Will republican Greens let Brighton celebrate Platinum Jubilee?
Next year, over the course of a four-day bank holiday weekend in early June, the country will celebrate an historic moment as we mark the Queens Platinum Jubilee. Local authorities across the country have been encouraged to take part in events to mark this once in a lifetime occasion, including the traditional lighting of beacons and a civic honours programme. The Greens run on a ticket of republicanism and we are concerned that in recent years, as the Greens have become more ideological, these beliefs have begun to show in their local approach at Brighton and Hove City Council. On the occasion of the Queens 90th birthday, on the day more than 900 beacons were lit up across the country and the Commonwealth, our city was left red-faced when our historic Hove beacon was left unlit after the previous Green administration apparently failed to plan for the event. The mayor of Brighton and Hove had to travel to a neighbouring authority to mark this event and sadly local people were denied the opportunity of enjoying a beacon-lighting event in the city by this lack of planning. What a shame for our city. Worse still, last month many people  including myself  were left greatly disappointed with the local Green Party after they did not respect a national agreement to suspend political election campaigning in the days following the sad passing of the Duke of Edinburgh. It is beyond disappointing that the local Greens could not put aside their ideological beliefs for one weekend to show respect not only to the Queen, but also the many people in Brighton and Hove who support the Queen and would have wanted our city to come together to mark this poignant moment. The Greens always demand to be heard and to be shown respect on issues that are important to them but show little or no respect to people who have different opinions or hold opposing views. The Conservative group is concerned that the Green Party will fail to initiate plans to mark the Platinum Jubilee or bring any proposals before the council and that the community will ultimately miss out again. As Conservative group leader I have written to the chief executive of the council Geoff Raw to ask that our city commences planning for a full participation in the events  including the lighting of our beacons at Hove Lagoon and the traditional sites at Rottingdean and Norfolk Groyne. Lets make the Platinum Jubilee a memorable event for our city and make it an event that will be remembered long into the future by young people in our city today. Councillor Steve Bell is the leader of the Conservatives on Brighton and Hove City Council.