by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 5, 2021 | Democracy & Participation, News, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
I have been chairing the WLGA’s working group on Diversity in Democracy since the previous chair, the formidable Cllr Debbie Wilcox, was elevated to the House of Lords in 2019. Debbie was the first female leader of the WLGA council, a great advocate for equality, and...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Dec 4, 2020 | What We Care About
At our meeting on 3rd December 2020, Swansea Council became the first in Wales to join the UBI Lab Network’s campaign for a pilot of Universal Basic Income in the UK. I am so proud to have proposed this motion, after adapting the wording from a draft provided...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Nov 4, 2020 | Equality & Human Rights, News, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
At Council on 4th November 2020, Cllr Alyson Pugh and I proposed a motion committing the council do deliver a Pension Credit take-up campaign. The motion text explains how this benefit is so under-claimed. Running this campaign was an election pledge which Cllr Nick...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 7, 2020 | Democracy & Participation, Equality & Human Rights, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
Overwhelmingly, older, white men are elected for public roles while other types of people are very unlikely to even put themselves forward. Two ideas help this situation continue. FIRST is the concept of: “the best person for the job”. Would you ever pronounce...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 7, 2020 | Democracy & Participation, Equality & Human Rights, What Local Politicians Do
Wales-wide conversations about how to increase diversity in our elected organisations have concluded that most people have a very, very poor understanding of exactly what local councillors do. We desperately need more women, people of different ethinic minorites,...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 7, 2020 | What We Care About
Cllr Louise Gibbard, Dunvant, gave a fantastic speech at council this week in support of the Labour administration’s proposed budget for 2020/21. With her kind permission, we’ve published it here: Thank you presiding member for allowing me to speak and...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 6, 2020 | Community Safety, News
Here are some issues we’re working on at the moment. Discussions with police are planned and we’ll publish further updates as progress is made: We have had discussions with residents on Terrace Road who’ve been badly affected by repeated incidents of car...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 5, 2020 | News, Traffic, What We Care About
We all know what our ideal parking scheme for Uplands and Brynmill would achieve, but the eternal problem is that any measures which push an unwanted group away (like the university’s commuters) would have unintended consequences for a group we want to help...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Mar 1, 2020 | Environment, Mary Sherwood, News, Traffic, What We Care About
“I’d love to see Gwydr Square in Uplands (where the Uplands Market takes place) turned into a pedestrian, no-traffic zone”, said an email I received from a resident in February this year, who had originally contacted me about general traffic concerns. If I had £1 for...
by Mary Sherwood & Nick Davies | Jan 24, 2020 | Environment, Equality & Human Rights, What Local Politicians Do, What We Care About
The council’s Policy Development Committee (PDC) for Poverty Reduction, chaired by Mary, is working on a policy to ensure that the benefits of green infrastructure are enjoyed by all our communities. It has been known for a long time that Swansea is a county of two...
