Councillors clash over proposal to sell special number plate

Brighton and Hove City Councillors have this evening clashed over plans to sell a special number plate to raise money for causes in the city.

The ruling Green administration has proposed selling the CD1 number plate used by the city’s mayor in the belief it could raise up to £150,000 at auction.

However, rival councillors have voiced their unhappiness at selling the sought after number plate and both the Labour and Conservative group leaders refused to support the plan during a discussion at today’s cabinet meeting.

Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald, whose wife Carol is a former Mayor, believed there were better ways to raise capital for the city rather than a one-off sale of a ‘historic asset’.

However, the cabinet member for finance, Cllr Jason Kitcat, scoffed at the suggestion and described the number plate as ‘a piece of plastic with some numbers on it’.

Cllr Kitcat and his fellow Green cabinet members remarked that they were yet to speak to any member of the public who supported the idea of keeping the number plate rather than raising capital for groups in the city.

It was suggested the disagreement between Green and Conservative councillors ‘disclosed the difference in class values’ between the parties, according to Cllr Ben Duncan.

It is not the first time the matter of the CD1 number plate has been discussed with The Argus having run a poll in 2005 on the subject, which at the time found readers to be opposed to the sale.

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on February 9, 2012. Filed under Brighton and Hove News,Council News,Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry