Brighton & Hove’s world famous Green Party’s credibility is on the brink of ruination because of a decision by the local city council, run by them, to fell one of the most beloved trees in the Seven Dials area. No councillors have made themselves available for public comment. Not even the two ward councillors for the area, Jason and Ania Kitcat, despite the former being the Leader of the Council.
The facts are straightforward. The nearby roundabout has been a disgrace of traffic management for decades. The Greens have been the first political party with the balls to sort it out. They have brought forward plans to reorganise the roundabout to the benefit of pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles. There has been an extensive consultation, which the local residents participated en masse in. Unfortunately, along the way, a decision has been taken to fell this ‘troublesome elm’. Every part of the official correspondence which I have seen makes the decision look like it was taken by a council officer and then nodded through by the politicians. That such a big decision was taken so late on in the consultative process, so that most of the people originally consulted had no idea that it was being considered, begs the question of whether the consultation process was fundamentally flawed. (The wider question of whether long consultation processes are counterproductive is one I’ll leave to another day.)
Yesterday evening I spoke with an expert arboriculturalist about whether the tree could be saved as part of the redesign of the local area. In summary, the answer was a firm ‘yes’. Issues relating to sight lines for motorists approaching the pedestrian crossing to the South of the tree can be rectified by the crossing being moved a little farther away from the roundabout. Issues relating to the surface disruption caused by the trees massive roots can be rectified by various fairly simple technical solutions, which appear to be outside the normal ambit of the heavily regularised work of highways engineers. The tree is thought to be about 120 years old and can be preserved for another 10-20 years at least. I’ve requested a detailed description of the works needed and, when I receive it, I will publish it. The other reasons given for the felling have no legs ~ they cannot stand up.
A couple of days ago local residents discovered a notice pinned to the tree informing them that it would be felled this week. Immediately they organised themselves into a defence campaign: the Seven Dials Save Our Tree Action Group (@SaveOurTree on twitter). By last night they had gathered 500 signatures and presented their petition to the chair of the council’s Transport Committee. Significantly, one of the signatories was Brighton Pavilion’s Green MP, Caroline Lucas. Here’s what she had to say on the subject.
The local Tories and the Labour Party will lap this story up. Unable to make any sensible policy proposals of their own, they rely on negative campaigning against the Greens. The truth is that neither the Tories nor the local Labour Party members are permitted to express themselves at all, let alone as freely I am doing here (I’m a member of the Green Party). Not only does the local Labour Party not have any channels for daily communication amongst its membership as we do, it doesn’t even have monthly meetings! It is tiny, heavily controlled from the top and unable to tolerate dissent. Most of the local Tories appear unable to finish whatever sentence they start. They are, as with the rest of their party, suffering from a chronic ageing problem. Dementia is setting in.
That said, Green Party insiders are incredulous at the manner in which the political leadership of the council has potentially converted what was clearly a massive success story for the Greens into a howling blunder and a gift for the right-wing media. It is the eleventh hour. This tree can still be saved but not without loss of face for Jason Kitcat, the Council Leader.
Fiercely protective of the Green Party though I am, by the time you read this post, I shall be either up the elm or at its foot with others up in its higher branches, because this particular tree means more to me than Jason Kitcat’s personal prowess. The time has come for him to find a way to step down from his post and let someone else, someone with a good grip on green politics, someone with the backing of the local party, someone who can be trusted, to take over. If he can’t, he will be forced out, before the end of the year. We Greens have good form for recycling our people in and out of political office. There’s no shame in it.
The tree lessons Mr Kitcat needs to learn are as follows. One, us Greens are more driven by loyalty to our cause, than our party leadership. Two, trees are crucial to protecting the environment and much more loved by people than he is. His being the silent ward councillor for this tree’s loyal supporters has damned him. Three, he can leave office without loss of face if he takes that option but if he fights for his personal prestige, he risks de-selection from his candidature at the next election. The numbers are now against him.
To clarify one point Duncan: the Brighton, Hove & District Labour Party meet every two months. Branches meet as often as members want to. Most meet once a month.
‘Observers’ are elected to Labour Group members. All members are free to either contact councillors directly, through their branch or via the elected Executive. Our Executive is elected by members at our AGM and is gender balanced.
