Power battle to run Brighton and Hove (From The Argus)

"the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"??
I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing.
I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport.
If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it.
There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go.
It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off.
Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced?
Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

The leaders from the smaller parties have a tiny mandate, even collectively they represent only a small minority so how can they realistically come out with statements like this :
Green leader Bill Randall added: "We believe these amendments better reflect what people in Brighton and Hove actually want."
and
Lib Dem leader Paul Elgood said: "The Conservative core strategy doesn't represent the city, it could be for any city in the country. We've tried to put back in issues we feel residents feel strongly about."
If they bother to read the comments on boards like this they will soon find their "beliefs" are only held by themselves, and not by the majority that are represented by the Conservatives. Many of the cycle lanes are under used and were a complete abuse of taxpayers money. The sooner the focus is put back on improving travel for all the people in Brighton instead of a younger, fitter minority the better.

So now we know. Vote Green, get Labour. vote Labour, get Lib Dem. Vote Lib Dem, get Green. They are all obsessed with control - you do what they say you will do. It's sheer bullying.

The point of councillors is to represent the views of the people they represent in council. If the conservatives do not let minority councillors represent their constituents, it is they who are at fault. We should celebrate the fact that these councillors have had the initiative and humility to work together to make comments and ammendments to what is a major undertaking - a city masterplan; the alternative is that a conservative completes it without any consultation - I know which I prefer.

The editorial comment below the photo says the three councillors have 'seized control' of the council, and that's the tenor of the article. Actually, all they have done is filed a series of policy amendments, which they are planning to support against the Conservatives' plan. That's called democracy, not a revolution.

Baffled by some of the comments on here regarding the "minority" parties. The whole reason that this has occurred is because the Tories are in the ones in a minority. They only have 26 seats, the rest have 28 between them, so, in our system these other parties represent the majority. The minority tories threw away the joint plan and refused to consult with the majority. This action by the other parties is called 'Democracy'. If you don't like it try moving to a country with a one party state.

The coalition has shown how little regard labour, lib-dems and greens have for democracy, and it is pathetic how they plan to effectively bring any much needed progress to a halt. All they will do is drive people away from their parties. I for one will not be voting for any of their parties at the next general election and would hope that other Brighton & Hove residents do the same.

Its quite simple vote Conservative in Brighton Kemptown, Simon Kirby; Brighton Pavilion, Charlotte Vere. & Hove, Mike Weatherley. Get a Tory Government and get rid of Labour.

so the power battles are the cause of the brownouts the centre of Brighton has been experiencing today?

The tory council has been left "powerless"..... when was it ever powerFUL ???

The current situation is of the Conservatives' own making.

They reufused for a long while to have a by-election in Goldsmid after their Councillor became occupied with other work. The growing, understandable demand for a by-election meant that, after national publicity about the situation, the pressure to hold a by-election became unavoidable. By this time, the feelings against the Conservative attitude had become all the greater, understandably enough, and led to a large Green majority. One which, moreover, could be a harbinger of further seats for the party in Hove.

The Conservatives lack the ability to see how their actions, and extremely unpleasant words, dismay people at large.

They should reconsider who in their party is allocated which position.

This is excellent! It's real democracy in action. A minority government out- voted by the majority. If the Tories can't offer anything to their opponents to encourage them into a coalition, then that's their problem. If there's something to make the minority parties act as one, all the better. Perhaps we should devise a way of putting it into our electoral system. We could call it say, proportional representation!

Nick Brighton wrote:
This is excellent! It's real democracy in action. A minority government out- voted by the majority. If the Tories can't offer anything to their opponents to encourage them into a coalition, then that's their problem. If there's something to make the minority parties act as one, all the better. Perhaps we should devise a way of putting it into our electoral system. We could call it say, proportional representation!

Shame it won't be used like that. The coalition between dumb, dumber and dumbest will only prevent any progress being made (apart from more bus lanes no doubt) until 2011. It is a shame they have the attitude that as they can't be trusted to govern by the electorate, they've decided to prevent anyone doing so. Toys out of the pram in the extreme - shame Brighton & Hove will suffer as a result of this coalitition. I'd expect this action from Labour as it is anti-democracy but it will do great harm to the image of the Green Party (Lib-dems have no image to lose).

