New Ripon mayor: ‘Our residents are not interested in pantomime politics; they want issues addressed’

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Councillor Andrew Williams was elected Mayor of Ripon for a third time this week. Cllr Williams, who leads the controlling Independent Putting Ripon Above Party Politics group on Ripon City Council, has been a city councillor for 35 years. Here is an edited version of his mayoral acceptance speech at Ripon Town Hall on Wednesday (May 6).

In an age where many have an expectation of entitlement whether they have contributed into the system or not, Jackie (Cllr Jackie Crozier, the mayoress) and I want to spend the year ahead recognising the enormous contribution that so many people in Ripon make, from all walks of life, giving freely of their time for the benefit of others and without whom the quality of life for so many in our city would be much the poorer.

We look forward to helping raise the profile of their efforts in the hope that others will be encouraged to come forward and help to make Ripon an ever-better place to live, work and visit.

This would seem the appropriate place to advise that my mayoral charities will be Ripon Walled Garden and Saint Michael’s Hospice and I will shortly establish a fundraising committee to be responsible for raising funds for these good causes.

Ripon has been evolving and changing for well over 1,000 years and as JFK eloquently in 1963 put it: “Change is the law of life, and those who only look to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

Collectively we must ensure that we learn the lessons of the past and present to ensure that we build a brighter future for our city and its residents.

For a city steeped in history and culture we must use these assets to our advantage and speaking of assets, the year ahead presents huge opportunities for this council to secure key assets in Ripon and give them a bright and positive future that can be part of Ripon’s continuing renaissance.

Regenerating Ripon

I am immensely proud that Ripon City Council has led the way in showing others across North Yorkshire what can be achieved with some ambition and civic pride. We all welcome the decision taken in this room a few days ago to devolve control of this building back to Ripon City Council and we look forward to completing community asset transfers of the Hugh Ripley Hall and Wakeman’s House in the coming weeks.

Securing investment in these buildings will aid still further the regeneration of the city. At this point I want to dwell for a moment on our other key priority for the civic year ahead and that is to enhance to partnership working across Ripon. Collectively, working together and in partnership we can achieve so much more than working alone. This was no better demonstrated than the recently submitted bid to secure the town of culture 2028.

The year ahead will provide an opportunity for this council to work in partnership with Ripon Civic Society and others to refresh and renew our local neighbourhood plan. I hope that North Yorkshire Council will also contribute to the funding required to enable that work to be completed and those are discussions that Jackie and I started recently.

It also provides an enormous opportunity to promote Ripon working in partnership with Ripon Business Improvement District. Ss a director of the BID, I welcome the recent endorsement by the local business community in voting to give the BID a second term commencing in September. I look forward to strengthening links between Ripon BID and Ripon City Council in the year ahead.

As mayor, I want to ensure everyone in the city feels that their voice is heard, whether young or old or somewhere in between we all have our part to play in building a better Ripon and it is important that everyone feels included, it is so pleasing to see our Market Place full when we organise community events and provide an opportunity for the city to come together as a result.

Setting aside differences

Sadly, since I last served as mayor the world has become a less secure, and much more volatile place where the actions of a few have impacted on the lives of billions globally.

The menace of Putin and the volatility of Trump mean that all of us will be poorer in the months ahead and that is why we must all come together to ensure that the most vulnerable in our community are protected as much as is possible.

I hope in the civic year ahead I will chair a council which sets aside the clear personal differences that exist to focus on delivering real positive change for our city. Our residents are not interested in the pantomime politics, they want to see issues addressed not personality differences.

Whilst a year can pass seemingly very quickly, I know as I have got older Christmas seems to come round twice a year. I hope all in Ripon will embrace the opportunities ahead to build a better future for our city.

In the civic year ahead may the Lord keep the city and may the Wakeman waketh in vain.