Category Archives: Green Party

Brighton Council, Brighton Life, Ellen McLeay, Green Party, Sue Shanks

Comment: Cllr Ellen McLeay and Cllr Sue Shanks

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As the two ward councillors for West Hill and North Laine, we are delighted to be invited to write a regular column for The Whistler. 

We are representing residents in this area as Green Party opposition councillors, now Labour is the administration running the council. Sue is the opposition spokesperson for Children and Families, as well as a committee member for Planning. Ellen is the opposition spokesperson for Housing, and a co-Chair for the Central Area Housing Panel. We are both are committee members for the People Overview and Scrutiny committee, however our main role is to represent the community of West Hill and North Laine. You can contact us via the council website, just search for Brighton and Hove Contact Your Councillor.

Elected in May 2023, we have been supporting the community with a wide range of local issues, ranging from putting forward a request for a crossing on Buckingham Place, to more bike hangers on Compton Avenue, and steering better communication between Govia Thameslink Railway and CityClean for the clean up of the private land around Brighton Station.

The roads around and nearby Brighton Station have seen a lot of improvement works over the past year. In September, we saw the introduction of a new school streets initiative on St Nicolas Road for St Paul’s School to help children travel to school more safely and reduce traffic issues. As we’ve not received reports since the launch week, we hope that means it is now working for all those who shared initial concerns.

Two junctions along Trafalgar Street were redesigned to improve safety for pedestrians. The closing of the Trafalgar Street/Blackman Street junction was decided following a number of collisions over a three-year period, many involving cyclists. However, we are receiving equally troubling reports about the new junction where Whitecross Street meets Trafalgar Street. We’re engaging with transport officers, and they’re reviewing the situation.

Housing issues make up a lot of our case work, and we’re supporting council tenants and leaseholders in high-rise blocks across the ward to address their need for housing repairs or regarding reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) in their blocks. Fire safety is another major concern for these residents and others in the New England Quarter. Following the Grenfell Tower fire, it’s more important than ever for residents have greater transparency on the fire safety of their building. 

Many residents contact us about antisocial behaviour and drugs in our ward – which is a huge challenge for the city. It has been reported that over the past year, the Combatting Drugs Partnership has closed down 38 county lines, which led to 99 arrests and over 8,000 drug seizures and added 80 young people to prevention programmes. These are impressive numbers, but residents still say that drug related ASB is more prevalent than ever. Ellen has been supporting residents badly impacted by this on Zion Gardens. There have been council organised community meetings focused on these issues in other wards. We are asking for one to be hosted in our ward. 

An important part of being a councillor is seeing all sides of a situation. Following reports from the community concerning residents occupying supported accommodation at William Collier House and St Mungo’s, we paid both housing providers a visit. During our time speaking with the housing managers and their residents, we were struck by the incredible work they do. We met some of their success stories – people who have experienced trauma you couldn’t imagine, are now on a journey of recovery, have benefited from training opportunities, and are working to move on into private rental accommodation. Or another resident whose needs were so complex it took the housing team two years to earn his trust. If anything, the visit reinforced the importance of these services for a fair society that gives everyone the opportunity to change, grow and live. 

Many businesses have contacted us about the challenges on New Road relating to anti-social behaviour. Sue represents the council on the Pavilion Trust who have been successful in a bid to improve the gardens which will put new fencing on New Road and the council are looking at a change for the benches. 

We were so sorry to see the loss of a very mature tree on Buckingham Road due to Elms disease – an extremely difficult decision made by the arboriculture team who work hard to conserve the city’s trees. Every summer, the team battle to protect Brighton’s historic collection of beautiful elm trees, and there are two key ways you can support them. Avoid bringing diseased elm wood into the city (that includes logs or timber you might burn). Keep an eye out for elm trees with leaves wilting or turning yellow or brown ahead of autumn (you can report it by emailing elmdisease@brighton-hove.gov.uk with a photo and the tree’s ‘what3words’ location). 

The council’s net zero strategy is hugely important for the city. We hope they will support these efforts with an additional commitment to protecting biodiversity. Protecting the natural world is an important component in achieving net zero. That’s why the reintroduction of glyphosate to the 

city and a recent decision to increase wild verge mowing to six cuts over the summer is concerning.  We are campaigning for an “opt-out” option for neighbourhoods who want to avoid glyphosate being sprayed on their streets. We can support with arranging weed clearing action days for your street. If this would be of interest to you, please reach out.

