The first City Council Budget-setting meetings for the 2023-4 financial year have taken place this week – with two proposals coming under immediate challenge.

Two planks of the Draft Brighton & Hove City Council Budget – closing half the city’s public toilet blocks and introducing parking charges at some parks – have been opposed by our Conservative Councillors.

I debated the Greens on Radio Sussex this week about the impact of these policies, arguing why the Conservatives could not support proposals which would have an impact on recreation in the city.

The City Council has got itself into an enormous mess on both issues, in no small part due to its own policy missteps.

A report published by the Council this week admitted that the primary reason for the current closure of half of the city’s public toilet blocks was the Council’s own insourcing policy backfiring.

In February last year the Administration decided to cancel the City Council’s private public toilet cleaning contract with cleaning provider Healthmatic, which still had five years left on it to run.  At the time, all public toilets were open and being serviced in accordance with the contract.  It was an ideological decision to cancel it, because the Greens and Labour don’t support private contracts.

On announcing the policy change, the Leader of the Council said that he wanted to ‘bring public toilets back in-house to ensure we have direct management and better accountability’.  However less than year since he cancelled this contract on 1 February 2022, the policy has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the residents of Brighton & Hove. 

In just 12 months of its new service the Council has failed to run services within its £905,000 budget.  The Council did not manage to keep seafront toilets properly maintained throughout last year’s summer tourist season and then temporarily closed 17 of the City’s 36 public toilet blocks during winter.

Having still not resolved the issues, the Council has now targeted 18 public toilets for permanent closure, including major tourist seafront and public park sites such as Stanmer Village, Black Rock and Western Esplande as well as local public parks relied upon by residents and sports teams, such as at Greenleas.

On Radio Sussex I spoke about why we could never support these closures, given the equalities impact on people who need them.  While not a statutory service that the Council is required by law to provide, public toilets are a necessary one, that the Conservatives believe should and can be prioritised above other discretionary expenditure.

This is a prime example of why pursuing an ideological policy against private sector contracts is counterproductive.  Cancelling the City’s private contract that had 5 years left on it was a spectacular own goal by the Council, which has quickly found out that it is unable to manage the same service for residents for the same budget.

Accountability is needed for this error from the Leader of the Council.  Blaming the Government for a mistake made by himself will not cut it with the public, which protested outside Hove Town Hall on Tuesday.

The second plank of the Budget opposed by Conservative Councillors this week was the proposed introduction of car park charging at 15 of the city’s suburban parks, including in Woodingdean, Portslade, Hangleton and Rottingdean.

Again, this policy has been brought in to deal with a mess of the council’s own making.

At last year’s budget, the Council hit residents with a ‘double whammy’ increase to their residential parking permits; increasing fees not just once, but twice - and well beyond that which was recommended by officers.  This is because the Greens and Labour are ‘anti-motorist’ and anti car use in the city. At the same time the council reduced parking spaces across the city by filling them with cycle lanes and bike hangars.

All this has impacted the Council’s own financial position, reducing demand for parking and creating a £1.477 million shortfall in expected parking revenue this year. 

The Council is now is looking to plug this gap with more fees on charges on users of suburban parks.  But why should residents have to pay for the Council’s mismanagement?

Residents will know that these problems being experienced in Brighton & Hove simply do not happen at neighbouring councils, which have their public toilets open and do not charge their residents for visiting their local parks.

Residents also see examples of waste from the City Council, such as the tens of thousands spent on neon artwork at Madeira Terraces, which broke after 5 days, as was reported in The Argus recently.

Brighton and Hove City Council needs to get its priorities in order and put basic services first as this Budget process continues.  A budget must be agreed at the Budget Council on 23 February 2023 and there is some prioritisation that needs to occur before then.