Join the protest outside County Hall, 9am, Tuesday 12 December – the date of ESCC’s next Cabinet meeting and the last day of the COP28 international climate conference.*
Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
Tuesday 21 November 2023
PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/fastcountyhall20july CAPTION: The ‘fast for fossil fuel divestment’ vigil outside County Hall on 20 July 2023. Note the fenced-off front entrance and multiple security guards – there were lots more! PHOTO: Divest East Sussex.
COUNTY COUNCIL WASTED OVER £30K ON UNNECESSARY “SECURITY” AT COUNTY HALL, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REVEALS
Scores of guards hired to “protect” Hall from email questions, petition hand-in and tiny vigil of peaceful fasters
Tuesday 21 November 2023: East Sussex County Council (ESCC) spent over £30k hiring scores of unnecessary “security personnel” at County Hall on just five dates this year, a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request has revealed [2].
The request – which was initially refused – reveals that ESCC:
> spent over £11k + VAT hiring 40 security personnel on 21 March 2023 and 9 May 2023, the dates on which members of the public handed-in a petition (signed by 5,236 local people) and attended the debate triggered by this petition respectively [2];
> spent £2,652.40 + VAT on hiring 20 security personnel to ‘guard’ the Hall on 7 February 2023 [2] – a date for which *no* protests had been publicised or organised and *none* took place. Members of the public *had* merely been encouraged to email written questions to the meeting [3].
> Spent £5,631.60 + VAT hiring 40 security personnel to ‘guard’ the Hall again on 18 July – a date for which *no* protests had been publicised or organised and *none* took place [2].
> Spent £5,631.60 + VAT on 20 July hiring 40 additional personnel to ‘guard’ the Hall from the ‘Fast for Fossil Fuel Divestment’, a tiny and completely peaceful vigil of (at its peak) seven people [4].
The total figure for unnecessary security during 2023 is considerably higher than £30k, as a similar number of security personnel were present during an hour-long photo-call outside the Hall on 19 September [5].
East Sussex County Council (ESCC)’s next Full Council meeting will take place on Tuesday 6 February*, sixteen days before it’s next vote(s) on fossil fuel divestment.
Please take 2 mins to email the question below to this meeting (deadline: 4pm, Monday 29 January).
Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
Friday 10 November 2023
PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/fastcountyhall20july CAPTION: The ‘fast for fossil fuel divestment’ vigil outside County Hall on 20 July 2023. Note the fenced-off front entrance and multiple security guards (which ESCC now claims weren’t there) – there were lots more! PHOTO: Divest East Sussex.
REVEALED: COUNTY COUNCIL WASTED OVER £13K ‘PROTECTING’ ITSELF FROM EMAIL QUESTIONS, PETITION HAND-IN AND DEBATE ATTENDEES
Freedom of Information Act finally reveals information that East Sussex County Council initially refused to disclose on bogus grounds
Friday 10 November 2023: East Sussex County Council (ESCC) spent over £13.8k (+VAT) hiring scores of unnecessary “security personnel” at County Hall on three dates this year, a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request has revealed [2].
The request – which was initially refused – reveals that ESCC:
> spent over £11k + VAT hiring 40 security personnel on 21 March 2023 and 9 May 2023, the dates on which members of the public handed-in a petition (signed by 5,236 local people) and attended the debate triggered by this petition respectively [3];
> spent £2,652.40 + VAT on hiring 20 security personnel to ‘guard’ the Hall on 7 February 2023 [3] – a date for which *no* protests had been publicised or organised and *none* took place. Members of the public *had* merely been encouraged to email written questions to the meeting [4].
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