We are keen to work with the current Labour administration during this challenging economic time. Under the previous administration there was plenty of cross-party collaboration, and it would be great to see that continue in some capacity. We›d like to take this opportunity to respond to misinformation in the previous edition of The Whistler regarding our previous administration, 2020 to 2023. To represent what happened with toilets more accurately, we wanted to share the following timeline – where only one toilet was permanently closed: 

• Early 2020 saw many toilets close in response to the Covid-19 pandemic; these were gradually reopened in the latter part of 2020 / early 2021.

• Norton Road toilets closed permanently in April 2022 due to significant repair issues.

• 11 sites were closed in October 2022 due to financial pressures. These have subsequently reopened, apart from The Level.

• Four sites were closed in autumn 2022 pending refurbishment. These have subsequently reopened. 

We regularly attend community meetings with the London Road Action Team and the North Laine Community Association and would be pleased to meet with residents in the West Hill area as a group and to support the community association. 

We wish you a restful and restorative and a happy 2025. 

Brighton Pavilion, Green Party, Sian Berry

Sian Berry – Nov/Dec 2024

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Since being elected in July, alongside three amazing new Green MP colleagues, I’ve been very, very busy in Brighton and in Westminster, with lots of great Green ideas to put forward, and lots to challenge in my first days as an MP, working across the chamber from a new Labour government.

So far in Parliament, I’ve personally asked 32 written questions, put questions to ministers in the chamber and spoken in debates 11 times, proposed three amendments to Bills, and signed 76 Early Day Motions (EDMs). Green MPs teamed up to propose a King’s Speech amendment as one of our first tasks, and we’ve written to ministers jointly on topics ranging from healthcare to community energy, to taxes and the Budget.

Green MPs worked together to table the first Early Day Motion of this Parliament on bringing water companies back into public hands.

With Carla Denyer, I have also raised concerns about healthcare for young trans constituents directly with Wes Streeting. Many residents have written to me about this issue too, and I’m pleased to have taken action.

Here in Brighton, I have an amazing constituency team and since July, we’ve already dealt with over 500 cases from constituents, held weekly surgeries, visited residents and projects to see problems for ourselves, and written to the council about issues ranging from school closures to planning applications. Issues brought to me by residents in West Hill and North Laine have ranged from anti-social behavior in Zion Gardens, to supporting residents in emergency accommodation and with delays in housing repairs. I’m also in contact with traders in the North Laine who are experiencing long standing issues with theft and shoplifting. On fire safety issues in West Hill and North Laine, I’ve been supporting residents in the New England Quarter and City Point and joined them on ITV calling for action.

At my Parliament office I have been lobbied so far by five constituents in person, and via email I’ve received messages related to campaigns, world events and policies more than 4,000 times on more than 240 different issues. It’s so valuable to get a clear picture like this of what matters most to so many of the people I represent! I’m taking action, supporting campaigns, attending events and writing back to people with the results as quickly as I can while I build up my final Parliamentary staff team.

In the voting lobbies, I have voted ‘AYE’ or ‘NO’ 18 times (abstensions are not recorded). We’ve supported the first stages of several of the Government’s Bills, and are preparing to make amendments to improve them, including on the Great British Energy Bill and the Renters Rights Bill. But seeing the Labour Government vote down two very sensible motions and amendments to get rid of the two-child benefit limit and keep the winter fuel allowance for pensioners was bitterly disappointing.

As four Green MPs we are able to share out the main ‘shadowing’ duty on different departments and each focus on changing particular policies. My main responsibilities are currently to challenge social housing policy, police and criminal justice, work and pensions, culture, media and sport, disabled people, transport and clean air. I have started work on each of these already, and I am also taking up individual issues where Brighton needs action, such as sewage and pesticides.

I was very happy to introduce a Private Member’s Bill, devised by Pesticide Action Network, that would stop public bodies using harmful chemical pesticides in public spaces, streets and gardens and I’m looking for cross-party support to take this issue further.

On housing, I have been pushing for investment in buying not just building council homes, action on the fire safety crisis, plus the need for transparency from housing associations – an area I have challenged the Prime Minister on directly.

On media and culture, I have challenged the council to do more to reduce gambling (and advertising for gambling) in the city, and I’m also doing lots of work supporting grassroots music venues under threat, including the Prince Albert in the North Laine, and working closely with the Music Venue Trust.

On transport I’m making it my mission to address the long standing accessibility challenges at Preston Park Station. I’ve asked questions and have already tabled more coming up. I have already been pushing for an extension to the £2 bus fare cap and, ahead of the Budget, I’ve asked ministers and the Chancellor for more long-term investment for local active travel.

On climate and nature, I’ve met with local Greenpeace members to sign their pledges to keep up the pressure on the new government to bring climate solutions. All four Green MPs are fully behind the newly tabled Climate and Nature Bill.

