Opposition coalition force Brighton and Hove Tories to change city masterplan (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Opposition coalition force Brighton and Hove Tories to change city masterplan
11:31pm Thursday 10th December 2009 in
Brighton and Hove City Council’s Conservative leadership was tonight forced to concede dramatic changes to its masterplan for the city.
As reported in The Argus this morning, Labour, Green and Lib Dem councillors united for the first time to force through a string of changes to the Core Strategy – the blueprint directing development, transport and the economy until 2026.
The electorate has never voted for a rainbow coalition. What you are doing is irresponsible and disrespectful to the residents of this city.”
Mary Mears
The electorate has never voted for a rainbow coalition. What you are doing is irresponsible and disrespectful to the residents of this city.”
Mary Mears
Key amendments include:
• a commitment to reducing car use and pollution in the city
• the housing target for Brighton Marina and the gasworks shifted to 2,000
• work to transform Valley Gardens into a large park.
During a marathon seven-hour meeting at Brighton Town Hall, punctuated by bitter exchanges between councillors, the combined opposition parties forced through dozens of changes transforming the Tory city vision into their own.
Around 50 of the 90 amendments were eventually agreed by the Conservatives, after a 90 minute adjournment while the party leaders brokered last minute consensus, only for the party to abstain from the final overall vote on the document – effectively disowning a plan they had spent two years working on.
The remaining 40 changes were forced through by the combined opposition, who have held the ability to outvote the Conservatives by 28 to 26 since a Green by-election win in July.
Conservative leader Mary Mears had opened the debate by criticising the actions of the opposition.
Coun Mears said: “We were elected in May 2007 with a mandate to run this city. We should be allowed to get on and deliver the policies which we stood on and which a large part of the electorate. The electorate has never voted for a rainbow coalition.
“What you are doing is irresponsible and disrespectful to the residents of this city.”
She was backed by Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, cabinet member for environment and transport, who said the amendments could have “come out of Moscow” because of the way they had routinely removed the word “choice” from the masterplan.
He attacked the opposition’s attempt to encourage people not to use cars, referred to as “modal shift”, rather than the Tory policy of “modal choice”, intended to let people choose.
During the debate rival councillors accused the Conservatives of allowing the city to get into a malaise and burying their heads in the sand over issues of climate change.
After the meeting councillor Bill Randall, the Green Party convenor, said: “This is a significant moment. There are some important issues which have now gone into the core strategy, particularly over transport.”
Labour leader Gill Mitchell added: “It was great to see opposition parties unite on this occasion to put politics aside and just get the job done.”
What Brighton's blogs are saying
Green councillor Jason Kitcat's take on last night's meeting.
Paul Elgood says the city will look different now.
Comments(43)
bug eye
says...
12:39am Fri 11 Dec 09
Totally Provincial
says...
1:06am Fri 11 Dec 09
bug eye wrote:Complete hogwash! The Conservatives don't control the Council precisely because the City DIDN'T vote in sufficient numbers for a Tory-run Council. More people voted Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green combined than will ever vote Tory in Brighton & Hove, so the consensus between those three parties is more obviously in keeping with democratic will of the people than a minority Tory administration that garnered only a minority of votes could ever be.
I agree it was irrresponsible and disrespectful of the other parties to residents, who voted to change the council to be tory run, to interfer and bully in such a way, and the failures of the last administration show the city did not like their policies. car use reduction has already taken place but there are many members of society who need and rely on cars, and this bullying and dictatorship of the lib lab green coalition will turn people against them, its nasty and this is how they would run the city if they every got back in, they have shown their true colours in time before an election, greens the one trick pony, the others just nasty jealous and out of ideas.
lumen
says...
4:53am Fri 11 Dec 09
I'm sure they are preening themselves and getting drunk on mutual congratulation and cheap fizz. Roll on the next council election when we can hopefully rid our city of this vermin and re-establish democracy.
LB
says...
7:22am Fri 11 Dec 09
What you appear to require is rule by people who would do exactly what you want, which is not the same thing at all.
stan bailey
says...
7:25am Fri 11 Dec 09
Rock_UK
says...
8:14am Fri 11 Dec 09
lumen wrote:10 December will go down in Brighton's history as a day of pride, when a bunch of democrats joined forces to snatch the reins of power
10 December 2009 will go down in Brighton's history as a day of shame, when a bunch of arrogant extremists joined forces to snatch the reins of power from the people. I'm sure they are preening themselves and getting drunk on mutual congratulation and cheap fizz. Roll on the next council election when we can hopefully rid our city of this vermin and re-establish democracy.
from the arrogant extremist tories, who despite being in a minority, tried to ignore the wishes of the democratically elected majority.
