New Rules Thwart Brighton & Hove Residents' Right To Lobby Councillors

Two community campaigners fear that new rules have made it harder for the public to lobby councillors in an informed way before policy decisions are made.

Brighton and Hove City Council brought in the new rules when it switched to making decisions by cabinet instead of cross-party committees.

Public questions and deputations have to relate to an item on the cabinet’s agenda which is due to published five working days before meetings.

But the deadline for deputations is eight working days before cabinet meetings – before the agenda is even published – even though they are expected to relate to an item on the agenda.

And, the campaigners said, anyone wanting to ask a public question will have a 48-hour window to send it in.

They said that another hurdle was that the council would no longer allow someone else to stand in for a member of the public who wanted to ask a question but who was unable to ask it themselves.

The rule changes have been criticised by two former election candidates, Adrian Hart and Laura King.

Their criticisms come days before the agenda for the first cabinet meeting is due to be published – on Wednesday, June 19.

The public will have two days to read the agenda and reports and decide whether they wish to ask a question and, if so, how to word it – and then submit it.

The council released a “forward plan” late last month, listing headings and a line or two about a dozen key decisions due to be taken by the new Labour cabinet.

But even some councillors have said that the forward plan was not easy to find on the council’s website.

Mr Hart said that one resident considering a deputation was unsure whether the specific issue would be on the agenda. He said:

“It’s a huge effort for residents like her to find out the rules.

“Worse still, the council have started to insist that the person submitting a question has to be the person reading it.”

He said that this overturned the previous much fairer practice which recognised that many residents, such as working mothers, were not always available when meetings were taking place.

Mr Hart said:

“All in all, it’s clear that public engagement in how our city is run is a very low priority for this administration.

“The new procedure for public engagement at cabinet is a muddle and getting answers from the council is exhausting.”

He added that the stated aim of “widening the possibilities for residents to participate” seemed like “just empty words”.

Ms King said:

“It seems that all public questions now have to be based on meeting agenda items so the public can no longer raise their own independent questions about city matters which concern them.

“It seems there will be 48 hours or fewer to find/see the published council meeting agenda on the council website and then submit the limited public questions which can only be based on it, which is obviously completely unreasonable if so.”

She said that this did not comply with “the Nolan Principles of Public Life” or best practice, adding that “this council continually rewrites its own constitution to suit itself”.

Ms King was also frustrated that the changes were not subject to a referendum or contained in the Labour manifesto for the local elections in May last year.

The council’s website said that questions and speeches to meetings of the full council could be on any subject on which the council has the power to act but questions to the cabinet must be based on an item on the agenda.

The deputy leader of the council, Jacob Taylor, who is also the cabinet member for finance and city regeneration, said:

“This is an exciting new era for the council and one which we believe will not only lead to more efficient and effective decision making, helping us deliver on the priorities of local people and businesses, but also see more residents actively engage in local democracy.”

Along with the cabinet, the council has introduced two overview and scrutiny committees, one for “people” and the other for “place”.

The Planning Committee, Licensing Committee, Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board and Audit and Standards Committee will continue as before.

The first cabinet meeting is due to take place at Hove Town Hall at 2pm on Thursday, June 27. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.