Throughout all this time, all Green MPs have been pushing for peace, human rights and justice in Israel and Palestine. Locally, after a strong campaign, I was pleased that Brighton’s war plane part manufacturer L3 Harris had its planning decision refused by the council, but there is still no export ban to Israel on parts for the F-35 fighter, and I have been asking questions about why not, working with Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

I was the only MP to join the local response on our streets to the summer’s far right riots and was so proud of Brighton’s clear and positive defence of potential targets in the city and our refusal to accept fascists on our streets. In my maiden speech I praised the young people behind Citizens UK Brighton and Hove and joined them to celebrate their victory in winning a city-wide counselling pilot in Brighton recently.

And finally, a Green on BBC Question Time is historically quite rare, but in July I was asked to go on right after the election, alongside fellow Brighton and Hove MP, Peter Kyle. Carla Denyer was also asked on the programme two months later – which we hope is a good sign for future chances to talk about Brighton on the national stage.

Brighton Pavilion, Green Party, Sian Berry

Sian Berry – Sept 2024

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And just like that, my first month as the MP for Brighton Pavilion comes to a close! What a month it’s been — the whirlwind of the election feels like longer ago than just a few weeks. It’s been remarkable seeing Parliament up close as a newcomer. We all know its reputation as somewhere full of particular processes, rules and traditions, but it’s another thing experiencing them first-hand. Frustratingly, its timetable meant that there were only two weeks of action before Parliament broke up for recess. That feels at such odds with the urgency of the problems that we have in front of us. I was elected to hit the ground running, to take the city’s issues straight to the chamber. 

So that’s what I’ve done. Alongside my Green colleagues we brought the very first Early Day Motion of this Parliament, calling for urgent action to clean our seas and rivers by bringing water companies into public ownership. I spoke on the Government’s Rail Renationalisation bill, welcoming it as an important step forward but suggesting improvements to help it succeed and strengthen. 

Despite the election already feeling like a distant memory, the spirit of the campaign that I was part of here in Brighton Pavilion still feels so alive. While so many MPs may be happy just to campaign every time they need a vote, that just isn’t how Brighton or I operate. Brighton has a rich history of culture, activism and community; its MP cannot just be in Parliament, but has to be out and about in this city, living and breathing it. And I’ve been doing just that.

So I’ve joined activists from the ACORN tenants’ union, supporting their campaign to stop Brighton Council using bailiffs to collect council tax – a cruel practice that we know has a devastating impact on those affected. Groups like ACORN fill me with hope. I’ve always been a renter, and know all too well how helpless and disempowered you can feel having such a fundamental part of your life subject to someone else’s decisions. It’s always a wonderful feeling to be around people so committed to fighting for the rights of all renters.

I’ve also been out to sea, to visit our fleet of wind turbines and hear about the exciting plans to expand the wind farm, which would generate enough electricity to power the whole of Sussex. This community saw off fracking here in Sussex – and now we’re part of a real green future. That’s something I’m massively proud of.

And I went to Trans Pride! It was lovely to be back in such a joyful space, marching alongside Brighton & Hove’s Green councillors to call for respect and healthcare for the trans community who face horrific, dehumanising attacks. Ahead of trans pride, I wrote to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting to express my serious concerns about his statement on puberty blockers. I’ve heard so much pain and concern from young trans people, parents and doctors, and will keep up the pressure on this government to deliver vital trans healthcare. 

When I delivered my maiden speech in Parliament, it gave me the chance to reaffirm my commitment to something that’s been so important to me throughout my career – raising up the voices of young people. It was an honour to speak about the incredible work of Brighton and Hove Citizens, which had just won a huge campaigning victory in getting a commitment from the council for Brighton schools to benefit from investment in mental health support and counselling. 

In that speech I also talked about my pride in Brighton itself, a city I have fallen deeply in love with. We are a city of sanctuary, committed to a culture of hospitality and welcome for those seeking refuge from war and persecution; about the exciting counter-cultural movements that have called Brighton home; about the city’s place at the heart of the green movement. 

As its MP, I have the unique privilege of bringing both the needs and the spirit of Brighton to the House of Commons. I am determined to continue being present across our city, listening to our community and understanding what it needs, so I can take that to Parliament and be your voice.  

Thank you – to everyone who put their faith in me at the election and gave me the chance to speak up for our wonderful city in Parliament. I’ve had just a taste of how brilliant it’s going to be working with my constituents to stand up for Brighton and fight for a fairer, greener future both here and across the country – and I can’t wait to see what else this Parliament will bring.