Andy R
says...
8:29am Fri 11 Dec 09
Way to go Paul!
The "arrogance" is all on the side of the Tories - arrogance and hubris. They left Lainchbury in place to drive through their agenda. Despite their thin majority they proceded to monoplise power and marginalise the other parties. Then when the by-election could not be put off any longer, the electorate of a once solid Tory ward punished them and in so doing took away their majority.
What happened yesterday was democracy reasserting itself.
Charismatic Andrew
says...
8:59am Fri 11 Dec 09
Charismatic Andrew
says...
8:59am Fri 11 Dec 09
voiceofthescoombe
says...
9:17am Fri 11 Dec 09
Brighton is not tory, labour, green or communist.
much like the country so instead of trying to drive grand schemes that have little support do less radical stuff that will work and try to reach consenus.
Might seem weak hippy-poo but more likely to gather real results in the real world.
If we are talking real democracy unlike me most people in brighton did'nt bother to vote so none of the above won a mandate think about that before you come up with some clever plan
Living in the real world
says...
9:29am Fri 11 Dec 09
Why are the people of Brighton & Hove so badly served by these useless, ineffective, self serving,has beens who dont seen to be able to run a p1ss up in a brewey or even get a string of lights to work in a christmas tree
SussexBoy
says...
9:39am Fri 11 Dec 09
A.Wiseman
says...
10:31am Fri 11 Dec 09
The combined opposition were correct to step in as they could. If more people disagreed then they can vote against. Its called democracy.
salty_pete
says...
10:35am Fri 11 Dec 09
Living in the real world
says...
10:42am Fri 11 Dec 09
SussexBoy wrote:Neutral? i don't think so......
As a neutral observer, it's hard not to notice how those in favour of the action by the Lab/Lib/Greens point out that these parties represent the majority of council wards, whilst those in favour of the minority Tories just whine and stamp their feet.
Christophe Hawtree
says...
10:52am Fri 11 Dec 09
The Full Council is now the only place at which Councillors can make themselves felt - and this time did so sensationally.
The new Chief Executive must be wondering what will happen next. I should think it quite likely the Conservatives will choose a new Leader in May even though there is only a year then until the Elections which quite liekly bring another hung Council.
Andy R
says...
10:54am Fri 11 Dec 09
Living in the real world wrote:True though....
SussexBoy wrote: As a neutral observer, it's hard not to notice how those in favour of the action by the Lab/Lib/Greens point out that these parties represent the majority of council wards, whilst those in favour of the minority Tories just whine and stamp their feet.Neutral? i don't think so......
The Tories don't have a majority of people's votes and (largely through their own fault) they don't have an overall majority of council seats anymore. They and their supporters can moan all they want, but that's just the way it is.
colavey
says...
10:57am Fri 11 Dec 09
bug eye
says...
11:48am Fri 11 Dec 09
colavey wrote:you could say the same for the labour government and most other councils and europe, but that is how democracy works. rarely does any party get more than 50% of the vote so any winner even tony blairs romp was still a minority of the electorate. these whining coalitioners are just bitter, and dont forget gordon brown did not even give us a vote for him to lead the country or to enter into the european constitution, thats labours idea of democracy.
Strange I thought the job of the opposition was in its name, and apart from that, the size of the combined opposition tells a different story, more people voted not to have a Tory council.
Rock_UK
says...
1:06pm Fri 11 Dec 09
bug eye wrote:Yes but all that was also true when the Tories had 27 seats, but I didn't notice any Tories complaining then about what percentage of the electorate that actually represented. Prior to May, the council was ruled by consensus. After the Tories their gained their 27 seats (50% of those available) they chose to ignore consensus politics and the views of the other 27 councillors. If they had not done so they would not be in this mess. Arguably, having a minority administration is good for democracy because it prevents parties taking a dictatorial approach.
colavey wrote: Strange I thought the job of the opposition was in its name, and apart from that, the size of the combined opposition tells a different story, more people voted not to have a Tory council.you could say the same for the labour government and most other councils and europe, but that is how democracy works. rarely does any party get more than 50% of the vote so any winner even tony blairs romp was still a minority of the electorate. these whining coalitioners are just bitter, and dont forget gordon brown did not even give us a vote for him to lead the country or to enter into the european constitution, thats labours idea of democracy.
