Conservatives call on council for a ‘city strike preparedness strategy’

Cllr Robert Nemeth will put forward a motion for a city ‘strike strategy’.

He said: “Since 2011, under the Greens and Labour, we have seen Brighton and Hove become ‘strike city’ with industrial action sadly becoming a common part of city life”

“However, as residents were horrified to see during the bin strikes last year, the council has no adopted strategy for dealing with these common events in a way that maintains and prioritises public health and safety and the public finances, leaving the matter in the hands of Councillors.

“During the recent strikes, a lack of strategy to bring in private contractors to clear rubbish piling up on street corners and communal blocks led to several bin fires across the city during the weekend of 15 October. There could have been deadly consequences from this.”

Cllr Nemeth’s motion will be raised at Brighton and Hove City Council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee meeting on 18 January.

Conservative Councillor Samer Bagaeen, who will be seconding the motion, said that the strategy should also include a plan to promptly clean up the city post-strike.

“We saw a glacially slow clean-up operation after the bin strikes and services are still not back to normal in some areas” Cllr Bagaeen said.

“There has also been the problem of an explosion in the number of rats across the city, including in council houses, that residents are now unfairly having to pay to be addressed.

“A strike strategy, including a post-strike clean-up operation where the council allocates enough staff capacity to do the job required, should be ready to go straight away so that residents’ services can be promptly restored at no cost to them”