One of the two independent candidates standing in the Rottingdean Coastal by-election next month has spoken about using her knowledge and experience to support others in the ward where she lives.
Alison Wright, 55, one of the founders of the St Aubyns Field Evergreen (SAFE) campaign committee, has previously tackled Brighton and Hove City Council about air quality in Rottingdean.
She earned a masters degree in science and technology policy at Sussex University and went on to work at Brighton University where she supported local businesses.
Mrs Wright is standing in the by-election for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council in the Rottingdean Coastal ward where she lives. The by-election is due to take place on Thursday 5 May after the resignation of Conservative councillor Joe Miller.
She said: “I have a track record of getting involved in community issues.”
Mrs Wright became one of the founders of SAFE after plans to redevelop the school site prompted concerns about pollution and pressure on local infrastructure.
She said that a compromise was reached and that this “secured over 50 per cent of the field as a green space for the community to use, with £200,000 for its upkeep to be gifted from the developer to a ‘community trust’ managed by Rottingdean Parish Council.”
Mrs Wright added: “I hope to use my past experience to help support residents ensure appropriate development occurs which adapts to legitimate concerns about pollution and energy efficiency.
“For example, I will be proactive with taking forward the issues raised by several community associations regarding the St William’s joint venture, between National Grid and Berkeley Group, for the development of the gasworks at Black Rock.
“I am keen to hear about all local issues that any resident or group of residents or businesses want to raise and will do my best to help achieve practical resolutions.”
Mrs Wright turns 56 tomorrow (Friday 15 April) – the day after the deadline for people in the ward to register if they wish to vote in the by-election.
She said: “The best present would be if people register to vote, if they haven’t already done so. I don’t mind who they vote for, although obviously I hope that they vote for me.”
After studying for a degree in chemistry and management science in Kent, Mrs Wright started her career as a graduate trainee with IBM. She qualified as a systems engineer which she said “requires listening to issues and designing solutions to address them”.
She has worked abroad, mostly in Botswana, including on an HIV and AIDS treatment programme with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Harvard AIDS Institute and Merck.
Since returning to Britain, she has served as a school governor, in Coldean, and was involved in a project, called Neighbourhood Action on Climate Change, with people living Queen’s Park in 2005. The project helped them to take advantage of renewable energy and improve energy efficiency.
Mrs Wright suffered a painful and life-changing injury 14 years ago which caused significant and lasting damage, in particular, to one of her hips.
She said: “A debilitating injury at work in 2008 means that I have experience of living with mobility issues, and negotiating care pathways, and know how important regularly maintained pavements are for those who use wheels or sticks.
“I have recovered to the point that I would like to use my knowledge to support fellow residents make best use of the democratic instruments we have.
“Marrying Mr Wright, we bought a family home in Rottingdean and are happily settled. This has been an ideal place to bring up and educate my two children, and now, my granddaughter.
“I would welcome the opportunity to represent this ward’s constituents as I owe a debt of gratitude for the benefit I have received from living here.”
Anyone who wants to raise issues or help her campaign – with leafleting, social media or in other ways – can contact her at AlisonWrightRottingdeanCoastal@gmail.com.
This is set to be a very interesting by-election in fast-moving times in a changing area (which could change further with the Boundary review two months from now).
I wish we could have some decent independent candidates in the Brunswick and Adelaide elections. They seem to have so many good candidates in Rottingdean and Coastal. I would be happy to vote for more than one of them. They all have good quality life experience. In Brighton central the Greens just put forward two students one who was involved in the campaign to bully the Professor out of Sussex University. Please, please can we have some good quality independent candidates in central Brighton and Brunswick and Adelaide. The sort that have had jobs, careers and know what a woman is.
Louise, it’s instructive, I think, that because we in Rottingdean Coastal have been neglected for so long (and I am in the far western end that has had no effective councillor support for ages – because we have this gasworks development issue which is massive to us along here) independents are standing up to be counted. Bridget Fishleigh has been totally brilliant for us (don’t always agree with her, but generally she gets it right), but it’s a huge ward for one councillor to deal with, when there are supposed to be three of them (two invisibles), and, as she is on the Planning Committee, she can’t say anything about the proposed development. However, she is without doubt the very best councillor in the City in terms of sticking up for her constituents, but she can’t do it on her own. Nobody could.
