Conservative Party councillors on Brighton and Hove City Council’s planning committee voted en bloc this week to stop local charity Community Base making income from advertising on its north wall. The charity's director called the decision "nasty and politically motivated".

Community Base has had permission to advertise on the wall since 2004 and relies on this income to keep rents down for the 26 charities and community groups with a home in its seven floor building on Queens Road in central Brighton.

The Conservative councillors at the meeting made no mention of the visual impact of the advert, the criteria the committee should have used, but instead repeatedly commented on the fact that the Green Party had advertised on the site last year. An officer had to intervene at one point to remind Conservative councillors that they should not base their decision on the content of the advertising.

All councillors other than the Conservatives supported the application, commenting on the fact that the advert brightened up the area by covering the famously ugly grey wall at the north end of Community Base.

Community Base’s application was also backed by 24 letters of support from neighbours, local community groups, individuals and nearby businesses including the newsagent and pub directly in front of the advert and the church next door. There were no objections to the application.

Community Base director Colin Chalmers said:
"This was a nasty, politically motivated decision by Conservative councillors that will cause real, and entirely unnecessary, financial hardship to Community Base and the other charities and community groups in our building.

“It was clear from their comments that Conservative councillors were angry that the Green Party had put an advert on our wall and voted against us because of that. Ironically we were recently approached about taking an advert for the Conservative’s Brighton conference later this month, something we’d obviously have been happy to do. I thought planning committees were meant to be above party politics but this decision clearly wasn’t – and it’s local charities and community groups that will suffer as a result.

“Charities are always being told to be more self-reliant and business like, but when we make deals with the private sector that are supported by our local community and where everyone’s a winner we get treated like this by Conservative councillors. This was a really unfair decision and we’re not going to take it lying down.”

St Peter’s & North Laine councillor Pete West, who spoke in support of the application at the planning committee, said:
“Planning officers have consistently offered unconvincing arguments that banner advertising is inappropriate in this location on conservation grounds, but in the past the Planning Committee has taken the reasonable view that Community Base should be allowed to display advertising, in order to provide the organisation with much-needed revenue, and to brighten up what is quite frankly a rather ugly and monolithic concrete edifice.
 
“However, despite a great deal of support from the local community, well-reasoned arguments, and a plea for clemency from the Director of Community Base, Tory members of the Planning Committee voted against allowing advertising to continue.
 
“Planning is supposed to be non-party political, but during the debate the Tories made repeated references to the fact that the Green Party has paid to use this location to display billboards in the past. Despite being legally advised this was not a valid concern, the Tories persisted with these questions. I certainly got the impression that they may well have organised themselves in advance, and possibly predetermined their decision which is illegal.
 
“The Tories’ decision to refuse permission for Community Base’s advertising application seems to have been politically-motivated: now many community and voluntary groups which rely on Community Base for a wide range of services will be faced with financial hardship, in a fiscal climate which has already seen swingeing cuts to funding for the sector.
 
"The Tories' behaviour was scandalous and not for the first time betrays how little they care for the needs of ordinary people and how little regard they have for the responsibilities of their office.  They should be ashamed of themselves for allowing petty party politics to cloud such an important decision, which will have a very real and tangible impact on community and voluntary groups who do such important work in the city.”

Community Base provides a home to 26 local charities and community groups including Mencap, Cruse Bereavement Care, Brighton Housing Trust, Brighton and Hove Volunteers, TB Alert and Brighton and Hove Carers Centre. and free services to hundreds more.

Community Base plan to appeal against the decision and launch a petition calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to reconsider its position. For further information contact Colin Chalmers, Community Base director, on 07968 727371 or 01273 234047 or at director@communitybase.org

For more information about Community Base view:
www.communitybase.org