Five candidates are standing in a by-election in Queen’s Park ward for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) next Thursday (24 September).
The seat became vacant when former Labour councillor Milla Gauge resigned.
The five candidates are Stefan Speckesser (Conservative), Mark Strong (Green), Steve Gladwin (Labour), Rüdiger Dikty-Daudiyan (Liberal Democrat) and John Shepherd (Reform UK).
Each candidate has answered questions about local issues and why electors should vote for them.
Here are the responses from transport consultant Mark Strong, 64.
Why do you want to be a councillor?
I have a proven track record of fighting for Queen’s Park for many years.
For example: fighting to maintain our bus routes, keeping the local GP surgery open and making sure residents aren’t negatively affected by developments like Brighton College.
As a councillor, I would be empowered to help local people even more.
As someone who has spent decades as a community representative, including on a council scrutiny committee until July 2026, I’m keen to use my experience to help our area and its residents thrive while working for environmental and social justice across the city.
Why do you want to stand in this ward?
I’ve lived in Queen’s Park for over two decades. It’s my home and I love being part of the local community so it would be a privilege to represent my neighbours.
My children went to local schools, I use the wonderful local cafés and pubs and I’m a regular at our residents association.
I don’t just live in the ward, I work here too and I know it inside out, from Craven Woods to Grand Parade and all the wonderful places in between, especially Queen’s Park itself where I regularly volunteer for clean-up days.
What are the key issues specific to this ward?
Like all of Brighton and Hove, housing and the cost of living are difficult for many people.
But it’s a real problem in Queen’s Park which has more younger adults than the city average, more single-person households and a lot more flats.
Queen’s Park has one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the city (and indeed England!) which, while good for the environment, means that good bus services, safe cycling and well-maintained pavements are crucial.
Queen’s Park itself is at the centre of the ward and making sure it’s safe and in good condition is a priority.
Falling birth rates are affecting pupil numbers in primary and secondary schools. How should this issue be managed?
The recent decision to reduce the intake at Queen’s Park Primary School makes real the threat of falling birth rates.
Elsewhere, four primary schools have closed in just two years.
Losing a much-loved school harms the whole community but there’s a reason why fewer children are being born in Brighton and Hove.
The high cost of housing is pushing families away from the city.
I’ll work for a city families can actually afford to live in. I’ll also push for earlier interventions at schools at risk, and bring together local head teachers and governors.
Temporary and emergency housing is a huge cost to the council. What measures should be taken to reduce this cost?
Affordable, secure and healthy housing is a human right yet the council pays over £20 million a year to commercial landlords for shoddy temporary accommodation.
It’s a rip-off. Reining in these costs while raising standards is critical but we must treat the cause, not just the symptoms.
Our money should be reinvested in our city, funding vital services and public infrastructure – not handed to shareholders.
I will push to bring empty council properties back into use and identify under-used spaces for new housing, ensuring vulnerable families get the safe, quality homes they deserve.
How would you improve and maintain roads in the ward?
More people here walk, wheel, cycle and travel by bus than drive.
So it’s important to improve and maintain pavements and roads.
Lumpy pavements are a big problem for disabled people and buggy users while potholes are a problem for everyone.
My experience of over 30 years in transport planning tells me prevention is better than cure so it needs to be much easier to report potholes and other problems.
Making best use of limited money means prioritising which issues to address including safer crossings like at Freshfield Road which has been promised but not delivered for over a decade!
Given the reasons for the by-election, what steps will you take to ensure the council complies with its legal obligations to protect children including those who may be confused about their gender?
Safeguarding is crucial and must always have children’s best interests in mind at every step.
It’s about creating environments where children – and adults – feel comfortable, whatever their background or identity.
The city’s Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit plays a key role, ensuring pupils are safe no matter who they are, with schools that foster respect and equality.
I’m proud to share this city with so many gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and gender-non-conforming people – I’ll continue to fight for their freedom not only to live safely but also to thrive.
Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm. Valid photographic ID is required to vote.
I respect the comment he makes that looks beyond “closing schools is bad” and talks about the reasons why. Many of the other candidates have been pretty shallow on this. His background as a transport advisor probably means you’ll see a passionate push for cycle lanes throughout Queen’s Park!
To Mark Strong I would say this: you didn’t answer the question or engage with the reasons Milla Gauge gave for resigning. Milla did not resign because she thought the Council needed to create more welcoming environments for children. She said she had made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to get the Council to address concerns about safeguarding, lawful governance and democratic accountability.
So saying that safeguarding is important, that children should feel comfortable, and that the Toolkit “plays a key role” sidesteps the difficult question: what should the Council do when parents raise safeguarding concerns about how that very guidance is being applied?
A safeguarding-first approach requires more than reassuring people that an existing policy is designed to keep children safe. It requires professional curiosity: listening to concerns, testing assumptions, examining the evidence and being prepared to ask whether existing policies or practices themselves need reviewing.
That seems particularly important when a councillor has resigned saying that repeated attempts to have those questions properly examined were unsuccessful.
So answer this question please: If you were elected, what specifically would you do differently when parents raise serious safeguarding concerns that challenge an existing Council policy or approach?
Milla tried to use her position inappropriately, attempted to bypass the process that is there for a good reason, so we don’t have knee-jerk reactions, and allows other investigations and reviews to occur in an order that makes sense, ironically – THAT is what lawful governance and accountability looks like.
No – she used the correct process. In my case she raised Councillor Enquiry #XXXXXX in November 2024, and did so repeatedly. Then in April 2025, post Supreme Court Ruling (FWS), the responses received needed fresh explanation from the executive. None were given. And then the shutters came down – I went to the scrutiny committee Chair who directed me to the complaints process. That’s how BHCC works.
Other residents raised serious schools safeguarding concerns privately and with HOSC – the Health Oversight & Scrutiny Committee – (most recently in July).
The job of a councillor is to represent and advocate for constituents. On safeguarding matters (children, women and girls) this is a councillors duty – it is not to blithely obey the leaderships definition of “appropriate” process.
…which was the incorrect process for Safeguarding, especially one that was already ongoing an NHS investigation, prompting an independent national review. There was no case to answer, because it was already being looked at.
I’d imagine by the way we’ve repeated this conversation several times, that you were directed to complaints because you were never going to be happy with the answer you have been given. It has actually very little to do with the leadership, but more to do with Milla’s concerning attempt to sidestep a process that was already underway.
Side note: bit weird you took the time to specifically omit safeguarding men.
You have damaged this city beyond measure with your ablest “active travel” schemes, gridlocking traffic in Valley Gardens to increase emissions ready for ULEZ charges AND taking out hundreds of paid visitor parking bays including disabled bays in a tourist resort as a private consultant. You are unfit to stand as a Councillor as you do not act in the public interest, only your own. Furthermore you are a founding member of Bricycles with a cycling communism agenda to push.
No-one is introducing ULEZ, that’s just another myth peddled by extreme far right groups.
Why aren’t they introducing an ULEZ? I would think it is a logical progression. I am not certain when extreme far-right groups started vilifying them , was it before prayers or after the singing of God Save the King?
Just before the burning…I mean banning of books they didn’t like in libraries, haha!
You’ve actually taken me back for a second there…if I remember rightly, ULEZ was explicitly ruled out as unfeasible and not needed. I’d also add not wanted to that, personally.
“Cycling communism”
lol
Surely it should be “cycling fascism?” 😆