Westminster City Council’s Paul Dimoldenberg has announced he is standing down as a cabinet member and will not be contesting his seat at the next local elections in May 2026.
He will be replaced by cllr Max Sullivan as cabinet member for city management from today.
Dimoldenberg will continue in his role as a ward councillor for Hyde Park until next year’s local elections.
Westminster Council leader Adam Hug kicked off tributes by thanking cllr Dimoldenberg for his service and calling him a “tireless” champion for residents in Hyde Park ward and across Westminster.
He said: “While we wish him well for his upcoming retirement, I’m certain Paul will remain a very active member of his community.” He added: “I’m also pleased to welcome Max to the Cabinet, where he will take on the role of cabinet member for streets with responsibility for public realm, city inspectors, highways, transport and parking, street cleansing and waste.
“I know he will bring hard work and dedication to the job and, as a keen supporter of cycling and active travel, continue Paul’s commitment to clean streets and green transport”. Responding to the news on X, cllr Regan Hook tweeted: “Paul will be very much missed by all he has worked with and on a personal level. Talk about ‘Getting Stuff Done’? Decades of it!”
Cllr Ryan Jude, who will now take on the portfolio for air quality, public conveniences, cemeteries and public mortuaries, called it an “end of an era”. He wrote: “First elected in 1982, Paul taught so many of us how to be good councillors.
“It’s been a pleasure to be in the Cabinet with him and learn from him. I know he’ll continue to get things done in Hyde Park!”
Other sections of the councillor’s former portfolio will be split between cllrs Aicha Less — who will take over the Mayoralty — and Geoff Barraclough, who will assume responsibility for flooding. Cllr Hug will take over communications, faith exchange and parliamentary estate.
Having first been elected to the council in 1982 for Harrow Road ward, cllr Dimoldenberg has also served as a councillor in Queens Park from 1997 to 2022, as well as leader of the Opposition group between 1987 and 1990 and again between 2004 and 2015.
Cllr Dimoldenberg told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he enjoyed tackling the “day-to-day” issues such as parking, refuse collection services and the introduction of e-bikes.
“I have really enjoyed my time. It was totally unexpected in May 2022 but I have really enjoyed getting to grips with important day-to-day issues… I am [also] proud we have installed the most e-bike rental bays than any other borough in London,” he said.
Cllr Dimoldenberg said he plans to spend his retirement travelling with his wife and wants to return to writing books.
He was an opposition councillor during the years of Shirley Porter’s “homes for votes scandal” and wrote a book — The Westminster Whistleblowers: Shirley Porter, Homes for Votes and Scandal in Britain’s Rottenest Borough — about how he and his Labour colleagues exposed what was going on.
And speaking of Rotten Boroughs… In Dimoldenberg’s other role as founder and chair of Quatro he has been featured in the “Rotten Boroughs” column in news magazine Private Eye.
Back in 2014 Quatro handled the public relations for, among others, property developer Lend Lease.
Private Eye noted that in opposition Dimoldenberg regularly berated Westminster Council’s “evil Tories for their failure to build more social homes” and for allowing the West End to become a playground for the rich by refusing to insist on on-site affordable housing in new developments.
The Eye asked Dimoldenberg about Lend Lease’s plans for 137 luxury flats in Chiswick High Road in west London where the number of affordable homes had not been stated in the plans submitted to Hounslow council. “Good job it’s not in happening in Westminster!” quipped the Eye.
Additional reporting by Linus Rees.
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