We have seen and heard many calls from “greens” recently to re-wild Britain, but in Brighton, the Green Party-led Council seems to be taking it to a whole new level.

The Council is in dispute with Cityclean workers and their trade union, the GMB. The result, as the headline to a Guardian article* tells us is:

Garbage fills the streets as Brighton refuse strike continues

Brighton and Hove residents worry about rats and foxes as more refuse and recycling walkouts planned

The strike by refuse lorry drivers (that’s “refuse” as in rubbish, not as in decline to do something) has already lasted a week and could go on until mid-November, according to the Guardian report. We are told that the dispute is about pay and conditions and about removing drivers from long-standing bin rounds. The council admits it will take weeks to clear the backlog of rubbish once the dispute is settled, whenever that may be. All household and communal bin waste and recycling services are affected, as well as garden and trade waste services.

Some residents at least aren’t happy – understandably:

“It’s obviously going to attract foxes and rats and gulls. We have loads of gulls here, and they are pecking the bags open,” said Marie De Vere, picking her way through a passageway in the shoulder-high piles of bags covering the pavement in one road in the Seven Dials area of the city.

“It is really dreadful,” she added, surveying the overflowing communal bins outside the genteel Victorian terrace of Montpelier Crescent, now home to one of largest rubbish mounds in Brighton and Hove.

The good news is that the Council has lots of positive green ideas for residents to deal with the issues arising from the dispute:

In the meantime, the council is advising residents to break up and flatten boxes and cartons and store waste in their homes, or take it to the tip themselves in their cars.

And:

People are asked to double or triple bag any rubbish they leave in the street, with those using communal bins requested to store their refuse at home if possible…

So there you have it, coming to an area near you (if you’re stupid enough to vote Greens into power) – lots of single-use plastic, store your rubbish in your home for an indefinite period, and use your car, and try not to run over the rats while you’re at it.

The re-wilding of Brighton continues. Chris Packham, eat your heart out.

* https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/12/hovel-actually-garbage-fills-the-streets-as-brighton-refuse-strike-continues

23 Comments

  1. Why are the gulls pecking through the bin bags? Surely the food recycling all goes in the food recycling bins, not in the general rubbish. Or is Brighton’s population not as green as the council?

    Bin men going on strike is actually a smart ploy. At the end of it, the council will have to give them overtime to remove the backlog, so they will have lost no wages.

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  2. So not sorry that I left the Green Party. One is reminded of Labour’s “Winter of discontent”. I think Labour were blamed unfairly in that case (taking the bigger picture into account), but in Brighton, the situation seems to be clearer, and caused by incompetence on the council’s part, or the unions out-smarting them, or both. Either way, I doubt if the voters will forgive them.

    I wonder what Caroline Lucas is saying about it?

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Mike Ellwood, I once thought about joining the Green Party, back when they seemed to care about the environment, but that was a long time ago. No chance of me joining them as things stand.

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  6. “In the meantime, the council is advising residents to ….. take it to the tip themselves in their cars.”

    But Greens discourage folk from owning a car.

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  7. Joe Public, yes indeed, that was rather my point – along with them suggesting triple bagging (no doubt in plastic bags) of all that rubbish. Greens – delivering non-Green chaos, if they ever get their hands on a whiff of power.

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  8. The BBC is catching up with this story:

    “Brighton bin strike: Private firms tackle waste piles as talks go on”

    “Private firms have been called in to remove piles of rubbish built up during Brighton’s ongoing bin strike.

    Mountains of waste have accumulated around the city for almost two weeks amid attempts to end the dispute.

    Brighton & Hove City Council said it had only called in third parties as blocked pavements and vermin became a “growing and serious” health issue.

    It is hoped crunch talks on Sunday will bring an immediate suspension of strike action.

    The council said it called in private companies in response to safety concerns caused by the mounting rubbish.

    It said fires had been started in some communal bins over recent days, and pedestrians were increasingly at risk as more waste was dumped on pavements.”

    There are some awful photos within the BBC article, and it all sounds pretty grim.

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  10. OK, this story isn’t about Brighton, but I’ll leave it here anyway:

    “Lydney councillor says rewilding making a mess of town”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-66384439

    Calls have been made for a move away from “catastrophic” rewilding, following complaints about the “mess” it has made in a town.

    Lydney councillor Alan Preest voiced concerns over the process of rebuilding a natural ecosystem at a Forest of Dean District Council meeting on 27 July.

    He referred to recent comments made by broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh, who said rewilding can be bad for diversity.

    Mr Preest said residents had complained about how it had been introduced.

    The Conservative councillor told the meeting that rewilding efforts are blighting the Centurion Road area and had created a mess around Newerne Street car park.

    “You may be aware that some residents are not happy with the way that this council has introduced the biodiversity areas along Centurion Road,” said Mr Preest.

    “Alan Titchmarsh, a noted expert in this area, has now issued a significant warning, ‘trendy re-wilded gardens are ‘catastrophic’ for wildlife,” he added….

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  11. It isn’t just Lyndeny Council, either:

    “Torridge Council head calls for better maintenance of public spaces”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66383109

    The public thinks council-owned parks and public spaces that are being left to nature are being neglected, a Devon council head says.

    Doug Bushby, chairman of Torridge District Council, said leaving grass to grow 2ft (0.6m) in some areas presented a “Torridge-doesn’t-care” image.

    He called for better maintenance of parks and public spaces year-round.

    Critics said the council had an obligation to increase biodiversity after declaring a climate emergency.

