Brighton and Hove City Council

Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority.

For the once similarly named South Australian council area, see City of Holdfast Bay.

Brighton and Hove City Council
Coat of arms
Corporate Logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 1997
Preceded by	East Sussex County Council District councils Brighton Borough Council Hove Borough Council
Leadership
Mayor of Brighton & Hove	Cllr Alan Robins since May 2020
Leader of the council	Cllr Phélim Mac Cafferty, Green since 23rd July 2020
Deputy Leaders of the council	Cllr Hannah Clare and Cllr Sue Shanks, Green since 23rd July 2020
Leader of the opposition	Cllr Nancy Platts, Labour
Chief Executive	Geoff Raw
Structure
Seats	54 councillors
Political groups	Minority Administration (19)      Green (19)[1] Opposition (35)      Labour (18)      Conservative (13)      Independent (4)[2]
Joint committees	Greater Brighton City Board
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First past the post, multi-member
Last election	2 May 2019
Next election	May 2023
Meeting place
Brighton Town Hall Hove Town Hall
Website
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Brighton and Hove is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a unitary authority, Brighton and Hove City Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.

Museums service

The council's museums service takes the name Royal Pavilion & Museums, and operates the Royal Pavilion, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Hove Museum and Art Gallery, the Booth Museum of Natural History and Preston Manor.[3]

Political control

Since the first election to the council in 1996 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[4]

Party in control			Party in minority lead
	Labour	1996–2003
	No overall control	2003–present		Labour	2003–2007
				Conservative	2007–2011
				Green	2011–2015
				Labour	2015–2020
				Green	2020-present

The Green led council from 2011-2015 was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.[5] The Greens regained control of the Council in 2020, after the incumbent Labour administration collapsed and made way for a Green minority government.[6]

Councillors and wards

Ward of Brighton and Hove Borough Council 1996 - 2003

When Brighton Borough Council and Hove Borough Council merged in 1996 the wards were carried over from the respective councils who had both been under East Sussex County Council. There were originally 26 Wards each with three councillors totally 78 councillors in the newly created Brighton and Hove Borough Council: Brunswick and Adelaide, Goldsmid, Hangleton, Hanover, Hollingbury, Kings Cliff, Marine, Moulsecoomb, Nevill, North Portslade, Patcham, Portslade South, Preston, Queens Park, Regency, Rottingdean, Seven Dials, St. Peters, Stanford, Stanmer, Tenantry, Vallance, Westbourne, Westdene, Wish, Woodingdean

Results of the 2003 elections with new ward boundaries

The 2001 boundary review [7][8][9] reduced the wards to 21 Wards with a mix of two or three councillors each totalling 54 councillors for the then city council. These boundary were used in the 2003 election for the first time with the following wards: Brunswick and Adelaide, Central Hove, East Brighton, Goldsmid, Hangleton and Knoll, Hanover and Elm Grove, Hollingbury and Stanmer (which then became Hollingdean and Stanmer in 2007), Stanford (which became Hove Park in 2007), Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, North Portslade, Patcham, Preston Park, Queen's Park, Regency, Rottingdean Coastal, South Portslade, St Peter's and North Laine, Westbourne, Wish, Withdean, Woodingdean.

Latest results for Brighton and Hove City Councillors by ward:[10]

