Brighton and Hove council meeting cancelled due to rapid spread of Omicron variant

The public part of Brighton and Hove City Council’s meet will still take place today (Thursday, 16 December) as only the lead councillors are required to answer questions.

A special council meeting will take place in January to cover the general business.

An email sent to councillors said: “Following the advice from the chief medical officer for England regarding the rapid increase in infection rates and the need to take extra precautions, as well as the advice from the council’s director of public health, the Mayor, having consulted with group leaders and whips, has decided not to proceed with the Full Council meeting that was due to start at 6.30pm this afternoon.

“We understand that other local authorities have taken similar measures.

“All the items that were on the agenda (with the exception of the petition for debate on school admissions – which will be dealt with in the public engagement session) will be withdrawn and carried forward to the next meeting of Full Council.

“Some of them may have to be decided before the end of January, so we will explore a suitable date for a special council meeting in January to deal with all or some of the items that were on the agenda for today’s meeting.

“We will liaise with group leaders and whips about the best arrangements.”

Three petitions by parents at primary schools calling on councillors not to reduce the admissions next year will still go forward for debate.

Each petitioner has three minutes to make their case, and no time limit has been set on the debate as the council will take all three petitions together.

Campaigners at Carden, Woodingdean and Bevendean Primary Schools were concerned they would not get their 15 minutes each when the Mayor, councillor Alan Robins, decided the council would hear the three petitions together.

Public and councillors’ questions will also be heard during the meeting, along with deputations and petitions which did not receive enough support to secure a debate.

The hybrid meeting at Hove Town Hall and via Teams software is due to start at 4.30pm.

It is due to be webcast on the council website.

The Conservative group said it ‘fiercely resisted’ the cancellation of the Full Council meeting, as it pointed out the last meeting in October had been abandoned after a positive Covid test and never rescheduled.

Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth said: “Seeing another meeting of Full Council cancelled on the day in this chaotic manner is another nail in the coffin for democracy in Brighton & Hove.”

He added: “There has now not been a proper meeting of Full Council in Brighton and Hove since July and the council continues to make no genuine attempt to hold meetings as is their legal responsibility.

“It is abundantly clear that Labour and the Greens simply do not want the council to meet or be answerable for its actions.”

But the Greens hit back at the Conservatives, pointing out the unsuccessful lobbying of central government to reintroduce legislation that allows council meetings to happen virtually, as they did throughout the first year of the pandemic.

They also claimed the Conservatives in Brighton and Hove had refused to voluntarily reduce attendance to help reduce the risk at any in-person meetings.

The Greens went on to highlight that the strong advice given to councillors by Brighton and Hove’s public health team and director of public health was to reduce risk by deferring in-person council meetings as cases of Covid-19 continue to soar.

Phélim Mac Cafferty, leader of the city council, said: “Cases of Covid-19 are now at the highest point since January 2021 while Omicron is doubling every two days. It’s ironic that the Conservatives have branded a public health decision ‘cowardly’ when in spite of the warnings, it is Conservatives who have ignored the risks, failed to plan ahead to keep us safe, avoided taking precautions and insisted on putting public health at risk.

“The legislation that allowed council meetings to take place online was revoked by Conservative ministers, causing outcry at the time, even among Tory council leaders. Because formal decisions must now be made in person, many councils are now cancelling meetings altogether.

“In Brighton & Hove, to ensure members of the public and councillors can still ask questions, we’re holding an online public engagement session so that people do not have to physically attend. This is a basic, sensible precaution, but it is not allowed when it comes to the decisions required by a meeting of full council.”

Meanwhile the Labour group said it ‘fully endorses this decision and believe it is in the best interests of keeping council staff, members of the public and councillors safe’.

They suggested the Conservative group was not taking this latest wave of Covid-19 seriously and was engaging in ‘cheap political point scoring’.

They went on to say they would prefer to conduct these meetings virtually, but this was not allowed by central government legislation.

A statement from the Labour group added: “The Government’s current approach is totally out of step with reality, much like the local Conservative group of councillors, who refused any pairing arrangements to reduce the number of councillors potentially present at any in-person meeting today, and wanted to pack the Town Hall like Downing Street during a Christmas party, insisting on all 54 councillors being in the chamber.”