Dee Simson is a Councillor for Woodingdean and the Conservative Group’s Spokesperson on Communities, Equalities and Licensing.
Dee brings a wealth of experience to Brighton & Hove City Council. Having been a councillor since 1999, Dee has had experience as a member of every Committee and having served as Mayor of Brighton & Hove from 2018-2019.
Dee is passionate about communities and equalities and has a strong relationship with the City’s voluntary sector and a strong belief that communities, be they of place or interest, should benefit everyone in them.
With hands on experience of running the community café in Woodingdean for 17 years and a youth centre for 20 years, Dee knows first hand the vital role that community resources serve. Dee's work in the complete refurbishment and reopening of a vibrant youth centre from a building that had previously been condemned was recognised with the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
Dee brings great local experience of Brighton & Hove's economy to her role as a Councillor on the City Council having had a varied working life including selling ice creams & hot dogs on the seafront; working in bars; waitressing in and managing restaurants; delivering car parts; emptying fruit machines & juke boxes in pubs; being a hostess at Gatwick Airport; providing area training officer for a catering company; and running retail clothing businesses.
Dee is well known by locals at the Sunday market formerly at Brighton Station and now at Brighton Marina where she has been a market trader ‘recycling’ lost property for 35 years.
As part of her work on the council Dee oversaw the changes in Licensing Act 2003 from 2005 and has gained a reputation as the most experienced councillor working ever since to maintain fair consistent decisions for licensed premises always taking into account the individual nature of the premises and its impact.
Dee is proud of the work she has done for Woodingdean Ward and has run many successful campaigns on behalf of the community, including securing new walking and cycling paths between Woodingdean & Falmer and also the Drove Road path as part of the South Downs way and helping secure road safety improvements such as improving the Downs Hotel Crossroads. Dee is currently campaigning to keep Brighton & Hove's green spaces free of development for the enjoyment of future generations. Dee has been a governor at a local primary school for over 25 years.
As Mayor Dee was able to support and promote very many organisations and one of her proudest moments was leading the PRIDE parade in 2018 and the Children's parade in 2019.
