Jason Kitcat has warned councils must concentrate on caring for the sick and elderly while residents should help with litter and grass verges.

Councillor Kitcat has spoken of the highs and lows of his leadership, his party’s lack of discipline and his working relationship with Caroline Lucas as he heads for the exit door.

He announced last summer that this would be his last term as leader at Brighton and Hove City Council and will not be seeking the public’s approval this time around.

As part of a fundamental change that his successor as council leader will have to oversee over the next four years, Coun Kitcat said it was time to review the “culture of citizens”.

He said: “At the moment when there’s litter, it’s the council’s fault but somebody dropped that litter and we all live here so we all need to take part in clearing it up.

“When there’s a verge that’s too long, we can’t just expect somebody to do it for us, we need to work together to tend for public areas.

“If there’s not much money around, I would much rather we tend for the very sick and aged people who really can’t help themselves.

“Most of us have a little bit of resilience, so can pick up some litter while walking the dog or trim the verge while you’re doing the front garden at the same time.”

In an interview with The Argus Coun Kitcat agreed there was a danger that for many residents it will be bins at the forefront of their minds on May 7 and that his biggest regret was not making more progress with recycling.

He said his administration was restricted by the need to solve unequal pay first, needing up-front investment at a time when the council was facing huge cuts to its budget, losing out on bids for food waste services and problems inherited from the previous administration with vehicles that could not be easily replaced and “Italian” bins.

He also conceded that industrial action had caused disruptions, “shaken” people’s confidence in the service and made them an “easy target” for opposition leaders but added that recycling rates were now on the increase.

He said: “The ship is turning around but it is a very big ship to turn.”

Having enjoyed three-and-a-half years as a feisty backbencher after his election via a December by-election in 2007, he became the Green’s finance lead for their first year in power before becoming council leader in 2012 when Bill Randall stood down.

After almost eight years at the sharp end of politics in the city, he said what he will miss most will be the diversity of work and the positive response that Brighton and Hove generates with people from around the world.

He added: “I won’t miss some of the negativity that goes around.

“People just assume that if things aren’t fixed it’s because you are stupid and it’s just a matter of doing this and it will all be fixed but the truth is if it was that easy we would have done it.”

Coun Kitcat said he will take a “breather” but will remain in the city and will be involved in local government if not “party politics”.

The GMB union on Jason Kitcat

GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said: “I’m not sure Jason will be remembered fondly, I’m sure I will forget him by May 10.

“As an individual Jason is fine but as a politician there is no love lost between us.

“Jason was re-elected as leader last summer and within days he says he’s going and instantly he loses credibility and people have said he is conspicuous by his absence in recent months.

“His administration will be remembered for the seven day dispute, for not engaging with the trade unions and it costing them the by-election in Hanover and Elm Grove.

"I think cutting people’s wages, they will be remembered for that, trying to cut Able and Willing funding, they will be remembered for that, privatising the equipment store out in Hove, they will be remembered for that.

“Sometimes it’s not about being remembered for the 85% of things you have done but being remembered for the 15% of things you said you wouldn’t do but then did; fight austerity, resist the cuts, protect the lowest paid, not privatise services.

“I said when they get elected they would only get one shot and if they lose the election, I think it could be a long time before they get back in.

“If they do get back in it will be down to campaigning and process going on in the parliamentary seat of Brighton Pavilion.

“They will become a party of the centre of the city, not representative of across the city." 

Labour on Jason Kitcat

Labour group leader Warren Morgan: “The Greens under Jason Kitcat have failed to deliver on their promise of a thousand new affordable homes, with only 150 completed.

“The Greens have failed to provide the new secondary school they promised, with places due to run out in 18 months.

“The Greens have failed to maintain, let alone improve recycling, with the council so far down the league table we are threatened with relegation.

"It was the Greens who put children’s centres at risk, who committed taxpayers to a £36 million loan to the i360, and who have caused huge congestion with their endless traffic schemes.

“When they tout sand sculptures as one of their major successes, you know it is time for a change, and only Labour can beat the Greens in Brighton and Hove.”

The Conservatives on Jason Kitcat

Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald said: “They will be remembered as an administration characterised by in-fighting with a leader who never knew exactly where his support was coming from.

“Consequently, many decisions were left to be taken by unelected council officers.

“Visitors to the city will remember them for their sky high rip-off parking charges and residents will not thank them for their tolerant attitude to travellers and designating Brighton and Hove as a ‘City of Protest’.”

Jason Kitcat on ... Caroline Lucas

The city’s political rumour mill has portrayed Coun Kitcat and Caroline Lucas as frosty allies who don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye.

The biggest public display of disagreement occurred during the 2013 bin strikes when Ms Lucas visited striking refuse workers on the picket line as negotiations with the council over new pay terms were at their height.

Coun Kitcat described the local councillor relationship with Ms Lucas as “symbiotic” with each benefiting from the success of the other.

He said while they did not always agree there was “no big drama” between the pair.

He added that because both were in the same party, “that doesn’t always mean we have to agree on everything and have the same view on things.

“With the bin strike, we all wanted the same thing, equal pay between men and women, but the difference was on how we got there.

“As leader of the council I had very significant legal and financial responsibilities and I had limited set of choices ahead of me.”

Jason Kitcat on ... the national spotlight

Coun Kitcat said he was very conscious that as the first Green administration to run a major local authority, he and his fellow councillors were under a national spotlight and their actions could impact on fellow Greens around the country.

He said: “In the first few weeks of administration it really hit home how anything we did could and would be used by national media to make a point.

“If you take Meat Free Mondays, the first we knew about it was when the Daily Mail rang us for comment.

"A private canteen near to the Hollingdean depot had decided to go meat free for one day a week and somebody called that in to a news agency.

“It was portrayed as a Green administration unsuccessful ploy when we had nothing to do with it.

“It has been frustrating and not a fair reflection of what we have done.”

Jason Kitcat on ... Brighton & Hove Green Party

With Coun Kitcat standing down, along with other senior Greens including former leader Bill Randall, transport lead Ian Davey and Christopher Hawtree, opposition politicians have suggested that a more radical element of the party could hold sway.

Coun Kitcat agreed there was a tension within his party between the “fundees [fundamentalists] and realos” but this battle between ideology and pragmatism was present in Green groups around the globe.

He said: “When people get elected and realise the responsibility involved as part of the governance of a big public organisation and they might have up to 15,000 constituents to represent, their views change quite quickly to a more pragmatic approach.”

The Greens have faced accusations throughout Coun Kitcat’s administration of being ill-disciplined and chaotic, most notably in February when six rebel Greens voted against their own budget.

Coun Kitcat agreed that at times a lack of self-discipline had harmed a party which has no whipping system to ensure party members voted with their leadership’s wishes.

He said: “That top down whipping thing is slightly a fantasy because you will always get rebels, it is not a full-proof measure.

“I think we [the party] do want to reflect more on how we operate discipline and collective decision making as a party but top down discipline is just not in our nature.”

Jason Kitcat on ... the future of city council

Whoever does succeed him as council leader next week, Coun Kitcat predicted that they too will have to run the council as a minority administration as he had.

He said: “No party is campaigning across enough wards in the city for there to be an outright winner of the election.

“The nature of politics in the city, unless there is a radical redrawing of the boundaries, there will be no overall control council in the foreseeable future and we need to find a more cooperative way of working.”