Brighton and Hove opposition unite to defeat Tory budget (From The Argus)
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Brighton and Hove opposition unite to defeat Tory budget
5:00am Friday 4th March 2011 in News By Tim Ridgway
Election lines have been drawn as opposition councillors united to overturn the ruling Tories' budget plans.
Police had to be called into the chamber to marshal the marathon meeting which last night saw Brighton and Hove City Council's Conservative administration forced to accept their rivals plans in how to slash £34 million from its budget.
At the centre of the arguments was a pot of £765 million which will fund key services such as schools, street sweepers, libraries and elderly care for the next year.
Key to the Tory plans was a 1% cut to council tax, a 5% drop in parking permits and spending up to £1.1 million on removing a cycle lane in Hove.
Rivals described it as a cynical ploy to win over the electorate ahead of May's crucial local elections, and voted to scrap the ruling party's headline-grabbing proposals.
Don't miss today's Argus for a full report and pictures of the dramatic meeting.
Have your say on what the decision could mean for the local election below.
Comments(33)
tpebop...
says...
1:20pm Thu 3 Mar 11
The Baron Pepperpot
says...
8:46pm Thu 3 Mar 11
tpebop...
says...
10:55pm Thu 3 Mar 11
The Baron Pepperpot wrote:Smart quote
Well that's resolved the issue then....
TheInsider
says...
7:02am Fri 4 Mar 11
Thirty four years on the council list was surely enough time to save for a mortgage at a pound a week.
Plantpot
says...
8:46am Fri 4 Mar 11
As someone once said, Socialism works only until someone else's money runs out.
mothy
says...
9:37am Fri 4 Mar 11
I agree the level of decent employers &subsequent wages is shockingly poor in the city.
Plantpot
says...
9:53am Fri 4 Mar 11
mothy wrote:I am under the impression that the main areas of council finance are:
Plant pot. Your knowledge of the UK tax system & local government financing is obviously non existent.. the level of income tax paid by locals has virtually nothing to do with the amount of funding the.council has..
I agree the level of decent employers &subsequent wages is shockingly poor in the city.
* Council Tax
* Business Rates (National Non-Domestic Rates)
* Council Housing Rents
* Commercial Rents
* Charges for Social Care Services
* Parking Fines
Is there no way of increasing the business related ones by attracting organisations here?
Rostrum
says...
9:57am Fri 4 Mar 11
Remember which Party borrowed money during the good times, spent it nothing apart from 'non jobs' in a bid to bolster their portion of the vote.
Remember who now has to pick up the pieces, sort out the mess and get this country back into a good financial shape.
I've hear NO apologies from the last administration for their appalling, if not criminal, miss management of the national economy.
A
ll I've head is their winging about what must now be done for fix their errors.
GraemeDavis
says...
10:22am Fri 4 Mar 11
Nick Brighton
says...
11:12am Fri 4 Mar 11
Plantpot wrote:A very large proportion of the money that every Council has to spend is provided by Central Government in the form of Revenue Support Grant. The local councils have no control over the size of this amount.
mothy wrote:I am under the impression that the main areas of council finance are:
Plant pot. Your knowledge of the UK tax system & local government financing is obviously non existent.. the level of income tax paid by locals has virtually nothing to do with the amount of funding the.council has..
I agree the level of decent employers &subsequent wages is shockingly poor in the city.
* Council Tax
* Business Rates (National Non-Domestic Rates)
* Council Housing Rents
* Commercial Rents
* Charges for Social Care Services
* Parking Fines
Is there no way of increasing the business related ones by attracting organisations here?
mothy
says...
11:36am Fri 4 Mar 11
All hotels etc. Will all be paying nndr.
The only money the council keeps is from council tax, parking fines & possibly social care income that is provided by the council directly where they can recharge users
Housing rents are also collected on behalf of central & handed over & redistributed. These are all ring fenced for social housing anywsy
mothy
says...
11:45am Fri 4 Mar 11
Thumper Hove
says...
12:07pm Fri 4 Mar 11
I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.
lavenderman
says...