The tail wagging the dog springs to mind.

quote Green leader Bill Randall added: "We believe these amendments better reflect what people in Brighton and Hove actually want."

but the people of brighton and hove did not vote for your group., you had your turn and messed it up, the roads are gridlocked and pollution has increased because of labours ridiculous anti car policy.

this is a good reason not to vote for these jealous and split parties and heaven help us if we have a hung parliament. building houses where owners are not allowed a car is a pathetic idea, isolating disabled buyers etc. maybe you could limit the emissions of the cars owned but not cars full stop.

it goes to show that the greens only have one policy and that is now a general policy of all other parties anyway, so a green vote is a wasted vote. as for labour look at the mess the country is in thanks to the last 12 years, and lib dems they lost the plot long time ago, now mansion tax, cuckoo.

Mr Pickwick wrote:
So now we know. Vote Green, get Labour. vote Labour, get Lib Dem. Vote Lib Dem, get Green. They are all obsessed with control - you do what they say you will do. It's sheer bullying.

101% correct Mr Pickwick.

They all WANT power. The words COUNCIL and POWER go together.
EVERYONE who works in administration for the council THINK they have POWER. It has always been like that, it is now and always will be. End of ......

Alison Smith wrote:
Its quite simple vote Conservative in Brighton Kemptown, Simon Kirby; Brighton Pavilion, Charlotte Vere. & Hove, Mike Weatherley. Get a Tory Government and get rid of Labour.

In reality Ms Smith, in your heart of hearts, you know that the Tories are not capable of organising a Whiskey tasting competition in a distillery!

I beg to differ, we'd even have a raffle!

Nick Brighton wrote:
This is excellent! It's real democracy in action. A minority government out- voted by the majority. If the Tories can't offer anything to their opponents to encourage them into a coalition, then that's their problem. If there's something to make the minority parties act as one, all the better. Perhaps we should devise a way of putting it into our electoral system. We could call it say, proportional representation!

These Conservative megamouths commenting above just can't get over the fact that the vast majority of people in the city who voted in council elections last time didn't want a Tory council.

They also can't cope with the fact that the Tories lost a council seat to the Greens in Hove after the Tory absentee councillor resigned.

If the Conservatives are so wonderful how come real voters chucked them out in the Goldsmid by-election?

I think it's great the other parties are working together.

It's called democracy and the Tories just don't like it.

Voice of Unreason wrote:
"the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

Totally agree with you. These idiots are driving people away from local city shopping to other towns. Absolute T@SSERS.

Anyone wanna by my name?

Elgood has now proved what we all know a lib/Lab pact is the only way the Liberals will ever be near power in this city, I thin k this is good news as it will wake people up to the danger voting Labour, Green, or Libdums will do come next June when the un-elected Gormless brown is dragged kicking and screaming to the election box

Voice of Unreason wrote:
"the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

Totally agree with you. These idiots are driving people away from local city shopping to other towns. Absolute T@SSERS.

When are you two throwbacks going to realise if we all have big 4x4s we will eventually just have a huge tarmacked carpark by the sea with a every road in permanent gridlock. What you're saying is you want the freedom to be selfish at everyone else's expense. Sorry. No longer. You're the minority. So please, don't stay here, don't drive into the city: one less self indulgent petrol head.

whoever runs Brighton council must look after the people first and be straight and honest, without lwatching for their personal agendas. The Consevatives don't hack it. Sorry Mary's mob?....P off!

Whoever runs Brighton Council must put the people first, and not their personal agendas. Total honesty is now the demand of the people. Sorry Mary's Mob. Time to go?

Voice of Unreason wrote:
"the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"??
I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing.
I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport.
If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it.
There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go.
It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off.
Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced?
Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

if you never give up your car, then you will be the one sitting in the queues, watching the public transport sail by. i'm sure you won't be missed. i will agree, however, that car parking is far too expensive, which is the exact reason i use the bus. the city is getting clogged up with cars, all queueing up for the car parks. if the administration, whoever it may be, really wants to help the city, then they need to authorise the building of park and ride sites round the outskirts, with dedicated bus lanes in and out. for good examples of this practice, see york, cambridge or oxford.. until the city does something, you will all just grind to a halt.

davyboy wrote:

Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

if you never give up your car, then you will be the one sitting in the queues, watching the public transport sail by. i'm sure you won't be missed. i will agree, however, that car parking is far too expensive, which is the exact reason i use the bus. the city is getting clogged up with cars, all queueing up for the car parks. if the administration, whoever it may be, really wants to help the city, then they need to authorise the building of park and ride sites round the outskirts, with dedicated bus lanes in and out. for good examples of this practice, see york, cambridge or oxford.. until the city does something, you will all just grind to a halt.

