Voters prepare to elect Brighton and Hove's "kingmaker"

They will compete in the by-election in the Goldsmid ward in Hove for the Brighton and Hove City Council seat vacated by the “missing councillor”, Conservative Paul Lainchbury.

His resignation last month followed weeks of pressure after it was revealed he had not attended any committee meetings for a year.

It has prompted a poll which will have wider repercussions than just deciding who represents Goldsmid, the area stretching around Hove station, the county cricket ground and St Ann’s Well Gardens.

Whoever wins will determine the political balance of the council and who will lead it until the next full city election in 2011, prompting residents’ group Save Hove to dub them the city’s kingmaker.

Until Mr Lainchbury’s resignation the Conservatives held 26 of the 54 council seats and were able to win key votes with the support of independent councillor Jayne Bennett.

They voted in an all-Conservative cabinet led by council leader Mary Mears.

Labour currently hold 13 seats, the Green Party has 12, and the Liberal Democrats two.

If any of the rival parties win the by-election they could form a coalition to install a new leader and cabinet.

Although the parties have significant political differences their leaders have discussed the possibility of working together in future.

Polls will be open in the Goldsmid area on Thursday from 7am to 10pm.

The votes will be counted immediately afterwards and a result is expected by midnight.

The polling stations will be at Somerhill Junior School, in Somerhill Road, All Saints Church Hall, in Eaton Road, Vallance Community Centre, in Sackville Road, Cottesmore St Mary Catholic Primary School, in The Upper Drive, and the Avondale Centre, in Montefiore Road.

For full coverage of the by-election and result, see theargus.co.uk/news.

UKIP – MARIA MCCALLUM

Maria McCallum, 46, is a teacher at BHASVIC, just outside the Goldsmid ward.

Originally from Yorkshire, she settled in Brighton and Hove 20 years ago and now lives in Portslade.

She joined UKIP two years ago, having previously been a lifelong Labour supporter.

She said: “I support UKIP’s national policies but for local issues I'm essentially an independent candidate.

“I'm an ordinary working mother-of-two and I want to stand to represent ordinary working class people.”

While she believes it important to deal with the area’s shortage of school places she doesn’t think funding will be forthcoming.

Her top priority would be to ensure residents were aware of the significance of decisions being made by Europe.

GREEN – ALEXANDRA PHILLIPS

If elected Alexandra Phillips, 24, would become the second youngest member of the city council.

She is the only candidate who lives in the ward, having moved there a year ago from her previous home in Brussels, where she worked in the office of South East MEP Caroline Lucas.

Originally from Liverpool, and a former student at the University of Paris, she now works as the Brighton and Hove constituency co-ordinator for the Green Party.

She said: “I just want to improve the quality of life of the people I'm living around.”

She has been attending meetings of parents’ campaign group Action 4 Kids and said the issue of school places was her top priority, calling for two new primary schools and a new secondary in the city and urging faith schools to give more places to non-faith children as a short term solution.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS – HOWARD SPENCER

English Heritage historian Howard Spencer, 43, first moved to Brighton as a history student at the University of Sussex in 1984.

He left to work in London and Oxford before returning to live in Hove, in the Goldsmid ward, in 2002. Since 2004 he has lived with his partner in a road adjacent to the ward boundary.

A former publishing editor, he decided to join the Liberal Democrats in response to both the Iraq war and ID cards debate.

He has prioritised the school places shortage as a key issue for the area.

He said: “I’d like to see better horizon scanning so these issues don’t happen again.

There are cost effective ways of dealing with the immediate problem. I want the council to look into reopening the Connaught Centre as a school, for example.”

LABOUR - LIS TELCS

Lis Telcs, 43, moved to Brighton 25 years ago to train as a teacher.

Originally from London, she spent 17 years working in primary schools in Hove and Worthing and is now a supply teacher.

She joined the Labour and Cooperative Party 12 years ago after her interest in politics grew from “shouting at the TV”

and campaigning for equalities.

Her priorities would be working for clean and safer streets, measures to slow speeding traffic and resolving issues with communal bins and confusion over recycling.

She said: “School places is the really big issue. To split children from their community at that age is not right. The council needs to look at brownfield sites for a new school in the area.

“Affordable housing is also very important.”

CONSERVATIVE – ANDREW WEALLS

Andrew Wealls, 44, left his job as an investment manager with Barclays three years ago, after becoming “fed up to the back teeth” of working in finance.

Originally from Newcastle, he had lived in London since graduating in economics at the University of Manchester.

When he left his job he moved to Hove with his partner and started working as a literacy and numeracy teacher for charity Nacro in Lewes Road, Brighton, and also works for a second Brighton charity, Impact Initiatives.

He lives just outside the Goldsmid ward after recently moving from elsewhere in Hove.

Mr Wealls’ top priority if elected will be to address the school places shortage in the ward.

He said: “I have a list of about 20 things I want to dive straight into, having spoken to people in the area, but the schools thing is the most pressing.”