    Mr Bushby said he had “lots and lots of complaints” about the state of the Bideford Higher Cemetery, saying he thought it was “very disrespectful when the people go to their local cemetery and the grass is two feet tall”….

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  12. In the immortal words of Gerald the Gorilla:

    “Wild? I was absolutely livid!”

    ‘Rewilding’ is just an excuse for councils to neglect their responsibilities (whilst still increasing council tax).

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  16. That was a real tonic Jaime – best on-topic joke to lighten up the dirge of green madness I’d seen for a while. I didn’t need to see the video to enjoy the memory – but for the record the first one worked for me on my iPhone/Safari connected to home wifi, no VPN, and has just worked again on my MacBook/Chrome over North West Somerset wifi. So it seems all good. Or near enough.

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  17. “‘They’ve become complacent’: Greens face battle to hold on to Brighton seat
    The Green party hopes to convince voters in its only seat in parliament that there is life after Caroline Lucas”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/22/greens-brighton-pavilion-seat-after-caroline-lucas

    …As they introduce Berry to voters in a constituency where much of Lucas’s support was personal, the Greens are doing so in the aftermath of disastrous local elections last May, where they went from running a minority administration to holding just seven of the 54 council seats.

    Weston says it was the Greens’ record running the council that turned her away: “If you look around in Brighton there’s always strikes, or problems with the bins. Nothing has really progressed.”…

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  18. “Weed-choked pavements anger residents as ‘rewilding’ divides UK towns and cities
    Councils are letting grass and weeds grow to increase urban biodiversity. But many people are unhappy with the result”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/26/civic-wars-break-out-over-rewilding-town-centres-age-of-extinction

    Brighton is home to the UK’s only Green member of parliament and is outwardly a bastion of progressive politics. Wild spaces here are not only the rolling hills of East Sussex or the beachfront but the smaller, often overlooked, green areas within residential neighbourhoods.

    These untamed enclaves are full of nature’s drama, but another kind of drama is playing out among residents who feel that rewilding in the city’s backyard has gone too far.

    “I’m fully supportive of eco-friendly policies generally but they shouldn’t be used for just manifesting neglect,” says resident Lesley Fallowfield, who recently had to go to A&E after falling over vegetation growing out of the pavement by her house.

    Fallowfield, who has lived in her house for 30 years, spent six weeks wearing an orthopaedic boot and crutches and has had enough of weeds among the paving slabs. “I think it looks terrible. It would put me off buying a property here,” she says.

    She is not alone in her concerns. The push from local authorities to rewild spaces is causing consternation in villages, towns and cities across the country.

    Green patches outside people’s houses are in many places no longer neat and well cut, as the majority of residents expect them to be….

    …Long grass provides a home for invertebrates, such as butterflies and moths, which lay eggs on it, and bumblebees, which nest within it.

    But many residents in Brighton are unconvinced by these well-documented wildlife benefits. One said the main thing she was finding was dog poo. “I think there is enough wildlife as it is,” said another, adding that the policy had only benefited ticks and rats….

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  20. “Brighton & Hove City Council set to reintroduce weedkiller”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-68075151

    “Tim Rowkins, chair of the City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee, told a council meeting that weeds in the city were “so well established that they’ve begun damaging roads and pavements.

    “Parts of the city are completely wild and many of our residents – wheelchair users, parents and carers with buggies, those with visual or mobility impairments – simply can’t travel the distance of their own street safely.””

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  21. OK, so this is about Birmingham, not Brighton, but the point holds good. Bristol Council (vying with Brighton for the medal for “greenest” Council) is talking about emptying bins only once every four weeks in an effort to encourage more recycling. When you reduce vital services to that extent, rubbish piles up, people (wrongly – but it happens) resort to fly-tipping, and you get more rats.

    “‘We’ve got rats as big as your feet’: Birmingham residents despair as rubbish piles up

    Since the council declared itself bankrupt, and bin workers went on strike, the city’s streets have become clogged with bin bags and fly-tipping”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/31/weve-got-rats-as-big-as-your-feet-birmingham-residents-despair-as-rubbish-piles-up

    …Residents across the city have raised alarm at the growing level of litter and fly-tipping, which they say has worsened since the Labour-run city council declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2022, and even more so since bin workers started strike action this month in a dispute over roles being scrapped to save money.

    There are also fears the situation could get drastically worse when the council reduces waste bin collections to once a fortnight, instead of once a week, in a cost-cutting measure being introduced from April….

    Then there are other side-effects that it’s so easy to blame (wrongly) on climate change:

    “With the rubbish, with the flooding that we get because the drains are blocked, it’s a massive hazard.

    But, as we all know (sarc) these aren’t the issues that drive rat numbers up, it’s the climate crisis that does that:

    “‘Perfect rat storm’: urban rodent numbers soar as the climate heats, study finds

    Sharp rise in population in 11 of 16 cities expected to continue as rising temperatures make it easier for the animals to breed, say researchers”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/31/rat-numbers-cities-climate-temperatures-rodents

    Liked by 1 person

  22. “Monthly bin collections and library closures: furious Bristol residents turn on Greens over council cuts

    Guerrilla protest against low-traffic neighbourhood is latest backlash against newly-elected council”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/01/bristol-protests-green-led-council-cuts

    …The proposals have generated widespread opposition, with over 7,500 signing a petition in the city. Even some Green party members in Bristol are uncomfortable with the idea. Danica Priest, who was a Green party candidate in May, fears voters could start deserting the party: “People are seeing their council tax go up and services go down. Bins are one of the main roles of local government, and if bins aren’t being collected that’s all people will care about.”…

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