Agree with most of your comment except it needs to be one bid Park & ride with atram or monorail in and around the city

Would not vote for any of them.
All are just lining their pockets.
See how many would stay if they had to do this with out pay.

davyboy wrote:

Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

if you never give up your car, then you will be the one sitting in the queues, watching the public transport sail by. i'm sure you won't be missed. i will agree, however, that car parking is far too expensive, which is the exact reason i use the bus. the city is getting clogged up with cars, all queueing up for the car parks. if the administration, whoever it may be, really wants to help the city, then they need to authorise the building of park and ride sites round the outskirts, with dedicated bus lanes in and out. for good examples of this practice, see york, cambridge or oxford.. until the city does something, you will all just grind to a halt.

There isn't even the slightest suggestion of any of what you say happening in the forseeable future.
The buses are plainly too expensive, when it costs me less to drive into town and park for 15 mins, than the extortionate bus fare.
My suspicion is that they don't want to lose the revenue from the motorist, hence the total lack of action re park and ride, and the bus fares not being reduced to encourage people onto the buses.
Mind you, all the while they allow drunks and druggies onto the buses even when they are obviously drunk or 'out of it' I will not be giving up my car.
If it gets as bad as you suggest it might I just won't go into the centre of Brighton at all. I really won't be missing much.

The plan is a complete waste of time anyway so what difference will changes make. Nothing ever happens in Brighton except allowing the city to deteriorate. They should forget their grand plans and just concentrate on one project at a time and get it implemented. Since the country is now bancrupt nothing will get done for years.

Voice of Unreason wrote:

davyboy wrote:

Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening.

if you never give up your car, then you will be the one sitting in the queues, watching the public transport sail by. i'm sure you won't be missed. i will agree, however, that car parking is far too expensive, which is the exact reason i use the bus. the city is getting clogged up with cars, all queueing up for the car parks. if the administration, whoever it may be, really wants to help the city, then they need to authorise the building of park and ride sites round the outskirts, with dedicated bus lanes in and out. for good examples of this practice, see york, cambridge or oxford.. until the city does something, you will all just grind to a halt.

There isn't even the slightest suggestion of any of what you say happening in the forseeable future.
The buses are plainly too expensive, when it costs me less to drive into town and park for 15 mins, than the extortionate bus fare.
My suspicion is that they don't want to lose the revenue from the motorist, hence the total lack of action re park and ride, and the bus fares not being reduced to encourage people onto the buses.
Mind you, all the while they allow drunks and druggies onto the buses even when they are obviously drunk or 'out of it' I will not be giving up my car.
If it gets as bad as you suggest it might I just won't go into the centre of Brighton at all. I really won't be missing much.

in all my use of the buses in brighton, i vaer rarely see drunks and druggies, except in the evenings. as a bus driver, there is very little you can do to stop them, as you are not authorised to leave your cab, or confront them. you can call for back-up, which will arrive asap, and refuse to move the vehicle, but you may well then be putting other passengers at risk. as an ex-employee of B&H buses, i am fully aware of what goes on, and how drivers are spoken to, and also what can be done to alleviate these situations. park and ride will appear, but not in the form required by a big city. the council will never agree to build what is needed, only what they, not the voters who put them there, want.

I don't care, providing that they actually do stuff to benefit the city rather than themselves or thier 'mates'.

(sorry, was having a funny five mins, what was I thinking!)

I really do think a lot of those that leave comments on the argus pages would be surprised if they actually ever met any of their councillors. The vast majority of local councillors work very hard, doing what they believe is in the best interests for the city. Being a city councillor is for most councillors, a full-time job, which when you consider the basic allowance, as set by an independent body, is little more than the minimum wage, you may realise that being a councillor is far from 'having your head in the trough'. The problem for councillors, who often have very difficult decisions to make, is that the public are very good at saying what they don't want, but very rarely what they do want; but I'm fairly confident that any decent councillor (which I'm sure B&H have at least some) would be happy to listen to any suggestions you might have. How many of you have ever tried approaching your councillor to do so?

hawksmoor wrote:
Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening. Totally agree with you. These idiots are driving people away from local city shopping to other towns. Absolute T@SSERS. When are you two throwbacks going to realise if we all have big 4x4s we will eventually just have a huge tarmacked carpark by the sea with a every road in permanent gridlock. What you're saying is you want the freedom to be selfish at everyone else's expense. Sorry. No longer. You're the minority. So please, don't stay here, don't drive into the city: one less self indulgent petrol head.

