Alex Wilson: Why I became a Councillor

Alex is one of the youngest Councillors in the country, representing Blackheath Westcombe in Greenwich.

I’ve just put the phone down after talking to a senior council employee about the lack of window cleaners in Greenwich. I suppose that this would be a good introduction to the glamorous world of local politics. Be under no illusion, I had expected this though.

Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Alex Wilson and at 23 and 3 months on polling day I am probably one of the younger Councillors out there. My seat is in Blackheath Westcombe ward which is part of Greenwich Council, I am also the Conservative Spokesman on Human Resources and Organisation Development for the Council, which I guess basically, means the Council’s Staff and their training. I was elected in May 2006 and so I was part of the many council seats that the Conservatives were able to win that night.

While Greenwich is still heavily Labour and the administration has been for over 35 years we now have a larger Conservative group than we have had since the 1980’s. This has helped in our abilities to call the Council to account over its actions.

I started to get involved with politics when a friend stood to be MP for Eltham in the 2005 Election, while sadly he did not get in he was able to significantly lower the Labour majority and get one of the larger Conservative swings in London. The new PPC David Gold is fighting hard to make Eltham Conservative again. After the 2005 Election I had caught the bug and remained involved, I put myself forward to be one of the candidates for the three ward seat which I now represent.

I have not always been a natural Conservative, and I remember that while at my local state school thinking in 1997 that the school would get better now that Labour were in, and while I would probably have left the school by the time that the improvements started to kick in my younger brother would be able to benefit from them. However I was wrong, after 9 years of Labour rule at the top, 6 years at a London level and 35 years at a local level the maths department is now currently a couple of sheds strapped together with duck tape.  Labour’s answer to this is that they are going to be building new schools, while seeming to forget that several years worth of children will have gone though the school in that time.

Greenwich sadly is one of the worst education providers in the country, so bad that many parents move out of the borough, or get their child into neighbouring borough’s schools to get them a better start. Because of this many of the parents which I spoke to during canvassing did not cite education as one of their main concerns as they had already accepted that they would have to send their children out of the borough or to independent schools. I guess it was these massive failings in their promises, the spin and also the realisation that equality though opportunity and not though targets was what made me want to stand as a Conservative and make things better in Greenwich.

Now that I am elected I can see first hand that there are many structural failings in how Greenwich operates as a council, these are highlighted by the many surveys that we carry out, crime and social disorder along with rubbish and graffiti are the top concerns of people, but yet the Labour administration does little. Finding out that the whole borough only has two window cleaners for all of the council residential properties could come as a surprise to some people but as I’m starting to find out the state of play in Greenwich I realise that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sadly I do not think that Greenwich is the only council were this is the accepted state.

The Conservatives also have a hard time getting listened to; the Council produces its own newspaper which another local newspaper hands out on its delivery run. The council paper, “Greenwich Time” is produced fortnightly and naturally gives a very positive view of Greenwich. Greenwich is able to do this as it has a very large communications department which costs nearly £1 million to the local council tax payer. I think that this is one of the reasons as to why Greenwich has remained in Labour control for so long; it is because they have successfully controlled the local press in Greenwich.

It was because of this and other factors that Greenwich Conservatives set up their own website and I have set up one at a ward level. These are both generating hits and more people are getting involved. I think that building a good web presence is vital for local politics, not only does it allow local people to get in contact easily but it is also a lot easier to put a story up on the website and let people read it at their leisure than print and then deliver a local newsletter. That said we haven’t stopped the local newsletters and we currently aim to get four delivered each year.

Finally I think that I should talk about the local election campaign, if there was one thing I learned it’s that Labour will set new lows if they are cornered. Without going into too much detail the third Conservative who stood in my ward failed to get elected because he was subjected to a personal slur against him. Sadly even though a retraction was produced by Labour the damage had been done.

Other than that I am enjoying being a Councillor, even if I do get a rainforest worth of paper delivered to my house twice a week!

Comments

[Mark Clarke]

Well done Alex. CF people getting elected at a council level really took off last year. I would encourage all CF people to look into it.

Next May there are opportinities in nearly 400 councils across the country to stand for elected office. Furthermore, with the reduction of the age at which you can stand for office falling from 21 to 18 we can get even more young blood into Council chambers. And then, Alex, you may find you are a considered an old hand. :-)

If you are a CF member and are interesting in standing for Council then do contact Matthew Richardson who is leading the campaigning brief from the NME side and I know would be pleased to hear from you.

Well done again - great post.

[Andrew Young]

Alex,

Congratulations on getting elected.

Was just wondering if you think there is anything the party could or should be doing to encourage more young people to stand?

I think young councillors strengthen the party at a local level (just look at H&F) and long-lasting success should be based on a deliberately young generation of elected officials. What do you think helped you make the decision - is there anything you feel you need RE support?

Andrew

[Antony Calvert]

Read the article with interest. Up in the northern heartlands (!) we are working hard to modify our image as being a crusty old party full of crusty old men.

In Wakefield I got in with the 2004 intake and was the youngest cllr on the whole council by about 90 years and despite some churlish Labour comments at full council's (not the most intellectually stimulating bunch, the Labour group in Wakefield) have got some pretty good press. We now have 2 more councillors in their 20's elected and 40% of my active local membership is under 35.

Places like Wakefield, Swindon, H&F, Lincoln (increasingly), Trafford et al are all flourishing and their is surely no coincidence that we have a few good, active CFers leading the charge.

[TomTom]

Does anyone know if these Councillors are mentally ill ?

They must also disclose any information which could sway their vote on a council decision.

There have been a number of alleged breaches in the last five years.

The Council's employee development unit runs an induction course for first-time councillors and as a refresher for existing members - but they cannot be forced to attend.

