay back the £36million the council lent to build the attraction. Documents show the company owes the council £50million due to the interest accrued.
Conservative councillors have also railed against an anti-racism strategy which was introduced in Brighton’s school in 2021.
Primary and secondary school teachers have been receiving training to deliver ‘specific racial literacy-focused lessons’ that endorse Critical Race Theory and ‘white privilege’ as part of the scheme.
The Tory councillors have called on the council to withdraw £104,000 from the controversial initiative.
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Dan Grennan