1:07pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Thumper Hove wrote:Can the family of the next cyclist killed on a road without a cycle lane (far more frequent I suspect), sue the council for not building one!?
So now we all know, vote Green and you get Labour. Another year of left-wing out of touch idiots who fail to see that endless spending cannot continue.
I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.
Andy R
says...
1:21pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Thumper Hove wrote:Is this a joke? The Tories were in power when the cycle lane was approved. The justifications for removing the cycle never mentioned safety concerns, it was all about "visual impact". This ludicrous emotional blackmail simply parrots what Mears came out with last night.
So now we all know, vote Green and you get Labour. Another year of left-wing out of touch idiots who fail to see that endless spending cannot continue. I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.
Thumper Hove
says...
1:29pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Andy R wrote:Erm, no they weren't....it was a Labour idea. Many cyclists and other road users of the Drive (and I live next to the Drive) know what a crazy set up it is and how dangerous.
Thumper Hove wrote:Is this a joke? The Tories were in power when the cycle lane was approved. The justifications for removing the cycle never mentioned safety concerns, it was all about "visual impact". This ludicrous emotional blackmail simply parrots what Mears came out with last night.
So now we all know, vote Green and you get Labour. Another year of left-wing out of touch idiots who fail to see that endless spending cannot continue. I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.
I'm all for cycle lanes, but only where it is safer to create one. Labour had the same policy of building bus lanes irrespective of whether it was safe or logical to do so (A23 I'm looking at you).
salty_pete
says...
1:34pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Andy R wrote:My recollection is entirely different . The cycle lane was approved and forced through by Labour, against the wishes of the local residents. Agreed it was built after the Conservatives were voted in, but Labour had already signed the contracts and assigned the budget so the next administration were left with no choice. Now the removal has been side lined it means there is less work now for the local employees of R J Dance, who unfortunately don't read the Guardian.
Thumper Hove wrote: So now we all know, vote Green and you get Labour. Another year of left-wing out of touch idiots who fail to see that endless spending cannot continue. I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.Is this a joke? The Tories were in power when the cycle lane was approved. The justifications for removing the cycle never mentioned safety concerns, it was all about "visual impact". This ludicrous emotional blackmail simply parrots what Mears came out with last night.
bug eye
says...
1:39pm Fri 4 Mar 11
General Dreedle
says...
1:45pm Fri 4 Mar 11
1999: 8.8%
2000: 7.1%
2001: 11.9%
2002: 6%
2003: 11.4%
2004: 16.5%
These parties are just interested in saving services for the sake of it. They should listen to their Chief Ececutive who understands that you dont fund services that are not making a difference to local people or dont deliver what they are paid to do. That's what the tory intelligent commissioining model is designed to do. The tories have saved £30M over the last three years. Has anyone noticed a drop in the standard of services in Brighton & Hove over this time? Actually the council improved from a two star authority to a four star authority whilst saving this money.
General Dreedle
says...
1:47pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Rearrangethedeckchairs
says...
1:54pm Fri 4 Mar 11
salty_pete
says...
1:58pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Gerard Scrawse
says...
2:02pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Does anyone know which furniture upholsterer does her hair? I have a much-loved sofa that's sagging a little, and would benefit from stuffing with something springy and hard-wearing.
brightonneil
says...
2:53pm Fri 4 Mar 11
General Dreedle
says...
3:11pm Fri 4 Mar 11
RearrangethedeckchaiWhat have the new 'all white all male £125k a pop not the status quo gang' done exactly since they arrived? From what I hear they are stamping about the council shouting about how rubbish the staff are and how all services should be privatised.
rs wrote:
Yes and don't forget having improved from a two to four star council the current administration sacked the perfectly good Directors who made this happen, in a political clearout, got in 4 new ones at 125 grand a pop and paid out a million pounds of your money unnecessarily in redundancy to the Directors they sacked. Value for money? I don't think so. Down down deeper and down as the Status Quo songs goes...
A.Wiseman
says...
3:26pm Fri 4 Mar 11
9:57am Fri 4 Mar 11
Just remember which Party was in power that got us into this mess in the first place.
Remember which Party borrowed money during the good times, spent it nothing apart from 'non jobs' in a bid to bolster their portion of the vote.
