Mourners lay wreath on Duke’s Mound green wall after cutting Brighton News

The mourners listen to impassioned speeches which called on the head of the council Phélim Mac Cafferty to resign, before laying a wreath at the base of the structure.

Last month, council officials tore down the living wall of Madeira Drive, which was planted by the Victorians and is a wildlife sanctuary.

The crown placed on the green wall

Elected officials were not informed of plans to reduce the Japanese spindle, which activists say took place during the nesting season.

Crowds gathered at the site around 12:45 p.m., before the founder of the Save Maderia Drive campaign group, Ollie Wilson, addressed the protesters with a megaphone.

When he was finished, Jerusalem was played on a loudspeaker, which saw a woman join the chorus.

He said Brighton and Hove City Council was like a ‘bad apple’ whose only value was to be ‘thrown in the trash’.

Mr Wilson said, “How can this be a green policy? This is sheer hypocrisy.

“Phélim Mac Cafferty and his sidekick Amy Heley are obsessed with cycle paths to the exclusion of everything else.

“He let down Brighton and Hove and its people with Madeira Drive.

“We really want a competent government and when you look at this [Mederia Drive], this entails enormous dangers.

“They did not consult all user groups despite the fact that we got 7,000 signatures on our petition last year.

“This advice is like a bad apple. The only good thing to do with a bad apple is to throw it in the trash.”

It comes after the Argus revealed that the council accepted that the wall’s local wildlife site status was “not properly noted or considered” by officials before proceeding with the plans.

Local wildlife sites are areas of land that are “particularly important” for their wildlife.

“We would like to apologize to our residents for the way we have reduced the stretch of the green wall at the foot of Duke’s Mound,” a council spokesperson said.

“It shouldn’t have been reduced that way. We are very sorry about this and an investigation is underway to find out how this happened.

The green wall was cut by the board

“What is clear is that only minimal reduction should have taken place, but we admit that we have reduced much more than necessary and it should not have happened at a local wildlife site.

“We will be undertaking a detailed investigation into how this happened and how the status of the local wildlife site (which was recognized at the planning stage) was not properly noted or considered in the planning stage. as detailed designs have been developed. ”