Ms Mears appears to have health problems, and I’m very sorry about that, but she hasn’t stood up for us either. However, she has been out and about quite recently in central Brighton re Old Steine and the Victoria Fountain (very important stuff but not in her ward). As for Miller, he was beyond the pale, always consumed by his ambition to be an MP, not mentioning the police matter, which apparently happened in Sep 2020, unbeknownst to constituents, and then he said he supported the gasworks development. The least said about him the better – fortunately he has gone.
The Tories in Rottingdean Coastal have now resurrected Lynda Hyde from retirement as their candidate. Lynda was actually very good when she was a councillor, and helped me out on a couple of small local things, but I question whether she is what we need right now.
Independent candidates are highly disadvantaged in these elections – they don’t have the party machine behind them and can’t produce the glossy leaflets, so it is to be very much welcomed that B&H News has given the time and space to Alison Wright and there is another Independent standing in this ward, who should be given the same courtesy. Apart from the aforementioned Tories, the candidates are Labour, Green and Lib Dem, all of whom can produce the glossies but have not so far shoved them through my door or acknowledged the gigantic elephant over in the gasworks. Two of them appear to be retired persons looking for a hobby.
If I may be so bold, party politics doesn’t work with the parlous state that this city is in. The Greens are in control now – I use the word ‘control’ very lightly and jokingly – by default and they thoroughly deserve to be thrown out come May 2023, or even sooner if it could be engineered. But they were thrown out when they were in charge before, because they made an absolute mess of everything – yet here we are again.
So, Louise, you had that person foisted upon you as a Green candidate for the next election, who was hideously delighted to co-ordinate the hounding-out of the professor from the uni but then became a totally hurt cry-baby and ran away when challenged. Also, apparently, you have another youngster (Amy Heley clone?) who is still on the books for the next election and wanted to be the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner. Really?
You in Brunswick and Adelaide, and other wards in the central area, have one year to find independent candidates and put them up for election. Please use it. I venture to say that Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck might be better than Hannah Clare and Mac Cafferty.
Stephen White is the indie that has massive local support. Never heard of this woman who wasn’t at the Rottingdean village meeting this week. I suspect that she is a tory stooge put up to split the indie vote.
Except he’s pandering to the boomerists and wants to join with them in abolishing the construction of new homes for every generation that followed.
Get that gas works build approved and get the ball rolling, our ability to save for a deposit is being outpaced by the cost of the average home. Between last year and this year alone our deposit goal has gone up by £18,000 and we can’t go on like that.
No idea, Suzie, but just today Labour stuck a ‘letter’ through the door extolling their ‘virtues’. The fact that it was headed up by LR-M turned me off massively to begin with. It seems that they have now realised how much of an issue the gasworks development is. The leaflet included the usual diatribe about Tory cuts etc, which are not very relevant in this local fight, and also said that in the 2019 local election Labour had more total votes than any other party, which was technically true but thus totally ignoring the fact that Bridget Fishleigh came top of the heap as an Independent and McIntosh came bottom of the Lab candidates. Of course, if you total up votes for the political parties, then Labour may well have had more, but it’s cynical beyond belief that they ignored Bridget’s stunning win, as they would. The Lab candidate was one of those that I suggested was a retired person seeking a hobby. I don’t think that Alison Wright is a Tory stooge, but if the independents between them take a huge chunk of the vote, it could stand to reason that the ‘parties’ don’t get in, I hope. I suspect that the appearance of Alison has the boundary changes in mind, but it isn’t entirely helpful for this by-election. If, as we think, RC gets split off from the Arundels, Sussex Sq and Kemptown for next year’s elections, then RC will need a new Indie candidate (Alison?) and Stephen will presumably stand for the new ward, hopefully. I would say that we need to support Stephen at this by-election and then consider the options come next year.