UK's first Green council administration announced

 

Brighton Town HallToday Brighton & Hove’s Green Group of councillors have unveiled their team to lead the council, after winning the largest number of seats in last week’s local elections.

Among the posts announced today include their proposed Leader, Cabinet Members and other roles for the 23-strong group.

Bill Randall, Convenor of the Green Group and proposed Council Leader commented:

“Last week’s election results were a huge vote of confidence in the Greens.

“As a result we have assembled a team of many talents to take the city forward at a challenging time.”

*These appointments are subject to approval by Full Council, due to take place at the Annual Council meeting on Thursday 19 May.

 

The Cabinet of Brighton & Hove City Council

 

Bill RandallCouncillor Bill Randall
Leader of the Council

Bill has represented Hanover & Elm Grove since 2003. He was Convenor of the Green Party Group of councillors before the 2011 election. Bill is an award-winning writer and commentator who writes about housing and communities, environmental issues and the arts for national newspapers and magazines. A past Chair of Shelter’s National Housing Aid Trust, he was a Trustee of Age Concern Brighton, Hove and Portslade for five years. A member of the city’s Economic Partnership, he is a Governor of Elm Grove Primary School and a trustee of Same Sky, the community arts charity that organises the Brighton Festival Children’s Parade and Burning of the Clocks parade.

 

Amy KennedyCouncillor Amy Kennedy
Deputy Leader of the Council (Executive), Cabinet Member for Planning, Economic Development and Regeneration

With a professional background in construction & design, Amy is a former student of architecture. She is currently employed by a charity which works to ensure that the design and use of the built environment is inclusive, and reflects the needs and aspirations of minority groups, as well as ensuring the views of ordinary residents are valued in the planning process. Before the election, Amy was chair of the Culture, Tourism & Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee, and sat on the Planning Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Commission. Her campaigning work includes successfully calling for the prosecution of developers who felled protected trees in her ward, and working to improve sustainability measures at the city’s events. She is also a trustee of the Phoenix arts association, the largest artist-led arts organisation in the South-east of England.

 

Ian DaveyCouncillor Ian Davey
Deputy Leader of the Council (Non-Executive), Cabinet Member for Transport and Public Realm

Ian was elected in 2007, following a successful career in IT, and then in the community and voluntary sector where he started and ran the local cycle training charity, Bike for Life. In his four years as a councillor, Ian has been group Transport spokesperson and has sat on the Planning, Licensing and Housing management committees. He is particularly pleased to have played a part in the battle to bring forward the planning application for the Open Market which he sees as key to the future of London Road and The Level. Ian was the Green parliamentary candidate for Hove in the 2010 general election.

 

Jason KitcatCouncillor Jason Kitcat
Cabinet Member for Finance and Central Services

Jason has been a very active local councillor – leading on health, waste & recycling and finance issues for the Green Group of councillors. He has championed openness in council activity, including through the use of YouTube video defeating restrictions on such activities at a recent Tribunal. He works as Acting Assistant Executive Director for a digital rights campaigning organisation. Previously he was Head of Technology for a parenting website after having run a successful local Internet consulting business in Middle Street. Jason was a Green candidate for European Parliament in 2009.

 

Liz WakefieldCouncillor Liz Wakefield
Cabinet Member for Housing

Liz is a teacher, and is now Head of Traveller Education for a London borough, and previously taught for 11 years at Stanford Junior School and has also taught in Portslade, Lancing, Denton and Croydon. She has also worked as a tutor for children in care and for young offenders. She qualified as a teacher at Brighton University, having already gained a degree in Psychology at the University of London.

 

Pete WestCouncillor Pete West
Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability

Sussex-born Pete was Brighton’s first Green Party councillor, representing St Peter’s Ward from 1996 to 2003. He was re-elected in 2007. Pete, after working as a telecoms development engineer, graduated with a Masters degree in engineering with business management from Brighton University. His main role now, as well as his council duties, is as a parent to three young children. Until the election, Pete sat on a Council panel looking at the potential for renewable energy generation in the city. Pete chaired the Council panel considering the 20mph speed limit. He is keen to see a transport policy that reduces car dependence and air pollution by improving sustainable travel choice for everyone. He has sat on the Council’s Licensing Committee, and is a member of the Local Access Forum which advises on managing and improving access to the countryside.

 

Sue ShanksCouncillor Sue Shanks
Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

Sue teaches social sciences, specialising in professional youth work, in higher education. Before that, she worked for many years as a youth and community worker. Sue lives in Withdean, and until recently was a parent governor at Dorothy Stringer High School. She is a trustee of Sussex Clubs for Young People, and is involved in the national campaign, Defending Youth Work.

 

Geoffrey BowdenCouncillor Geoffrey Bowden
Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation and Tourism

A journalist and community activist living in Kemptown, Geoffrey runs a Brighton-based health and social care communications company. He works with the NHS and patient care charities which gives him insight into the damage caused by the policies of the Coalition and previous Labour governments – particularly the rapid sell-off of the NHS to profit-making companies. He was a key activist in the cross party campaign, which successfully won a decisive ‘no’ vote in a referendum to decide whether Brighton & Hove should have a locally elected mayor. Geoffrey has a track record of activism in the lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) community having been a volunteer for Pride in Brighton & Hove, the Albert Kennedy Trust, which is dedicated to supporting homeless LGBT teenagers and Voices from Care, a charity that helps former residents of care homes.  He has also been a prison visitor helping long term prisoners who need advice and support.

 

Rob JarrettCouncillor Rob Jarrett
Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health

Rob is a science teacher and maths tutor, for several years he was head of science at Croydon College and he has taught at Northbrook College and City College, Brighton. Married with one grown-up daughter, Rob has lived in Hove for 27 years. Before studying at Brighton University to become a teacher, he worked as a special needs assistant at Falmer, Patcham House and Cardinal Newman schools.

 

Ben DuncanCouncillor Ben Duncan
Cabinet Member for Communities and Community Safety

Ben is a journalist by profession. With a background in Human Rights Law, he is the Green Party’s national spokesperson on home affairs. He has served on Sussex Police Authority (one of only a few Greens outside of London to serve on a police authority). He has also worked part-time at a London Further Education college, promoting work-based training for some of the most deprived teenagers in the capital and adult education for all. He has been Vice-Chair of the St James’s Area Action Group and of the Friends of Saunders Park. Ben completed the first Brighton Marathon in 2010, raising £630 for the Brighton Unemployed Families Centre. He was the Green candidate for Parliament in Brighton Kemptown constituency in 2010.

 

For further information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

 

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