The Green Party has picked a community campaigner to stand in the latest Queen’s Park by-election.
Mark Strong, 64, an active travel consultant, hopes to repeat the success of his party colleague Marina Lademacher, 29, who won a seat previously held by Labour in September last year.
And the Greens were buoyed more recently when Nadia Barton Ahmad, 22, won a by-election for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council in Goldsmid ward. Labour had won the seat at the local elections in 2023.
The Greens said: “Queen’s Park residents will be heading to the polls for the fourth time in as many years after the third resignation from a Labour councillor since the 2023 local elections.
“Mark Strong, an active travel consultant, brings an extensive history of local action and community representation.
“He has consistently stood up for Queen’s Park and the wider area, with experience already of holding the council to account as a scrutiny committee co-optee and member of the council’s Transport Partnership.
“Until July 2026, he had served for many years as the elected transport and public realm representative for Brighton and Hove Community Works.
“The Green Party is hopeful that residents will place their trust in Mark to represent them on Brighton and Hove City Council.
“This latest by-election follows last September’s win in Queen’s Park which saw one of the biggest swings in the council’s history and, more recently, the election of Nadia Barton Ahmad to represent the people of Goldsmid just six weeks ago.
“With this summer expected to be the hottest on record, Mark’s history as a climate activist will resonate with residents who are understandably worried about the impact of climate change on our green spaces, especially Queen’s Park and Valley Gardens.
“Additionally, Mark has recently been campaigning alongside Councillor Marina Lademacher and local residents for a safer crossing of Freshfield Road.
“After many years of Green pressure, the council has now started to design the crossing. Greens say they will continue to press to make sure it’s finally built.
“This by-election will be the 8th since Labour took control of the council, all of which have been caused by councillors elected for Labour resigning well before completing their terms of office.”
The by-election follows the resignation of Labour councillor Milla Gauge, 48, who won her seat in a by-election in May 2024 after the resignation of Chandni Mistry.
Miss Mistry was just 19 when she was elected as a Labour councillor in May 2023 but the party expelled her and her mother and fellow councillor Bharti Gajjar a few months before they stepped down.
Concerns were raised that they lived in Leicester not Brighton – something that they both denied.
Mr Strong said: “I’m so proud to be selected as the Green candidate for Queen’s Park. It’s the third by-election here since 2023 and residents deserve better than a revolving door of Labour representatives.
“I’m ready to step up and fight hard for the community where I live and work, building on my existing experience as a trusted advocate for our communities.
“People in Queen’s Park, and across the city, don’t have to put up with being ignored. I’m committed to always standing up for the climate, for community groups and small businesses and, above all, for the residents of Queen’s Park.”
The Green opposition leader on the council, Steve Davis, said: “Mark is a community champion in every sense of the term and already has a wealth of experience holding Labour to account. I know that he’ll stand up for residents who’ve been failed by Labour.
Councillor Davis added: “We scored a huge victory last time around in Queen’s Park and, given the hard work and effort that Councillor Marina Lademacher has shown, we’d love residents to entrust Mark as their representative.”
1. Where does he stand on Park and Ride schemes, which the Greens have historically opposed?
2. What does he think about the £51 Million in losses incurred by the i360 scheme, which the Greens supported the public funding of?
Mark Strong’s consultancy company Transport Initiatives does a lot of contract work for Brighton and Hove City Council.
This is clearly a major conflict of interests and Mr Strong would appear to be a conflicted candidate who is unsuitable to stand.
We cannot have another situation where a Green Councillor awards contracts to his own company as happened with a previous Green Councillor- pre the last local elections.
Shouldn’t it be “active-travel consultant” as an adjectival phrase to distinguish the three words from being taken as a travel consultant who is active? Perhaps, if elected, Mark Strong’s first campaign could be to save the hyphen. I am sure this would have fellow-cyclist cllr Sykes’s support and resonate nationally.
Hopefully he will hold them accountable and encourage his colleagues to do so too as it is wilfully lacking at the moment accountability.