You may disagree with Labour policy, but if you have an issue with our local structure it would be nice if you get your facts straight.
If I understood you correctly (forgive me, am dead tired after long day spent defending tree with local residents, Green councillors, Green MP and Green activists but conspicuously no-one from the Labour Party?! ) I was right to say that there is no monthly meeting for all Labour members in the city to meet and make policy and no channel for Labour members to all discuss everything and anything they want to talk about simultaneously with each other. Greens are not organised top down. Come and join us to fight for socialism and eco-justice!
Yet another fine example of Mr Kitkat’s lack of connection to both the party and the people he is supposed to represent. Chopping down trees is just not very Brighton, let alone Green!
With his help the Greens have had problems. Such as voting with the TTB’s on the cuts to the council budget, upsetting even loyalest followers. Also he proposed sacking then reemploying the whole council staff on new pay and benefit packages. (A la Thatcher era union smashing.)
These are not the sort of decisions to help further the goals of the green movement. The Green Party is just starting out. In Brighton and Hove we are lucky to have the power to help. There are going to be mistakes, it’s all a bit new to them this being in power.
Please; Mr Kitkat, stand aside. By staying you only loose the positive feeling and momentum that has been building here for years. Do not make people loose faith in what the Greens stand for.
Good luck Duncan. I am working until Sunday, but assuming the tree is still standing I’ll try to come along for a bit then.
Hi and thanks for the post which I enjoyed reading. I went past the said tree today and saw that someone had set up temporary accommodation in it. It must be a tricky one for Jason Kit Kat as he is normally such an advocate of direct action,as for Ania, perhaps there is an opportunity here for her to raise her profile. I’m not sure how Labour and Conservatives may react to what appears to be a common sense rather than just a political issue, don’t destroy your precious City trees, they are threatened enough with Dutch Elm.and Sudden Oak Death diseases and provide much needed Co 2.
I do have to disagree with Duncan on his rather harsh criticism.of the local Labour Party. Since the instigation of a Citywide Labour Party (good idea Greens) regular meetings are held, they are well attended and open to all Labour members, from what I see our members certainly ain’t no wallflowers ! Regarding daily communications I guess this could be a good idea but as a local activist I certainly don’t feel short changed on emails and.website postings.
All the best
Pete.
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I’m a member of the Labour party. I stopped by on Thursday. While there I saw and talked to two other members of the Labour party who live locally. As a candidate for Labour at the 2011 city council election in Regency, I know plenty of folks in the area.
Criticise Labour people as much as you like. Get in. But the local cllrs directly in Regency are Green and both Kitcats. Alex Phillips lives not far away and is a Goldsmid cllr.
Where was the Green opposition?
Dear g2-c0c5f706c2c4f54fa4779f6158575885,
What an unusual name you have! How do you pronounce it? Seriously, how proud you must be of your Labour Party membership that you cannot comment in your own name. How much freedom of expression you must have in that party! Thanks for proving my point more eloquently than I could muster.
Alex Phillips was at the tree today, helping her fiance down from its upper branches, in full support. The Save Our Tree campaign is drawn from across the community but the only party political activists in it to date are members of the Green Party. Please come and join in! (You’ll have to tell us how to pronounce your name though.)
You are right, the ward councillors, the Kitcats, who defeated you in the last election, have not played the role of ward councillors properly to defend this tree. That said, the actual decision to fell it was taken by a Transport Committee which was cross-party and no party objected. Plainly, the decision to fell was made by officers and went unnoticed by everyone on the Transport Committee. What is Labour policy on the tree? To fell it. What is the Green policy? To keep the tree. Ultimately, Green Party activists, councillors and our MP have responded to the popular protest and swung behind it. That’s what democracy looks like.
Pingback: Public meeting to Save Our Tree! | Scrapper Duncan
Like mechanics or electricians we can pinpoint the problem to a faulty consultation document. I support the elm. This is not the only issue left out of this good-for-nothing document! F’instance…….did any one ask if they wanted pelican crossings left intact? The guardrails? The truth is this……..the consultation document only asks the questions required to sanitise the result, in line with the scheme’s masters!!