Cllr Philip Bialyk

Cllr Phil Bialyk is the Labour Leader of Exeter City Council.

First elected to the Council in 1984 serving a four year before returning to the council in 2011, he was elected leader in May 2019.

Phil pledged to create a greener, healthier, more active and inclusive city – by uniting major public and private sector organisations and employers city-wide.

Created Exeter Place Board, a unique and influential partnership for Exeter that is  to deliver Exeter’s post-pandemic Recovery Plan and Liveable Exeter, an ambitious programme for 12,000 new homes on brownfield sites over the next 20 years.

To support the public leisure estate and healthy and active lifestyles, he returned Exeter’s leisure service to direct Council control.

Phil is committed Exeter to Net Zero Carbon by 2030, commissioned a unique Net Zero Roadmapoutlining how it could be achieved through place-based leadership and created a dedicated team to deliver it.

He has instigated whole system change, pioneering low carbon building programme to create a greener, healthier, more active city for all residents.

St Sidwell’s Pointis the UK’s first Passivhaus leisure centre, saving 70% on energy when it opens shortly. The £42m investment is repurposing the city centre. It is built next to the new £7m Council-funded Bus Station, opened in July to encourage sustainable travel.

Phil has pledged to build 500 Passivhaus council housesover the next five years, cutting carbon emissions and lifting residents out of fuel poverty. He launched a Council-owned development companyto build Passivhaus homes across Exeter. He is also bringing forward a residential property company to provide quality homes for market rent, based on quality and assured tenancies.

The next project to happen is to retro fit all council properties and work to bring forward proposals for the private housing sector, harnessing opportunities for new skills and green jobs in the sub-region.

He has overseen the work of Live & Move, Exeter’s Sport England delivery pilot, which improves the health of residents in hard to reach communities, encouraging active travel and movement.

It works in conjunction with Wellbeing Exeter, which pioneered the use of social prescribing, working with GPs to support vulnerable residents in the community.