MEET THE CANDIDATE: Beate Willar, The Beverley Party

Beate Willar will be standing for newest local political offering, The Beverley Party where she will be hoping to be elected as an East Riding of Yorkshire Council councillor in St Mary’s.

Beate, you stood at the last election as an Independent. What made you join a party this time round?

It’s the best of both worlds! I can still be a true independent, because there is no party whip, so I can still do what I always set out to do, which is to listen to the people of Beverley and not a party leader, and then vote freely on their behalf. But The Beverley Party is “independent with benefits”, because it is a solid platform for independent candidates to operate from. It is a support network and a think tank (although I don’t really like this word), basically a great bunch of like-minded people who are inspirational to work with. – So much better than spending all these hours standing by yourself at street corners hurling your flyer at passers-by.

Why should we vote for The Beverley Party candidates rather than other independent candidates?

The Beverley Party candidates are truly independent but also come with a ‘quality mark’. To stand for the Beverley Party, candidates agree to subscribe to the Bell principles, so The Beverley Party stands for a high standard of integrity, transparency and accountability. It’s really good to be able to give this kind of reassurance to the electorate.

The Beverley Party sent out invitations to join the party to individuals considering to stand as independents, with a view of presenting a strong united voice to the electorate. We really need to avoid splitting the opposition vote, which decreases our chance for change.

Who is The Beverley Party?

The candidates are only the tip of the iceberg! There are also the members, and our members are of the active variety: they come to meetings, they make suggestions via e-mail and social media, they offer support and help. For instance, when it came to writing the party constitution, a lawyer member ensured it passed the Electoral Commission’s scrutiny with flying colours. When it came to the logo, we have two graphic designers on board. There was a nice lady who set up our facebook group etc. etc. Last but not least by any means, on the next level we have the people of Beverley, who we rely upon to inform our direction on all the issues that concern our town. Without this foundation layer, our iceberg would have considerably less impact.

What issues are top of your list?

Where do I start? – The short answer is, I am keen to enter local politics because I want to be the eyes and ears of the people. Too much appears to be decided behind closed doors. Furthermore, the people of Beverley all too often feel that their views are being ignored. The Beverley Party wants proper consultation AND for the outcomes of the consultations to then actually feed into the decisions made. It’s not rocket science – I believe it’s called democracy.

I could go on to talk about (lack of) youth provision, (lack of) affordable housing, (lack of) community facilities, green spaces… but we all know the issues, don’t we!? The common thread to all these and other issues is that decisions are made without regard to the residents’ views.

The way local politics is done in ERYC clearly needs to change, and this is where The Beverley Party comes in: to question, to challenge, to make public – I can do that!

What experience do you bring to the job?

My professional background is lecturing in Modern Languages, so I really enjoy research, although in politics I think it’s more aptly named “digging”. My involvement in education doesn’t end there; I am a governor at Minster Primary and Beverley High and was also a governor at Keldmarsh Primary for many years. In addition, I have been a voluntary co-opted member on the ERYC Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Sub-committee for longer than most elected councillors on the committee, so have many years experience in local council committee work. However, I bring an independent stance to the task: when I was co-opted onto the Children’s Safeguarding Review Panel, which came into being following the Rotherham abuse case, I soon felt I had to resign from that panel because I wasn’t given the answers I needed.

Language being “my thing”, I am an excellent communicator. I also have business experience and sense, excellent organisational and planning skills, imagination and a sense of humour, all of which put me in good stead for the role of an effective councillor.

In addition to my individual strengths, there is also the pool of expertise that I can draw on that is The Beverley Party. There are people from all walks of life and with such a wide range of experience and knowledge; from different types of charity work and bucket-loads of business credentials to expertise in ecology, planning, law… The Beverley Party’s major strength is that it has succeeded in attracting “normal” people, not politicians. Wanting a political career, wanting influence and power, wanting a paid part-time job, wanting to be in the paper a lot… – you won’t find these motives amongst The Beverley Party candidates and members. We simply want change. End of.

Finally, what makes you “tick”?

I am a mum. I can see everywhere that the needs of the young people in Beverley are being largely ignored. Just because they are too young to vote, doesn’t mean they don’t need to be listened to! Nowhere to go, nothing to do, playing fields at risk of being sold off, little or no support, constant pressure on our green spaces… – The list just goes on and on. It appears that short term financial gain wins over long term benefits every time!

I am also conscious of the fact that our children will have to live with the consequences of our action or in-action, whatever the case may be. This is going to be their town after we are gone, so it’s only right that we also look to them when we make decisions about our town.

My motivation is simple: I want to hand over this town to the next generation with a clear conscience.