The council wants the volunteer organisers of the main Remembrance parade and service in Hove to pay for lost parking income.
Brighton and Hove City Council used to organise the annual events in Brighton, Hove and Portslade to honour the fallen but three years ago pulled the plug.
Instead, politicians agreed that volunteers, including vicars and military veterans, should take over the task, and allocated £400 to cover all the costs.
To add insult to injury, this year the council’s parking services team told those volunteers that they would have to pay £180 because 10 parking bays would be out of action for three hours.
Yesterday (Thursday 9 November) the Archdeacon of Brighton and Lewes came cap in hand to councillors with a humble prayer of supplication.
The Venerable Martin Lloyd Williams, flanked by Air Vice Marshal Peter Millar, led a deputation to the council’s Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Economic Development Committee at Hove Town Hall.
The archdeacon said:
“Costs incurred by All Saints Hove have not been taken into account to date.”
And the entire £400 budget is used up each year organising the Remembrance ceremony at the Old Steine War Memorial, in Brighton.
The archdeacon told councillors:
“This year we were also asked if we would fund the cost of the suspension of 10 parking bays near All Saints Church Hove by Parking Services – 10 bays at £18 each.
“In the end, having appealed, we were told that we would not be expected to pay for the suspension of those parking bays this year but we would be expected to cover that cost in the coming year.”
Labour councillor Alan Robins, who chairs the committee, said:
“This is an issue the council has struggled with for some time in the context of decreasing resources
“I cannot promise that we will be able to increase the funding in the way requested for the memorial services given the current extremely challenging financial climate.
“We will, however, review this budget in the context of the overall budget planning and (budget) setting process to be determined in February.”
Green councillor Raphael Hill and Conservative councillor Anne Meadows were keen for a report but, ranged against eight Labour councillors, they were never going to win a vote.
Instead, the volunteers were left with the hope that their modest request might be given a sympathetic hearing as part of the budget-setting process.
Outside the meeting, one observer said:
“It beggars belief. The council seems to know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
“Having dumped their civic duty on a band of volunteers, they not only expect them to pay for the privilege, they now want to tax them on top.
“We want to honour the fallen but they give the impression of wanting to price out remembrance.”
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