GaryS9
says...
1:08pm Fri 11 Dec 09
Tye
says...
1:22pm Fri 11 Dec 09
If the tories had a "mandate" then surely they'd have a majority of councillors meaning they could implement what they want -
I'd just point out to those green idiots -If cars were allowed to travel at a decent speed without stopping for traffic queues, lights etc etc then the air would be cleaner!
Harriet Taylor
says...
1:24pm Fri 11 Dec 09
notaconspiracy
says...
1:40pm Fri 11 Dec 09
We don't want you to vote, or act, for your party, but for for all of US! If you can't work as part of a council, then quit!
sussexone
says...
1:47pm Fri 11 Dec 09
I couldn't care less which party is in control, it seems more like petty party politics to me!
Maybe they all ought to grow up and stop being so childish?
EBiscuit
says...
1:56pm Fri 11 Dec 09
.
We are on the verge of a whole new exciting era of renewable energy, and all this "global warming catastrophe" stuff is going to look really foolish in 50 years time.
.
The fact is ALL the big corporations have woken up to the impending energy crisis, and they are looking at this very VERY seriously - whether as energy consumers (eg manufacturers) or as energy producers.
.
And when big corporations seriously decide to do stuff, things tend to happen very quickly, and the world changes.
.
As an example, I used to work at a large US semiconductor company in Horsham (now sadly shut and gone somewhere else much cheaper!). It so happens that the technology that produces semiconductors is similar to that needed to make solar panels. This is a $10bn corporation I'm talking about here - not massive in the global scheme of things, but not small. They, along with many other bigger and smaller companies, realised some years ago that there is serious, BIG money to be made in this business, and so have bet the proverbial corporate "mortgage" on it. And they will be successful. In this particular case, their track record suggests no other possible outcome - everything they touch seems to turn to gold.
.
Course, the greens don't like telling you any of this stuff, as it tends to kind of derail their "global village" agenda, but what else would you expect? So they'll keep peddling the FUD stuff about the end of the world "unless something is done, and this is banned and that's stopped, and you pay more", and meanwhile the real problem will get sorted out as it always has: by technology and big business.
.
Be in no doubt, by maybe 2020 or certainly 2025, nearly all vehicles on the road will be hybrid, hydrogen or electrical (It's already starting: the state of California has already put some targets in place I believe, for new cars), so what will the car and plane-haters come up with then?
.
As for the story itself, why worry? This is this week's stratgey. If you don't like it, just wait, there'll be another one along soon...
Angela Taylor
says...
2:30pm Fri 11 Dec 09
andyelevator
says...
2:32pm Fri 11 Dec 09
I think you would do well to remember that this is the process that got your party elected and that "throwing yours toys out of the cot" when things do not go your way is a little sad!!!
RickH
says...
2:40pm Fri 11 Dec 09
Rock_UK wrote:The root of the problem no doubt - sounds bit like the Tories have brought this upon themselves.
bug eye wrote:Yes but all that was also true when the Tories had 27 seats, but I didn't notice any Tories complaining then about what percentage of the electorate that actually represented. Prior to May, the council was ruled by consensus. After the Tories their gained their 27 seats (50% of those available) they chose to ignore consensus politics and the views of the other 27 councillors. If they had not done so they would not be in this mess. Arguably, having a minority administration is good for democracy because it prevents parties taking a dictatorial approach.colavey wrote: Strange I thought the job of the opposition was in its name, and apart from that, the size of the combined opposition tells a different story, more people voted not to have a Tory council.you could say the same for the labour government and most other councils and europe, but that is how democracy works. rarely does any party get more than 50% of the vote so any winner even tony blairs romp was still a minority of the electorate. these whining coalitioners are just bitter, and dont forget gordon brown did not even give us a vote for him to lead the country or to enter into the european constitution, thats labours idea of democracy.
Thumper Hove
says...
3:05pm Fri 11 Dec 09
Warren Morgan
says...
3:32pm Fri 11 Dec 09
The debate was cut short last night so that the four parties could do what they should have done months ago, sit down round a table and work out some common ground on how development in the city can be framed and managed. Prior to the meeting the Tories refused to do this, saying they are in charge and it is up to them what happens. It's true that they are the largest single group and hold all 10 cabinet posts which make 90% of the decisions on the council, but as a minority administration they ought to work with all councillors on major items like the Core Strategy or the Budget. Otherwise the opposition parties will work together when and where there is common ground - despite our differences - to ensure that the council represents the range of views across the city, not just a Conservative minority.
yorkie44
says...
