Brighton council leader: we struggle to empty bins

At a Labour Party conference fringe event on Sunday, Brighton and Hove City Council leader Nancy Platts blamed the city’s unemptied bins and rising graffiti on Government cuts in council funding.

She told supporters at the workshop, titled “Councils under Corbyn”, that Labour had been elected on a “fantastic socialist manifesto” but was struggling to implement its policies.

“In order to do everything we want to do, we need to spend money,” she said.

“People want Scandinavian-style public services, but we don’t generate enough income to do that.

“We’re struggling to do basic things like emptying bins and cleaning graffiti.”

At the weekend meeting, Cllr Platts said any progress the council had made had come at the cost of jobs or pay rises, making to hard to retain talented officers.

“We have lost lots of our rehab and children’s centres,” she said.

In a statement after the event, Cllr Platts said the council was “working in the dark” as it did not know if Government funding would increase.

She said more than £100 million had been cut from Government grants for the council since 2010.

But Tory leader Cllr Bell attacked Cllr Platts’s stance, claiming the council’s funding crisis was down to Labour’s poor management.

“It’s fair to say there has been a lack of funding,” he said.

“But with proper financial management we can deliver services well. Labour don’t seem to be able to do that.

“There’s so much slush bouncing around the coffers that they could use.

“At the last budget meeting we proposed putting £1 million into Cityclean, but Labour and the Greens voted against that.”

Meanwhile anti-graffiti activist Gareth Davies said spending on measures to tackle tagging should take priority.

“There’s always plenty of funding for street art projects,” he said.

“If they can’t spend money on graffiti prevention, where is that money going?

“We’re trying to convince the powers that be to use the powers they have.”