Former Green councillor Ollie Sykes has been picked as the party’s candidate in the Wish Ward by-election in Hove.
Brighton and Hove Green Party said that Mr Sykes, who stepped down three years ago, would stand for the vacant seat on Brighton and Hove City Council.
The vacancy arose after the death of long-serving Conservative councillor Garry Peltzer Dunn at the age of 79.
Mr Sykes, 56, represented Brunswick and Adelaide ward from 2011 to 2019 and stood for the Greens in Hove at the general election in 2019.
The Green Party said: “The experienced councillor was notably the party’s finance lead for five years, before standing down in May 2019.
“He previously stood as the Green Party candidate for Hove in the last general election.
“He has continued to take an active role in the community since 2019, including as a member of the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership board.
“In December 2018, Sykes proposed the motion which led to Brighton and Hove City Council declaring a climate and biodiversity emergency.”
He said: “I’ve been inspired by the work of our Green-led council since stepping aside three years ago – and they have made real progress in tackling our climate and biodiversity emergency.
“I believe that right now the city needs more green councillors. Anyone watching politics over the last few months would be horrified by the mess created by the Tory government in Westminster and the lack of opposition from Labour.
“The mess created by national government is letting our city down. Whether that is the increase in people needing to use food banks, children eligible for free school meals or promises of damaging cuts to vital public services – we cannot allow this to continue.
“If elected, I will fight to ensure we act with urgency on the crises we face.”
The Green leader of the council, Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “I would be delighted for Ollie to join our Green group of councillors again at such a crucial time.
“Having worked closely with him over the eight years he was a councillor, I know he is dedicated, hard-working and on top of his brief.”
Mr Sykes works as a principal consultant with Mott MacDonald, joining the business in May after 14 years at the Environment Agency where he was a senior project manager.
The by-election is due to take place on Thursday 8 December.
So Ollie proposed the motion which led to Brighton and Hove City Council declaring a climate and biodiversity emergency – thanks Ollie 🙄
Perhaps he could explain what this, 4 years on, has achieved quantitatively in reducing total carbon emissions in the city, other than the claimed one-third drop in the 2% of what is the responsibility of the council?
Similarly how has biodiversity increased other than Councillor Jamie Lloyd telling us someone had seen a hedgehog?
When will both these emergencies be over, or are they just an excuse to throw £10m a year of our council tax at schemes the Greens want, none of which seem to have any measurements or defined benefits?
Interesting that Ollie stood as the Green candidate in Hove and Portslade at the last General election – shame he only got 4.4% of the vote and lost his deposit 😉
Yet another failed parliamentary candidate who will abuse a councilor position to pretend they are a politician, rather than address bins, lighting, school transport and weeds..
Another failed parliamentary candidate indeed! This is getting silly now. We deserve better than failed second-rate career politicians, please.
Glad to know who not to vote for next time around.
Ollie Sykes won’t win in Wish, but he was a kind, conscientious and competent councillor during his previous eight-year stint.