‘It’s an honour and a privilege’
29-year-old Faisal Hussain becomes the city’s youngest ever Lord Mayor
FAISAL Hussain has been elected Stoke-on-trent’s youngest ever Lord Mayor. The 29-year-old was voted in as the Potteries’ first citizen by elected members at Stoke-on-trent City Council’s annual meeting.
As well as only being in his 20s, the Conservative is also a first-term councillor, having been elected in Meir South ward in 2019. The dad-of-three said his elevation to the role of Lord Mayor at his age demonstrates what hard work can achieve, and he hopes he will help get more young people interested in politics.
Mr Hussain, who is a fourth generation British Kashmiri, takes over from Chandra Kanneganti, who served as Lord Mayor in 2021/22. The city council’s opposition Labour group put forward veteran councillor Sheila Pitt as an alternative candidate, but Mr Hussain won the vote.
Mr Hussain said: “It is a great honour and privilege to be elected the youngest ever Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-trent. I think it shows that if you work hard you will succeed. Hopefully I can inspire other young people in the city.
“When I was standing for election in 2019, I never thought that I would become Lord Mayor – I didn’t think that I’d be elected. But it is something I have wanted to do. When I was a young child whenever I saw pictures of the Lord Mayor I thought that it looked really good – I didn’t know that in 15 years’ time I would be wearing the chain myself.
“I am so proud to be able to represent my city and I’m hopeful in bringing communities from all backgrounds together to help build a prosperous future here in Stoke-on-trent. I want to do whatever I can to raise the profile of this great city, especially after all the difficulties we have seen over the past couple of years due to the pandemic.
“I would like to bring positive change in the city and contribute in ways that would highlight that Stoke-on-trent is one of the best cities in the UK.”
Mr Hussain said his chosen charities for his civic year would be Brighter Futures and the Hubb foundation. His wife Nazma will serve as Lady Mayoress.
Councillors paid tribute to outgoing Lord Mayor Mr Kanneganti, whose year in office was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. He said: “I thought I was busy being a councillor and a full-time GP, but nothing could have prepared me for being Lord Mayor. It has been a tremendous journey, full of amazing memories for me and my family.”
Lesley Adams, Conservative councillor for Burslem Park, was elected Deputy Lord Mayor, defeating Labour candidate Stephen Funnell.
Helena Evans, chief executive of Brighter Futures, welcomed the new Lord Mayor. She said: “We are extremely grateful and our thanks go to the Lord Mayor for selecting us as one of his charities for the year, and for the interest taken to understand more about our mission to support people experiencing multiple disadvantage living in Stoke-ontrent.
“Brighter Futures is a notfor-profit supported housing association which has operated in Stoke-on-trent since 1974 providing a diverse range of support services and accommodation within Stokeon-trent and across the West Midlands. We support adults who have experienced a long history of mental health difficulties, have a learning disability/difficulty, may have been homeless, have multiple and complex needs and who may be living with trauma.
“We look forward to working together with the Lord Mayor. Being one of the Lord Mayor’s selected charities will enable us to provide additional support to our customers and local communities. The help of organisations like Brighter Futures is needed more than ever following the pandemic, cost-of-living increases, and other difficulties that have presented over recent years which all significantly impact upon a person’s health and wellbeing.”
Adam Yates, who is the chief operations officer for the Hubb Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be chosen as one of the Lord Mayor’s charities.
“This will give The Hubb Foundation opportunities to offer further support to the children and families in our city and to further enhance our reputation. Being chosen also offers much needed opportunities to fundraise and work with other organisations so that we become stronger as a city.
“The Lord Mayor has a reputation for community work and support for families, which is in direct correlation with our aims and objectives as a charity, and his hard work and dedication is admirable.”