I found Brighton & Hove Council’s invitation to the city’s residents to decide where public sector cuts should fall (You decide how Brighton and Hove City Council bridges 102 million funding gap) a little ironic.
If Brighton Council are truly keen to solicit the views and exercise the wishes of Brighton residents, then perhaps the Health and Wellbeing Board, chaired by council leader Jason Kitcat, could have taken a little more notice of the many hundreds of signatories to a petition expressing the view that the city’s substance misuse services should remain as part of the local NHS and not hived off to a third sector provider.
Residents at a packed meeting were shocked and angered to learn that it appears that the Health and Wellbeing Board is set to recommend just such a transfer of a valuable and award winning service out of the NHS.
If councillor Kitcat genuinely sees the benefit of extending the democratic process then I can think of no more reassuring course of action than to reverse this decision immediately.
Stephen McLean Campbell Road Brighton
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