A racism row over travellers led to two councillors walking out of a public meeting.
Just days after a new strategy promoting working together to tackle the controversial issue was launched, Conservative members Tony Janio and Dawn Barnett left a meeting of Brighton and Hove’s Community Safety Forum after only 15 minutes on Monday, March 12.
The pair, who represent Hangleton and Knoll on Brighton and Hove City Council, claimed the forum’s chairman, Green councillor Ben Duncan, implied their stance on travellers was racist.
The council’s minutes of his address to the forum in October read: “[Coun Duncan] felt sure that everyone would agree that the debate about the council’s policy towards travellers must not stray into racial abuse or harassment, but he was becoming increasingly concerned that some meetings and demonstrations in the city had fuelled exactly that sort of language and behaviour.
“He urged everyone there that day, especially councillor members who really should know better, to bear in mind their responsibility to respect both the law and the principles of community cohesion when debating these issues.”
Accusations
At Monday’s meeting Coun Janio told Coun Duncan: “For you to imply that Coun Barnett and I were making racist statements, or that councillors shouldn’t be holding public meetings about an issue affecting residents in their ward, is a disgrace.”
The pair left after Coun Duncan refused to apologise.
Coun Duncan said yesterday (March 14) he had not singled out any individual councillors in his comments.
He said: “The real losers are the residents who have voted for them.
“We’re not going to have another such meeting for three months, by which time it will be ten months since either of them have said anything in the forum other than make political comments and storm off.”
He said he would write to the Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald, inviting him to send other members to the forum in their place.
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