Remember who now has to pick up the pieces, sort out the mess and get this country back into a good financial shape.
I've hear NO apologies from the last administration for their appalling, if not criminal, miss management of the national economy.
A
ll I've head is their winging about what must now be done for fix their errors."
Oh dear, the same tired old digs from the right about whose fault it is for the mess we are in. In case you hadn't noticed, Rostrum, France, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and even Germany are also in a terrible financial mess and were run by political partys of all persuasion. As for the USA, they are in debt to the tune of trillions of dollars not just billions and who was in charge there? Oh yes George Bush and his Republicans. Would you call them 'socialists'? The word is banned in the USA. Basically the USA sneezed and the rest of the world caught a cold. As usual we imported more bad things from the States.
Andy R
says...
3:54pm Fri 4 Mar 11
salty_pete wrote:Still ploughing this lonely furrow I see. Maybe your mates at R J Dance can advise you on the prudence of refraining from further digging once the hole is quite deep enough.....
Andy R wrote:My recollection is entirely different . The cycle lane was approved and forced through by Labour, against the wishes of the local residents. Agreed it was built after the Conservatives were voted in, but Labour had already signed the contracts and assigned the budget so the next administration were left with no choice. Now the removal has been side lined it means there is less work now for the local employees of R J Dance, who unfortunately don't read the Guardian.Thumper Hove wrote: So now we all know, vote Green and you get Labour. Another year of left-wing out of touch idiots who fail to see that endless spending cannot continue. I suggest that the family of the first cyclist killed on the Drive sues each Labour and Green councillor for a) building the loony set-up when Labour were in control and b) for voting against making the Drive a safer place for cyclists again by reversing the dangers created by Labour/Green muppets.Is this a joke? The Tories were in power when the cycle lane was approved. The justifications for removing the cycle never mentioned safety concerns, it was all about "visual impact". This ludicrous emotional blackmail simply parrots what Mears came out with last night.
The cycle lane was put in when the Tory administration was a year old - they had loads of time and opportunity to stop it but at the time they didn't think they needed a bone to throw to the petrolhead vote. How times have changed!
If the Tories now think it is so dangerous why haven't they fenced it off and posted "do not use" signs all over it? I think we know don't we...?
Morpheus
says...
5:25pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Thumper Hove
says...
5:29pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Removing a dangerous and ill-thought out piece of cycle lane has nothing to do with bribing motorists either. Local residents have expressed severe concern that the layout is dangerous, hence why it is sensible to remove it - and that should not be a political but a common-sense decision by all parties!
And if the council had put up any 'do not use' signs then I can just imagine the sort of comments you would have been writing on here.
hubby
says...
10:20pm Fri 4 Mar 11
Capitalist filth.
Andy R
says...
1:56pm Sat 5 Mar 11
Thumper Hove wrote:What does it matter what I might write? If it's so terribly terribly "dangerous" then the Tories are culpable for not doing something about it aren't they?
They didn't have the opportunity to stop it as contracts were already signed. Perhaps if you'd read salty-pete's comments rather than trying to think up 1/2 witty statements you wouldn't repeat yourself. Removing a dangerous and ill-thought out piece of cycle lane has nothing to do with bribing motorists either. Local residents have expressed severe concern that the layout is dangerous, hence why it is sensible to remove it - and that should not be a political but a common-sense decision by all parties! And if the council had put up any 'do not use' signs then I can just imagine the sort of comments you would have been writing on here.
If on the other hand, all the "danger" comments are just so much self-justifying guff, there's no need for them to do anything.
Boris-The-Blade
says...
12:38pm Sun 6 Mar 11
TheInsider wrote:How about they choose OUR highly educated and articulate locals instead of importing yet more foreighners to do a job that a British person could do instead.
Chris is an example why some employers choose highly educated and articulate foreigners for jobs.
Thirty four years on the council list was surely enough time to save for a mortgage at a pound a week.
Maybe if we started to look after our own first we wouldnt be in such a mess....
And lets face it, Its all Labours fault.
jimbobmaginty says...
12:35pm Thu 3 Mar 11