2 weeks Ago
I hope all celebrating had a hope-filled and peaceful Easter break. I got away to Anglesey to see family and spend some much needed time with my husband and kids. I can report that North Wales has a strong game in Easter post box toppers, but nothing to rival the works of art I’ve seen recently on the post boxes of Woodingdean and Hove Park! I know that over recent months certain areas have seen the return of unreliable garden waste, recycling and rubbish collections.
These fall below our expectations for the service and I wanted to provide some further context, and information on how we are improving our service for the long term, whilst also seeking to address our immediate issues. We have some fantastic staff in our Environmental Services department who want to serve the city and provide a great service, but sadly we discovered on taking office that the service had some deep-rooted issues that had existed for many years, even decades. We were determined to address these issues and make changes that had been necessary for so long.
On receipt of a very serious whistleblowing complaint in May 2023, we launched an inquiry that revealed a toxic culture. On receipt of the inquiry report, we fully accepted all the recommendations and have implemented an action plan to address systemic issues of racism, misogyny, bullying and harassment, and to stamp out a culture described as toxic. This report, however, was just the start as it led us to search the office at the depot used by the local GMB branch.
During this search, which was witnessed by GMB representatives, we found a set of knives, nunchucks, baseball bats and a samurai sword. Dismissals have rightly ensued and a former GMB representative at the depot was also charged with criminal offences after brave victims came forward. Sadly, the charges were dropped by the CPS earlier this year – a decision they have now acknowledged was wrong but irreversible because of the statutory time limits to reinstate the charges.
The examples of criminality do not stop there. In addressing the toxic culture of fear and intimidation overseen by a small number of men we have also had to deal with direct sabotage by those protected by these men, most of whom we believe are now formerly employed within the service. Curiously the disruption to the service that took place last year followed the GMB Sussex twitter account warning of a "chaos" coming to Brighton in a series of tweets that immediately preceded the deliberate defecting of vehicles and which were hastily deleted by the local branch when I challenged them with regional GMB staff.
This is gangsterism not trade unionism. The deliberate defecting of vehicles included vehicle wires being cut and last summer a depot manager's car tyres were slashed along with sickening direct threats to their life and the lives of their family members in relation to a disciplinary case. We have made great strides in improving the culture, but there are also many associated issues that have been left to fester for far too long, and that are challenging to resolve given the financial constraints on us as a council.
We have had to make many decisions to resolve underinvestment which has made our vehicles unreliable. Many of them are end of life, and we have initiated a programme of vehicle replacement that will address this. The lead in time for vehicle delivery is up to a year, so whilst we have made decisions, the full benefit of some of our actions will take time to be fully felt.
I am aware that there has been a spike in vehicle and staffing issues since before Christmas, and we are working hard to track this and respond and are taking proactive action to address the situation long term. In the meantime, we have increased our staffing levels and leased extra vehicles to address the situation in the shorter term. Alongside the challenges, we have seen some great successes.
We will be increasing the materials we are able to recycle this year, and we will be rolling out our food waste collection service. We have increased our graffiti removal service, and taken a more proactive and educational approach to our enforcement actions. We knew there would be bumps in the road when taking on the vested interests more invested in abuses of power than holding power to account.
I’d like to thank residents for their patience as we undertake the overdue transformational work that is needed to deliver a consistently high quality service..
