Oxford's first Green Lord Mayor

18 May 2011

Elise Benjamin will become Oxford's first Green Lord Mayor tomorrow, after serving as a Green councillor in the city for 10 years.

Cllr Benjamin said: "I am very much looking forward to my year as Lord Mayor, and I will do my best to both represent residents and be an advocate for our beautiful city. As Oxford's first ever Green Mayor, I intend to do what I can to support the many community organisations and charities in Oxford that work for both social and environmental justice."

Benjamin has chosen People and Planet, and the Donnington Doorstep Family Centre, as the two charities that will receive support over her year in office.

People and Planet is a network of students in schools, colleges and universities across the country campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment. Donnington Doorstep is a community-based family centre for children and their carers, aiming to provide a safe and welcoming environment for anyone with young children.

She said one of her priorities as Lord Mayor would be to ensure members of the public didn't lose their democratic right to be heard at full council meetings.

She added: "The council meeting is one of the few remaining places where residents can have their say and I think it would be a mistake to change that."

Vowing to use sustainable methods of travel, Benjamin has pledged to make her first mayoral town twinning visit - to Bonn, Germany - by train.

She will cycle to mayoral engagements whenever possible, with a bicycle donated by Cyclox, an Oxford-based cycling campaign, as her vehicle of choice. Benjamin hopes that cycling will help to keep her costs down at a time when councils are trying to save money.

Notes

- Elise Benjamin moved to Oxford in 1993 with environmental consultant and former Green Party councillor Craig Simmons, with whom she has a 10-year-old daughter.

- She worked as an administrator for Oxford Brookes University and the charity Africa Now.

- For the past three years, she has worked for the Green MEP for South East England, Caroline Lucas, and now, Keith Taylor.

- Benjamin was deputy Lord Mayor three years ago, and Sheriff of Oxford from 2009-2010.

- She has been a Green city councillor for East Ward between 1999 and 2002, and then Iffley Fields Ward from 2004.