Meet the Mayor

Beverley’s new Mayor is Rob Begnett, an Independent Councillor who has only been a member of the Town Council since last year.
However, Rob, who works as a Senior Associate in Reckitt Benckiser’s Consumer Safety Department, is known locally as someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets on with what needs to be done, which is how he got involved as a Councillor.

Rob told Just Beverley: “I remember standing in a bar a little over a year ago, discussing the state of Beverley with some friends. It was the usual stuff; kids roaming the streets at night, parking problems, rapid housing development. And I realised that I could either continue moaning or do something about it. So I stood for both Beverley Town Council and ERYC in St Mary’s East on The Beverley Party ticket and was elected for the Town Council.”

Rob, who lives in Molescroft pointed out that anyone can stand for a neighbouring ward as long as they live within a certain radius. But he really didn’t expect to be Mayor of Beverley!

Being Deputy Mayor for a year has meant his steep learning curve has been somewhat tempered, but even so, his first Council meeting, which was on May 16th, was an interesting experience. Beverley’s Council is very evenlybalanced in terms of political attachment, which can sometimes mean there is impasse on proposals, so this is something which Rob wants to avoid.

He was therefore really pleased when two of his proposals were accepted by Council and will be taken forwards. He is confident that this is a sign that there is a real willingness to work together for the benefit of the Town.

Rob’s key objective is to enable more people to get involved in community projects and community decision-making, particularly younger people, and to get best value from the money the Town Council has to spend. During his year as Deputy Mayor, he was able to visit other small councils and has been impressed by Pocklington, Driffield and Goole Town Councils with their community projects and youth engagement.

Rob said: “Sometimes the words ‘Community Centre’ and ‘Youth Forum’ trigger negative thinking and anxiety. But there is no real community focal point in Beverley, just fragmented services which may or may not be suitable for everyone’s needs. A Community Centre can be used for all kinds of things - including maybe a more suitable home for Beverley Town Council than its current premises, a possible costsaving in itself.

“There is also no forum where young people can make their own decisions as to what they need as members of the community. I’m a 47-year-old bloke and shouldn’t really be telling a 16-year-old what they want. A Youth Forum could include representatives from schools, youth groups, local police, council and sports clubs; we could give them the infrastructure and support to allow them to be a real voice. It would be great if local organisations could seed-fund youth activities and services like this. It’s not just about youth either. There’s a significant proportion of elderly people in Beverley who could benefit from better services, places to meet, activities to get involved with. Any Community Centre would be able to accommodate that."

“So one of the proposals which got the nod from the Council is to conduct a feasibility study into resources and reserves available to the Council, look at the buildings and infrastructure available toturn into a Community Centre and, if there was such a place, what it should look like and what should be in it. Part of this will also be canvassing the people of Beverley about what they want - it’s their money after all!”

The other proposal which was accepted was the initiative to try to increase community engagement with the Council, particularly with younger people, by using the Council’s Facebook, Twitter and webpages more extensively.

Making the Council more accessible and removing barriers to engagement will, hopes Rob, demystify what goes on at Council level and increase the number of people prepared to get involved - in the same way as he has.

Going forward, Just Beverley is sure Rob has lots more ideas up his Mayoral sleeve and we look forwards with interest as to what they might be. We do know that Mayor Begnett will be making the most of his Mayoral Year and that Beverley will see the benefit of having this mover and shaker at the helm.