Greens Sweep Brighton and Hove in City Council Elections

Amidst all the reports on last Thursday’s polling day, with Scotland saying Yes to the ScotNats and most people saying No to AV and the LibDems, the UK’s elections on May 5 produced an interesting local development: the Greens became the largest single party in Brighton and Hove, with 23 of the City’s 54 seats. The Conservatives, formerly the largest party, slipped to second place with 18 councillors (previously 25) and Labour is stuck on 13 (Lib Dem councillors in B&H are no more).  After several years of conservative-led stasis, there is now a chance to break through on some key policies: a 20mph default speed limit, rolling out pedestrianization, and a more sustainable approach to local transport. Let’s hope that the Greens can pull it off, and make Brighton and Hove a better place to live in, work in, or visit, a city of walking-friendly neighbourhoods where traffic no longer dominates.

Hustings* R’Us - but where was Labour?

The General Election got real for me yesterday, not because another manifesto was published (from the Conservatives), but because the hustings came to the constituency of Brighton Pavilion. Last night I was privileged to appear on a platform hosted by Transport 21 and the Triangle Community Group, on local transport issues. The meeting featured three of the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates for the hotly contested parliamentary seat – Charlotte Vere for the Conservatives, Caroline Lucas for the Greens, and Nigel Carter from UKIP. Oddly, Nancy Platts, the Labour PPC, was invited but failed to show. The meeting was chaired by Chris Todd from Brighton Friends of the Earth, and I had been asked along by the organisers to kick off with a non-political Living Streets “Vision” of what Brighton and Hove could be like as a more pedestrian-friendly place. The 70 plus people at the meeting seemed to like the vision (contact me if you’d like the slides). How about the politicians? Charlotte Vere had clearly spent quality time with the Tory Manifesto, placing her faith in David Cameron’s big idea, "An Invitation To Join the Government of Britain." Despite a lot of audience questioning, it wasn’t too clear what this might mean for policies on the ground (eg: Cyclists: “We want a bike lane.” Motorists: “We don’t.” Stalemate. What happens next?). Nigel Carter pointed us to the UKIP website for the detailed transport policies, and unveiled his big idea of free parking for electric cars. Caroline Lucas encompassed both national transport policy, and the detailed stuff of transport in Brighton and Hove - from the dismal performance of First Capital Connect trains, to the ups and downs (mostly ups) of our local buses, not to mention the shenanigans around the Sustainable Transport Partnership and the shelving of so many good schemes by the current Conservative council. The Clap-o-meter reading told me that the people in the room would like to send Caroline Lucas to Westminster as Britain’s first Green MP. But we’re going to have to wait until May 6^th to find out whether their fellow constituents in Brighton Pavilion think the same way.

* noun, plural: platform or place for political electioneering speeches; election proceedings.