Voting can often seem like a pain, particularly if you feel politicians are all from parties that seem to you to be similar. People seem to sometimes vote for individuals based on them being from a particular party, rather than because they have good policies that they believe in.
That’s why people may decide to vote for independent candidates who are standing on their own merits, outside the traditional party-political structures. Two independent candidates are standing in this year’s York and North Yorkshire mayoral election. One, Paul Haslam, a former Conservative Party councillor, agreed to respond to my questions.
Meeting the independent candidate, Paul Haslam
Firstly, as in previous interviews in this series, I wanted to know why Haslam had put himself forward as a candidate to be mayor of York and North Yorkshire?
“A number of reasons primarily drove me to run for mayor,” Haslam began, “primarily it was injustice – injustice and inequality of the amount of money spent in the South East compared to North Yorkshire. Two examples are the spend per head on transport is 1/6th of the spend in the South East exactly the ratio as 2017; and the spend per pupil in our schools which ranks us 143rd lowest spend out of I think 188 local authorities. There are many other examples.”
“The pace of change is glacial. As a successful management consultant of many years, used to delivering change at pace, I believe there has to be a better way to deliver for the people of York and North Yorkshire. The one barrier I had to seriously overcome was my wife allowing me to stand.”
What differentiates Haslam from other candidates?
I wondered then what Haslam thought made him stand out from the other candidates, what did he think distinguished him from them?
“I am a management consultant strategist by trade. I help businesses transform their performance at speed. I understand the need to measure and monitor if you are going to achieve your goals but you also project manage to deliver on time and on budget.”
“My policies are all focused on delivering well-being for all, reducing the cost-of-living pressures, whilst achieving our net zero goals. I have ten years’ experience as a councillor as well as five years as chair of scrutiny of the North where I have learned how to be effective in the public sector.”
Levelling up and North Yorkshire
I moved on to asking what Haslam thought would be the most important issue in this campaign?
“Levelling up, for want of better term,” Haslam began, “We need people to have access to great transport links whether you live in York or in a rural location. We need affordable homes delivered where we need them, and we need to make sure they are affordable to run. With the correct insulation and energy generation these houses can run at less than a third of the regular running cost saving the householder over £2000 a year.
“We need to bring purposeful high paying jobs that are about the industries of the future, and I include farming in that – I don’t see eating going out of fashion too soon – and there is so much innovation going on there, whether it’s the use of drones or controlled environment agriculture – vertical farms. Finally enabling people to succeed, to be their best self, by giving them access to skills training throughout their adult life so they can continue to grow and contribute.”
The economy and North Yorkshire
Turning to the economic situation in North Yorkshire, I asked Haslam what his manifesto commitment to providing one transport ticket throughout the combined area would have on both the economy of the region and people’s finances?
Haslam explained that his vision of a combined ticket would be similar to London’s Oyster Card and he feels that this is critically important, because “travelling in London is between one half and a one quarter of the cost in North Yorkshire. So, it would save money, and time.”
On economic crime and the impact of crime on businesses, Haslam was clear that he believes his plan to create a special business crime team would have a demonstrable positive impact on the community.
“As a retailer of many years’ experience, shoplifting has been viewed as a victimless crime in the past. It isn’t. You and I pay through increased prices – it adds between 3 and 5% to the price. But more and more crime now perpetrated ends up in violence against shop assistants and this must stop. People don’t go to work to be abused and nor should they. Shoplifting rates [are] very high! It will result in towns losing their shops if we don’t do something about it.”
Proposals for housebuilding
On housebuilding and its impact on the economy, Haslam wanted to be clear that he believed that “the new local plan that controls house building in North Yorkshire will not be delivered until April 2028”, meaning that homes built between now and then would need retrofitting to be up to standards. He aims to propose to North Yorkshire Council that “they should create what is called a ‘special plan document’ that would uprate their building specifications in a much shorter timescale and hence reduce the number of houses need to be retrofitted at a later stage.”
“It’s easier to build correctly the first time rather than retrofit, which we know is roughly four times the cost”, Haslam argues, “as mayor, I would continue to lobby for that, even though it is not a direct responsibility.”
Haslam’s commitment to residents
I ended the interview by asking Haslam about his commitment to hold town hall meetings across the region. Why did he believe this was important?
“Communication and engagement are vital in ensuring you are providing the services that people want and need. We must have a much better dialogue with people from all walks of life, minorities, and people with disabilities. Everyone must have a say if we are going to create the region we want with our beliefs and values!”
What was clear from Haslam’s responses was his clear belief that he is the candidate best placed to empower North Yorkshire as a region and to work to improve it for everyone who lives there. If you want to make your voice heard this May then make sure to vote for the candidate of your choice to be the first mayor of York and North Yorkshire.
ED: Article updated 29.04.24 to add that Haslam is a former Conservative Party councillor.
