Labour was accused of “rhetoric and rubbish” over its stance on a proposed liveable neighbourhood scheme by the Greens.

Brighton and Hove Green party candidate Hannah Allbrooke slammed suggestions that the plans for a low-traffic neighbourhood for Hanover and Tarner were a “vanity project” and said that only electing more Green councillors would ensure action on such issues, rather than “dither and delay”.

In the first of three debates organised by The Argus in partnership with Latest TV, Ms Allbrooke said: “Labour say they support low-traffic neighbourhoods in principle, but they also put out leaflets saying this city can’t afford more expensive LTNs.

“Labour have made claims about vanity projects about lots of things - they made claims years ago about Valley Gardens being a vanity project but when they ran the council and supported it, they then said it was the best thing in the world.

“It’s just rhetoric and rubbish from Labour when these are projects that really have an impact on people’s lives.”

LOCAL ELECTIONS 2023:

Theresa Fowler, Labour candidate for Hollingdean and Fiveways, denied claims that Labour had u-turned on its support for the project after the party diverted more than £1 million away from the project to keep toilets open, in the council’s budget meeting.

She said: “In principle, we agree with low-traffic neighbourhoods but, in this instance, it wasn’t properly consulted on.

“My inbox was full of people against it and up in arms and feeling that they haven’t been listened to properly.”

Marc Earthey, the Brighton and Hove Independents candidate for Rottingdean and West Saltdean, said that the low-traffic neighbourhood was “a lovely idea on paper, but fiddling with low traffic in one area would cause chaos in surrounding areas”.

He said: “These schemes are only going to work with proper consultation of those affected by it and people in the surrounding area.”

However, Ms Allbrooke claimed other parties were “rewriting history” and said residents were thoroughly consulted on the plans.

The Argus:

Questions by Argus readers submitted over the last few weeks were put to the panel, including one about Green plans to cut weekly waste collections.

Conservative candidate Samer Bagaeen said that his area has seen many missed collections in recent weeks and months and said the Tories would look into the possibility of renegotiating the city’s long-standing recycling contract with Veolia.

He said: “Veolia is doing a lot of really innovative work in other cities - Leeds, for example, is burning its waste to generate energy, so there are things we can do.

“The council needs to lead and leverage the influence it has in order to get companies to innovate.”

Ms Allbrooke defended plans to cut weekly waste collections and said: “Three out of four councils have this system - this isn’t something we have come up with and decided it might work. It is tried and tested in other councils and it works.

“I don’t really understand why other parties are saying it is not going to work here, because I think it will.”

She also accused Labour and the Conservatives of blocking a previous attempt to introduce a food waste collection scheme in the city.

Each of the panellists agreed that their parties would work to introduce a food waste collection service for Brighton and Hove if elected on May 4.

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Transport links to the outskirts of Brighton and Hove were also discussed, with Liberal Democrat candidate Ashley Ridley backing the idea of introducing a park and ride scheme in the city.

He said: “We have been working on this for as long as I have been a member and we absolutely support it.

“The site near Mill Road would be brilliant for it and it should be introduced. If you want cars not to come into the city centre, there’s no better way to than to offer them an alternative.”

Voters go to the polls across Brighton and Hove on May 4 to elect 54 councillors for the next four years.