Five candidates are standing in a by-election in Queen’s Park for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council on Thursday 2 May.
The seat became vacant when Chandni Mistry resigned. She was elected for Labour last May but expelled from the party in December. She then sat as an independent but resigned in March.
The five candidates are Sunny Choudhury (Conservative), Milla Gauge (Labour), Dominique Hall (Liberal Democrat), Adrian Hart (Brighton and Hove Independent) and Luke Walker (Green).
Each candidate received questions about local issues submitted by the public and was asked why they wanted to represent the ward.
Below are the responses from Luke Walker, 46, a teacher who tweets as @DrLukeWalker.
Do you live in the ward and why do you want to represent Queen’s Park?
I live near Queen’s Park Road, in neighbouring Hanover and Elm Grove ward. I have lived there for 11 years, and in Brighton for 20 years.
I am an active member of the local community, taking part in park maintenance sessions organised by Friends of Queen’s Park, swimming in the wonderful St Luke’s Pool and (when he was younger) playing with my son in Queen’s Park playground.
I am standing so that I can bring local residents’ issues and concerns to the council.
How were you selected to stand for election?
I was nominated by a selection committee of the Brighton and Hove Green Party which was elected by local party members.
What are your views on St Luke’s school appealing against the council’s decision to reduce admissions by a whole class of 30 four-year-olds?
I am a teacher so I feel strongly about this. St Luke’s is an excellent and very popular school.
Labour promised last year not to close schools and to increase nursery provision. They are now breaking both those promises.
The drop in numbers of school-age children across the city is a difficult problem but affected parents tell me Labour have not listened or engaged.
It is important to have local opposition councillors who can provide scrutiny of the Labour council’s decisions.
Freshfield Road constantly has cars speeding along it. What will you do to bring speed cameras and crossing places?
I have several friends who live in Freshfield Road and I know that the road desperately needs better safety measures, including improved crossings.
The same applies to Queen’s Park Road which hundreds of school children use every day and which has similar safety problems.
I am disappointed that Labour now seem to have dropped the planned improvements to Queen’s Park Road which were funded by the previous Green-run council and which Labour said they supported.
If elected, I would push for improvements to both these major roads.
How would you tackle the weeds on the streets without reintroducing glyphosate spraying?
Once again, Labour’s re-introduction of glyphosate is a broken election promise as just last year they said they would not bring back this highly toxic chemical.
I know there are a few streets where damaged and overgrown pavements have become a safety issue and I would push for repairs.
It is clear that manual weed removal does work and it seems that the real issue has been problems hiring enough people to do this seasonal work, particularly after Brexit.
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Polling stations in Queen’s Park are due to open at 7am on Thursday 2 May and close at 10pm. Photo ID is required for those voting in person.
This was a weak response in my opinion. It’s just doing that Green thing of blaming everyone else, and not really providing anything positive or proactive to the table. Honestly, this would actively detract me from voting Green.
Idk – the three issues – road safety in Queen’s Park, pesticides and school places are all fairly laid on Labour. Pointing out that they are breaking manifesto and pre election promises in all three areas isn’t really blaming everyone else – this is on Labour. Because these Q’s presumably come from the community, I would say it is fair comment..
True, my thoughts on it as a campaign tool, simply assigning blame is not very insightful. I learn nothing of who he is other than he is coming across as a side character. It may be just the format here, but, do I want someone like that representing Brighton?
Hand pulling of weeds to resolve the problem?? Deluded!
Labour is not listening to the people, as stated this Labour Council has retracted on all its pledges which they used to get back in to Council.
I have listened to them & do not trust them, glyphosate is toxic to humans & animals, perhaps when dogs & cats become sick after
Labour has freely used the “ slow drip application” people will take note of the harmful effect. Manual extraction of the offending weeds in some
Pavements is the most effective it also ensures that pavements are inspected & made safer.