Mark Wright (politician)

Mark Wright
Born 1974
Bristol

Dr Mark Wright is a software engineer and elected councillor in Bristol. He has been councillor for Cabot ward since 2005, and was re-elected in 2009 and 2013.[1] After a ward boundary review in 2016 in which Cabot ward was abolished, he was elected for the new successor ward of Hotwells and Harbourside. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Executive Councillor responsible for Housing, Service Improvement and IT on Bristol City Council in Bristol, England.[2]

Background

Mark Wright was born in Bristol in 1974, went to schools in Bristol and has a degree in chemistry from Bristol University. He also completed a PhD in astrophysics at Bristol University. This PhD on "interstellar hydroxyl masers" won the Royal Astronomical Society's prize for "Best PhD in the UK" in 2002[3]

Politics

In his role on the council executive, Mark Wright was responsible for nearly 30,000 council houses in the city that house over 60,000 residents – one of the largest retained stocks of housing in the country – and was responsible for the spend of about £150m of public money per year.[4] He has initiated the first council house building program in Bristol for nearly 30 years[5][6] and launched a drive to get empty homes in the city back into use.[7] Under his IT remit he also tightened the Council's rules on RIPA authorisations to limit council "snooping" on residents.[8][9][10] He was also chairman of one of the City Council's planning committees from 2007–2009.

He was a member of the South West Provisional Council[11] and sat on the "West of England Partnership" Planning and Housing Board, which oversees policy in the former Avon area.[12] He was a Governor of St George's Primary School, which he helped to save from closure in 2008.[13]

He has a record of opposing ID cards,[14][15] supporting tidal power in the Severn Estuary[16] and supporting civil liberties,[17][18][19] and campaigning for reform of Parliamentary expenses.[20] He has also campaigned against nuclear power[21][22] and against light pollution.[23][24] In 2006 he helped save a popular piece of graffiti by renowned local artist Banksy. An online petition Mark started collected over 3,500 signatures and was at that time the biggest e-Petition the council had ever received.[25]

He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Bristol South constituency at the 2010 General Election (coming a close 2nd place), and again for the 2015 General Election. In May 2011 he was considered a contender for the Bristol Lib Dem leadership.[26]

Open Standards advocacy

Holding the responsibility for IT at Bristol City Council in 2009, Wright was a vocal proponent of Open Source,[27][28] open document formats,[29] and open data in UK local government.[30][31] He speaks at IT conferences to highlight the problems still faced by public sector organisations wanting to avoid "vendor lock-in", particularly to Microsoft.[32][33]

References

  1. ↑ Bristol City Council: Councillor Details Archived 3 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Bristol Evening Post: Mr Wright who can do no wrong
  3. ↑ Royal Astronomical Society: Winners of the 2002 Thesis Prizes
  4. ↑ Bristol City Council: Budget 2009–2010 Archived 4 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ This is Bristol: Bristol to build first council houses in 30 years
  6. ↑ eGov Monitor: Council wins another £2.3m to finance more new homes Archived 29 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Bristol 24/7: Landlords have "Social responsibility" to fill empty homes Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ This is Bristol: Bristol housing chief – we won't snoop on you
  9. ↑ Jack FM: Snooping Powers Only "Last Resort" in Bristol
  10. ↑ Bristol City Council: Council takes action to safeguard privacy
  11. ↑ South West Provincial Council Members
  12. ↑ West of England Partnership Planning and Housing Board
  13. ↑ This is Bristol: Two Bristol primaries axed – but one survives
  14. ↑ The Guardian: Council votes to oppose ID cards
  15. ↑ This is Bristol: 'Bristol schools letting in ID cards by the back door'
  16. ↑ This is Somerset: Lib Dems oppose barrage across Bristol Channel
  17. ↑ The BBC: Bristol plans to restrict outdoor play in parks withdrawn
  18. ↑ The Guardian: Bristol plans ban for tree-climbing, skateboarding and 'annoying' football
  19. ↑ The Daily Mail: Killjoy council tries to BAN youngsters from climbing trees...
  20. ↑ This is Bristol: Would-be Bristol MP backs calls to change politicians' expenses
  21. ↑ Original 106.5: Bristolians "Should Have Say" On Nuclear Plans
  22. ↑ Bristol 24/7: Call for city to oppose new nuclear power plants Archived 27 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  23. ↑ Bristol City Council: Help us reduce unnecessary floodlighting says council housing chief Archived 2 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ Build.co.uk: Reduce Floodlighting, Says Housing Chief
  25. ↑ Bristol Indymedia: Help protect Banksy's Park St mural, again!
  26. ↑ Bristol Post
  27. ↑ The Register: Bristol Council mulls mixed FOSS, Microsoft upgrade
  28. ↑ thinq: Bristol councillor makes stand for open source
  29. ↑ Openforum Europe: UK Government pushes for open standards Archived 29 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. ↑ BEP Find out where your money's going
  31. ↑ Bristol 24/7: Wikipedia founder in Bristol to celebrate 10th anniversary
  32. ↑ Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar: Open source software
  33. ↑ Archived 12 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.