In the last five years there have been a number of cases involving Bradford councillors where the Standards Board has been called in. These include:

# Councillor Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) was found to have breached the code in April 2004 when he gave a Nazi-style salute and shouted "Sieg Heil" during a Council meeting. He failed to treat a fellow councillor with respect and brought his officer or authority into disrepute by acting this way. No further action was taken because Coun Cooke had apologised and resigned as deputy leader of the Council.

# Councillor David Heseltine (Con, Bingley) was found guilty of bringing the authority into disrepute by storing offensive pornographic material on a council laptop. E-mails of jokes and semi-naked women were found by a council employee maintaining the machine. The board referred the matter back to the Council's own standards committee which suspended Coun Heseltine for a month.

# Coun Simon Cooke was again before the board earlier this month and was found to have breached the code by verbally abusing and intimidating another councillor. The tribunal found him guilty of failing to treat others with respect and bringing his office or authority into disrepute. It decided to take no further action as he had already apologised and lost his place on the decision-making executive.

It was then the panel advised the Council to ensure all councillors receive training in the code of conduct to prevent future breaches.

Salman Mather, Bradford Council's head of democratic services, said: "It is very important that all councillors adhere to the code of conduct which is given to all new councillors, and is available on our internal website. We will also be following the recommendation of the tribunal to ensure all members have access to training about the code."

The Council has three months in which to produce a report for the Standards Board outlining what it has done or intends to do to better train councillors. If the board is unhappy with the result it can require the Council to publish a public statement stating the reasons why it has not made any changes.

e-mail: jo.winrow@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/news

[AlexWilson]

Thanks for your support,

Mark – I’ve got to agree with you running for council is a great thing for anyone to do but especially CF people. Even if you don’t win the experience of running your own campaign is invaluable. And if you do win then you get the chance to really get involved and see first hand how things work, and most importantly make a difference.

Andrew – As I said in my article I got involved because a friend stood to be an MP. If he hadn’t done that I probably wouldn’t have got involved at all. CF isn’t really active around Greenwich; instead I’ve just joined the rest of local party. That said within the local party there a few younger members and we do our own things sometimes.
In terms of the party encouraging more young people to stand, hmm, I don’t know I guess there are a few structural things which would turn people off from standing at a young age, these the party can do little about.
Firstly is the thought of committing yourself to something for at least four years. Second is the challenge of trying to balance the starting of a career with council commitments.
So I guess the party could help by
• Making it very clear what is involved in being a councillor,
• Helping to show that it is possible to have a career and also be a councillor.
• Local associations allowing people to ease themselves into being a councillor, for example allowing people to become “Shadow Councillors”

Antony – Greenwich has got a very wide age range, from a top of 70ish to a bottom of 23, and it’s pretty evenly spread throughout that. This is only a good thing; I think that it helps to show that we are a party who can relate to anyone.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

I think all parties have their share of fruitcakes. The story Alex tells of Greenwich is not unique in London. My own borough, Haringey, is mismanaged and is a by-word for incompetence. Some people are willing to put up with crap councils because they don't know anything better. Fortunately, there's a strong Conservative Group on Greenwich Council that is willing and able to hold the council to account. Alex seems the sort of person that will go far in the Party and his constituents are lucky to have him.

[Cllr David Sammels]

Great post Alex.

At 22 and 17 days I beat you slightly... ;)

I agree with everything you write; particularly about the importance of a website - its amazing how much publicity you get from them. Journalists often skim quotes from mine as there deadlines approach!

[Antony Calvert]

Cheers Alex... in Normanton we had about 4 members when I got involved. Like many associations up and down the country we were totally dead.

With a little care and attention, and going out on the p*ss with countless new members (it's a shoddy job but someone has to do it!) we started attracting a new generation. The members I enticed into the party are those who would probably have joined has someone asked them or done something to encourage them to.

There is a HUGE potential for the party to recruit tens of thousands of new members just simply by putting a little effort into hopeless unwinnables. The age range will be far lower than the average country squire and you will start a snowball effect.

Young people can inspire this far better than before as we tend to be less cynical about politicians than older members.

[AlexWilson]

Justin – Sadly I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. People are willing to accept bad councils, either because they don’t know any better or they think that nothing can be done. We’ve really starting to hold the council to account again, even if they do keep cancelling council meetings http://www.greenwichconservatives.com/page/3/508/ We’ll have to see how the next four years pan out.

David – You must be the youngest, I pass the “Kid” banner over to you! Can anyone beat David?

Antony - Your right, areas just need a little care and attention and people will start to become involved. Especially if you keep it fun.
I don’t know about being less cynical as I’m younger though, I think being cynical is what got me here. I guess it’s the, if you want something done, do it yourself view that I’ve started to develop.

[Matt Robinson]

Well Done Alex. It's great to see young people making a difference by standing for election to represent and serve their communities.
I've considered throwing my name in the ring before and Alex's post has made me want to go that extra step.
I hope that CF can build on this intake for the next local elections and push the Conservative cause forward.

[andrew]

Congratulations on getting elected. I happen to live in a neighbouring (all Labour) ward in Greenwich. But as a right-leaning person in a left-leaning part of London, I find myself - in common with many others - wondering just what is the point of the Conservative Party in the Borough? I don't get the feeling that the Conservatives are holding the Council to account (for that, we must rely upon the GreenwichWatch website). Instead, we're left with scandalous behaviour like the seedy stitch-up over the supercasino bid, which seems to have been decided by all parties will be A Good Thing, without giving residents any chance to make their feelings heard.

[AlexWilson]

Andrew,

All I can say is if you want ot see what the point of the Conservative Party is in the Borough then please get in contact, click the email button on www.blackheathwestcombe.org

Hope to hear from you!
Alex