4:50pm Fri 11 Dec 09
K. Ross
says...
6:40pm Fri 11 Dec 09
bug eye
says...
9:13pm Fri 11 Dec 09
we are a tourist city and jobs rely on that and unfortunately that means transport, usually cars, and as well know they are more efficient now and will be 100% more eco friendly in the near future, so why ruin the infrastructure like the we ruined the railways and tram lines. a vision for the future should be just that, not point scoring now, with the greens one policy politics joined by a desperate labour lib dem shambles. the world will turn to renewables because it has to and will be led by big business not spoilt brats wanting their own way. tories have the balance of green thinking in perspective to a city that has many other needs. our bus lanes have caused more congestion and pollution and we are purely a leisure cycling city, so its green technology that needs working on especially cars as they are here to stay, carrots not sticks.
Dumbton
says...
3:07am Sat 12 Dec 09
I'm no supporter of Mrs Mears or the Tories, not a supporter of any of them, they're all mostly self serving but when the choice of the people is being created for them, like a street of sweet shops that only sell mars bars or marathons it does p me off just a little. Having said that all this nonsense is entertaining I must confess, even more entertaining is the reactions of the electorate to such scandal. It really is a big joke and if your not laughing at yourself for voting for these monkeys then you really need to re-evaluate your thought processes. Its like a national candid camera, 'twas very popular but I suppose not for the victims, so I can understand the lack of jovial sentiment. Anyway welcome to reality however you choose to interact with it.
Brighton is increasingly becoming a conformist follower of the mainstream, losing all its individual flare and independent culture and becoming shrouded in the agendas of the political classes. Its sickly to see this town under so much centralized influence and the citizens so compliant. I suppose the whole country is a bit that way but Brighton used to be different.
Democracy is dead, live with it!
Voice of Unreason
says...
7:24am Sat 12 Dec 09
Voice of Unreason
says...
9:18am Sat 12 Dec 09
Actually, given that this is democracy at work - that is exactly what they did vote for.
What they didn't vote for was a council run by the Tories - as they have no overall majority.
And let's not forget that a very large slice of the electorate are so fed up with politics that they didn't vote for anyone.
That's what all politicians should be worrying about.
Voice of Unreason
says...
9:22am Sat 12 Dec 09
yorkie44 wrote:Absolutely right. I seem to remember that a new labour pledge in 1997 was for proportional representation to be brought in.
The comments from Mary Mears show what a dreadful woman she is, and I assume her fellow Tory councillors can be added to the list. However, I have no doubt that if it was any of the other parties in her position they would be saying just the same. This shows the problem with party politics and our electoral system. The parties just argue and it is always the voters who suffer. We need a different electoral system, an end to party politics and politicians who can prove that they are working for our benefit.
Funny how when a party comes to power, they seem to forget some of the 'awkward' manifesto pledges.
BrightonJax
says...
11:46am Sat 12 Dec 09
Dumbton
says...
3:56pm Sat 12 Dec 09
BrightonJax wrote:Presuming there is any real difference in ideology otherwise its just about money and power and not standards and ethics and therefore no difference between any of them, just a pantomime. Pointless!
The Tories didn't get an overall majority, so the people didn't give them a mandate to force through anything they please, it's what democracy is about.
So much promise, so little purpose, Brighton died long ago.
Alison Smith
says...
5:32pm Sun 13 Dec 09
Gubbins
says...
9:28am Wed 16 Dec 09
I would also add, wherever the Lib-Dems have held any real influence, 'tax and spend' is the order of the day. This has led to poor administration in most councils where they have held control. Here's a nearby example for Brighton folk to ponder over Christmas:
http://oneplace.dire
ct.gov.uk/infobyarea
/region/area/localor
ganisations/organisa
tion/pages/default.a
spx?region=57&area=3
44&orgId=1187
More News stories
- Updated: Gatwick Station death man "was tasered"
- Video: Motorcyclist dies after Brighton bus crash
- Price hike for Brighton and Hove football fields
- Call to save Sussex high streets
- East Sussex approves £19m budget cuts
- Sussex hospital battles infectious bug
- Threat to Hove Park badgers
- Mum launches allergy charity in son's memory
- Project to plant 1,000 elm trees in Brighton and Hove
- Video: Brighton is best for independent music
Most popular
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
dpgsussex says...
11:55pm Thu 10 Dec 09