You muppet. I happen to have a very low emission diesel car. I agreed with the post because the motorists is getting screwed over, every which way that the govenment can get away with. People are choosing to shop elsewhere because of the rip off prices that you are charged to park and the rip off bus fares that Mr French and his cronies choose to charge. Dont judge me and its a free world and i am allowed my opinion MUPPET

Ken dodds dads dog died wrote:

hawksmoor wrote: Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening. Totally agree with you. These idiots are driving people away from local city shopping to other towns. Absolute T@SSERS. When are you two throwbacks going to realise if we all have big 4x4s we will eventually just have a huge tarmacked carpark by the sea with a every road in permanent gridlock. What you're saying is you want the freedom to be selfish at everyone else's expense. Sorry. No longer. You're the minority. So please, don't stay here, don't drive into the city: one less self indulgent petrol head.

You muppet. I happen to have a very low emission diesel car. I agreed with the post because the motorists is getting screwed over, every which way that the govenment can get away with. People are choosing to shop elsewhere because of the rip off prices that you are charged to park and the rip off bus fares that Mr French and his cronies choose to charge. Dont judge me and its a free world and i am allowed my opinion MUPPET

Even hear in Belarus the UK is known as "RIP OFF BRITON" So I agree with you.
May I sugest vote with your feet, as I and so many others have.
Look at the stats.

The worry to this story is i would expect to see this happen if the Tories win the next general election. As for councils why exactly do we need them. We already have central goverment, Euro mps & the European Union telling towns/cities what they can or cannot do so in my mind they are another expense we could do without. As for Brighton being pro-car its a nice little income earner, who do you think gets all that parking p&d machines & parking fines revenue!

Ken dodds dads dog died wrote:

hawksmoor wrote: Voice of Unreason wrote: "the Tories' "pro-car" policies......"?? I'm sorry, but you must be living in a different city to me. I see the motorist being hounded and ripped off at every turn by the Tory administration. If this coalition is to legislate against the motorist even more, then they don't have my backing. I will never, ever give up my car, and I will never, ever use public transport. If that means that I never drive into the city because it's too expensive, then so be it. There are other towns not too far away that welcome the motorist, and that's where I'll go. It almost makes me want to to buy a 4x4 with a massive engine just to p1ss them off. Housing developments that ban the tenants from owning cars? How the hell is that going to be enforced? Smacks of Stalinist state intervention to me. Next they will recruiting the neighbours to spy on each other...... oh, sorry, that's already happening. Totally agree with you. These idiots are driving people away from local city shopping to other towns. Absolute T@SSERS. When are you two throwbacks going to realise if we all have big 4x4s we will eventually just have a huge tarmacked carpark by the sea with a every road in permanent gridlock. What you're saying is you want the freedom to be selfish at everyone else's expense. Sorry. No longer. You're the minority. So please, don't stay here, don't drive into the city: one less self indulgent petrol head.

You muppet. I happen to have a very low emission diesel car. I agreed with the post because the motorists is getting screwed over, every which way that the govenment can get away with. People are choosing to shop elsewhere because of the rip off prices that you are charged to park and the rip off bus fares that Mr French and his cronies choose to charge. Dont judge me and its a free world and i am allowed my opinion MUPPET

I'm no throwback. I also drive a small car with low emission- a Corsa.
But I still have to pay the same amount to park in Brighton whether I have a Corsa or a Range Rover. The buses are so expensive that it's cheaper to drive. And if you did decide to use the bus, especially in the evening, you may very well have to put up with all manner of anti social idiots and their drunken behaviour.
Until those problems are addressed I will NOT be using the bus. End of.

You think you're being screwed over because you continue to adopt a mode of transport which is inefficient, polluting and selfish, however green you "think" your vehicle is. It uses space, pollutes and emits carbon. Look around you. There isn't enough room for pedestrians, let alone cars. This is a city not some middle American suburb. We have to share the space. You're demanding far more than is fair. So get out of your car and stop being an anti social muppet. PS Mad comments from Utopian Belarus aren't even worth answering.

This is a destructive political alliance between small people with big egos.

All Liberal policies are based on tax and spend. Labour policies speak for themselves.

Note, where Liberal Democrats are in charge and controlling Councils - they mismanage to an unbelievable level. Here is just one example. God help the residents when they start getting their Council Tax bills !!

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