Green Takeover, Independents Frozen Out
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
The appointment of an all-Green Cabinet by Julia Hilton, the leader of Hastings BC, has sparked discontent among the Hastings Independents group of councillors. The Greens and the Independents were coalition partners prior to the local elections, but their civil partnership seems to have ended acrimoniously following the poll.
The election resulted in a Green surge, with the party winning five seats from Labour and three from the Conservatives to leave them with 12 councillors overall. Although falling short of a majority, Julia Hilton was emboldened by her electoral success to appoint only her colleagues to Cabinet positions.
At the inaugural meeting of the new full council held on 22 May, she confirmed the portfolio holder appointments of her deputy, Glenn Haffenden, for Housing and Community Wellbeing; Darren Mackenzie for Finance, Assets, Risk and ICT; Adele Bates for Arts, Culture, Tourism and Leisure, Equalities and Community Engagement; Joanne Walker for Environment and Neighbourhood Wellbeing; and Mark Etherington for Planning, Infrastructure and Active Travel. Tony Collins was appointed Charity Committee Chair, responsible for the Foreshore Trust. In addition to being the leader of the council, Cllr Hilton will be responsible for the Regeneration and Community Wealth Building Portfolio.
Judy Rogers elected Mayor
The council meeting also saw Labour’s Judy Rogers elected as the new mayor. She replaces Margi O’Callaghan, who stepped down to take up her new role as Labour group leader. David Whitehill, the new Labour councillor for St Helens, was elected deputy mayor following Heather Bishop’s defeat in the local election.
Elections were also held for the chairs of the major committees. Labour’s Margi O’Callaghan was elected Chair of Overview and Scrutiny, Billie Barnes took Planning and Danuta Kean got Audit, whilst Amanda Jobson of the Greens was elected Chair of the Licensing Committee.
Despite Paul Barnett and Nigel Sinden securing the Chairs of the Standards Committee and the Environment and Safety Committee, respectively, it was a disappointing evening for the Hastings Independents. From being key players in the council before the election, they have now been frozen out of power. Andy Batsford took to social media to vent his frustration, posting on Facebook that he found the orchestrated voting of the Labour and Green pact “frankly upsetting”. He accused the Greens of working with Labour to take the whole Cabinet for themselves, whilst Labour took the positions of Mayor and deputy Mayor, and major paid chairs of Planning, Overview and Scrutiny, and Licensing. He and his Independent Group colleagues, he said, “have done nothing but put out a hand of friendship” but this has been thrown away for a “cheap deal with Labour.” He said talk of cross-party working together was “just that, talk.”
Julia Hilton reiterated her party’s position of wanting to work with other parties. However, she said that because the Labour Group had ruled out entering into a formal deal, as well as being opposed to working with the Independents, the best approach was not to be aligned with either faction but to be free to work cross-party on a vote-by-vote basis. Cllr Hilton insisted that she still wants to work with other parties on both the new corporate plan and the budget. She also confirmed her support for replacing the cabinet with a committee system, although again she said this would not be possible in the short term due to the council’s heavy workload.
First meeting for new Cabinet
The new Cabinet will meet for the first time on 10 June. Because of the General Election on 4 July, business will be limited to discussion of essential items that need agreement so that procurement and tender processes can be completed, and to items involving third parties. This also means there will be no public questions at the start of the meeting. The agenda includes the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan 2024-2029, funding for the management of landslides across the town, the appointment of a welfare funerals contractor, and the housing acquisition programme.
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A suitable headline might have been “All Green cabinet works with Labour for the welfare of Hastings”.