Results of the 2019 elections with new ward boundaries

Councillor		Party	Ward	Elected	Notes
							Phelim Mac Cafferty	Green Party of England and Wales	Brunswick & Adelaide	2011	Convener of the Green Group
	Hannah Clare	Green Party of England and Wales	Brunswick & Adelaide	2019	Deputy convenor of the Green group
	Clare Moonan	Labour and Co-operative	Central Hove	2015	Chair of the Heath and Wellbeing Board
	Gary Wilkinson	Labour and Co-operative	Central Hove	2019
	Gill Williams	Labour and Co-operative	East Brighton	2019	Chair of the Housing Committee
	Nichole Brennan	Independent	East Brighton	2019	Resigned from Labour in July 2020 following accusations of anti-Semitism
	Nancy Platts	Labour and Co-operative	East Brighton	2018	Leader of the Labour & Co-operative Group Chair of the Policy, Resources and Growth Committee
	John Allcock	Labour and Co-operative	Goldsmid	2019	Chair of Children, Young People and Skills Committee
	Marianna Ebel	Green Party of England and Wales	Goldsmid	2019
	Jackie O'Quinn	Labour and Co-operative	Goldsmid	2015	Chair of the Licensing Committee
	Dawn Barnett	Conservative Party	Hangleton & Knoll	2007
	Tony Janio	Independent	Hangleton & Knoll	2007	Left the Conservative Party to stand as an independent in 2019
	Nick Lewry	Conservative Party	Hangleton & Knoll	2015
	David Gibson	Green Party of England and Wales	Hanover & Elm Grove	2015
	Elaine Hills	Green Party of England and Wales	Hanover & Elm Grove	2019
	Steph Powell	Green Party of England and Wales	Hanover & Elm Grove	2019
	Tracey Hill	Labour and Co-operative	Hollingdean & Stanmer	2015	Chair of Planning Committee
	Theresa Fowler	Labour and Co-operative	Hollingdean & Stanmer	2019
	Martin Osborne	Green Party of England and Wales	Hollingdean & Stanmer	2019
	Samer Bagaeen	Conservative Party	Hove Park	2019
	Vanessa Brown	Conservative Party	Hove Park	2003
	Amanda Grinshaw	Labour and Co-operative	Moulsecoomb & Bevendean	2019
	Kate Knight	Independent	Moulsecoomb & Bevendean	2019	Resigned from Labour in July 2020 following accusations of anti-Semitism
	Daniel Yates	Labour and Co-operative	Moulsecoomb & Bevendean	2015	Deputy Leader of the Labour & Co-operative Group Deputy Chair of the Policy, Resources and Growth Committee
	Peter Atkinson	Labour and Co-operative	North Portslade	2015
	Anne Pissaridou	Labour and Co-operative	North Portslade	2019	Chair of Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee
	Carol Theobald	Conservative Party	Patcham	2003
	Alistair McNair	Conservative Party	Patcham	2019
	Lee Wares	Conservative Party	Patcham	2015	Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group
	Amy Heley	Green Party of England and Wales	Preston Park	2019
	Siriol Hugh-Jones	Green Party of England and Wales	Preston Park	2019
	Leo Littman	Green Party of England and Wales	Preston Park	2011	Chair of the Audit and Standards Committee
	Clare Rainey	Green Party of England and Wales	Queen's Park	2019
	Amanda Evans	Labour and Co-operative	Queen's Park	2019
	Nick Childs	Labour and Co-operative	Queen's Park	2019
	Tom Druitt	Green Party of England and Wales	Regency	2015
	Alex Phillips	Green Party of England and Wales	Regency	2009	Mayor
	Bridget Helen Fishleigh	Independent	Rottingdean Coastal	2019
	Mary Mears	Conservative Party	Rottingdean Coastal	2003	Deputy leader of the Conservative group
	Joe Miller	Conservative Party	Rottingdean Coastal	2015
	Les Hamilton	Labour and Co-operative	South Portslade	2003
	Alan Robins	Labour and Co-operative	South Portslade	2015	Chair of the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee, Deputy Mayor
	Lizzie Deane	Green Party of England and Wales	St Peter's & North Laine	2010	Chair of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
	Sue Shanks	Green Party of England and Wales	St Peter's & North Laine	2019	Deputy Convener of the Green Group
	Pete West	Green Party of England and Wales	St Peter's & North Laine	1996
	Carmen Appich	Labour and Co-operative	Westbourne	2019
	Chris Henry	Labour and Co-operative	Westbourne	2019
	Robert Nemeth	Conservative Party	Wish	2015
	Garry Peltzer Dunn	Conservative Party	Wish	2003
	Sarah Nield	Green Party of England and Wales	Withdean	2019
	Steve Davis	Green Party of England and Wales	Withdean	2019
	Jamie Lloyd	Green Party of England and Wales	Withdean	2019
	Steve Bell	Conservative Party	Woodingdean	2015	Leader of the Conservative Group
	Dee Simson	Conservative Party	Woodingdean	2003

Duke and Duchess of Sussex debate

In December 2018 Brighton and Hove City Council held a debate in response to a petition on behalf of residents which called on the council to reject the usage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex title, which is "disrespectful to the county of East Sussex".[11]

References

1. "Greens tipped to run Brighton council after 'anti-Semitic' resignations". BBC News. 22 July 2020.
2. https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/council-and-democracy/councillors-and-committees/your-councillors-and-local-politicians-0
3. "Who we are". Royal Pavilion and Museums. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
4. "Brighton & Hove". BBC News Online. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
5. "Go Green for first Green-led council in UK". www.greenparty.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-53496651
7. legislation.gov.uk - The City of Brighton and Hove (Electoral Changes) Order 2001. Retrieved on 4 October 2015.
8. "Your Local Councillors". Brighton & Hove City Council. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
9. "Councillors & Meetings". Brighton & Hove City Council. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
10. "Councillors and committees | Brighton & Hove City Council". www.brighton-hove.gov.uk.
11. "Harry and Meghan's Sussex title was 'unfairly acquired' and should be ignored, Brighton and Hove council to consider". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2020.