Goldsmid by-election profile – Philip Berman (Labour)

Six candidates are standing in a by-election in Goldsmid ward for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council on Thursday 25 June.

The seat became vacant when former councillor Jackie O’Quinn resigned.

The six candidates are Louis Bird (Conservative), Nadia Barton Ahmad (Green), Philip Berman (Labour), Kim Leyland-Walker (Liberal Democrat), Luke Willmoth (Reform UK) and Glenn Kelly (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition).

Each candidate has answered questions about local issues and why electors should vote for them.

Here are the responses from Labour candidate Philip Berman, 56, a podcast producer, editor and host on the theme of interfaith dialogue and political psychology.

Why do you want to be a councillor?

I’ve spent most of my working life around public service, politics and communication – at the Parliamentary Ombudsman, a workers’ rights charity, helping the NHS explain the covid vaccine roll-out in London and making programmes like the Politics Show and Countryfile at the BBC.

All of that has shown me how decisions made at a local level affect real people’s lives.

I don’t just want to comment on those decisions from the sidelines any more.

I want to get more involved locally, listen properly and help make the council even more responsive, fair and effective for the people it serves.

Why do you want to stand in this ward?

So many of our friendships and family milestones are rooted in the Goldsmid ward. I got married here. It’s where my wife, my daughter and I have lived for the past 13 years.

My mum moved to the ward to be closer and we all used to meet as a family in St Ann’s Well Gardens until she passed away.

Recently I’ve become an active Labour member here, and seen first-hand the difference great councillors can make, with improved basic services like refuse collection and accessible public toilets.

I care deeply about this community, understand its pressures, and want to work with residents to get things done for Goldsmid.

What are the key issues specific to this ward?

Many residents are feeling the strain of the “cost of living” crisis.

Labour has responded with the Brighton and Hove Fairness Fund living support and has accelerated the building of social housing and the buying back of former council homes to provide more affordable housing.

Residents also care about basic services and they’ve seen real progress: more reliable bin collections and thousands of potholes fixed since 2023.

I also want to help local residents identify pavements damaged by tree roots so that the council can repair them and make our streets even safer and more accessible.

Falling birth rates are affecting pupil numbers in primary and secondary schools. How would you manage this issue?

Pupil numbers have fallen more sharply in Brighton and Hove than in most other places because we have such unaffordable housing.

The only way out of this is to build more social and affordable housing which is genuinely one of the reasons I’m standing for Labour: I have been really impressed with their record of buying and building council housing.

In terms of managing the issue of secondary school places, the council should pursue creative solutions like federations or perhaps even a local authority trust to make the best use of resources and protect individual schools.

We have very successful primary schools in Goldsmid.

Temporary and emergency housing is a huge expense. What measures should be taken to reduce this cost?

Social housing, social housing, social housing. That’s the only solution.

The Thatcher government did so much damage to this country – selling off council housing, without a mechanism to build it back. This council is genuinely rebuilding social housing – and I will be pushing hard to build even more.

In doing so, we’ll provide affordable houses for locals and reduce the cost on the council.

How would you improve and maintain roads in the ward?

Councillor Trevor Muten (a Goldsmid and Labour councillor) is leading the way on improving roads across the city and in the ward.

We’ve increased funding dramatically, from £5.5 million under the Greens in 2022 to almost £9 million this year – and with further increases already baked into our budgets for years to come.

The Tory government halved funding for roads which is a shocking statistic. The current government and the council are sorting roads on a big scale – and there’s lots more to do!

Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm. Valid photographic ID is required to vote.