Last night I was delighted to be elected as Councillor for the Seaford Central ward of Seaford Town Council.
In the previous election in May this year, I was not old enough to stand and therefore missed out. But when I found out that a by-election was taking place I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve always been active with helping the local community. Throughout my schooling at Seaford Head, I was Deputy Head Girl and Chair of the Student Council. Then again at BHASVIC (Brighton) I couldn’t resist making a difference so became part of the Student Council.
Now that I am on the Town Council, my main aim is to bring my knowledge of young people’s concerns. In the campaign, I stood for three main points:
- Stopping anti-social behaviour.
- More facilities for young people.
- Fighting for affordable housing.
I believe that all three of these require bringing together all ages to find solutions. I would like to build strong connections with the Young Mayor of Seaford, allowing young people’s voices to be heard more.
I believe that I won due to the dedication of the local Lib Dem councillors, everybody that volunteered to help with the campaign, and of course the supporters. I’m very proud to have joined such a caring and hard-working team.
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18 Comments
Congratulations Isabelle on your victory, and your determination to make a difference! Although I was amongst the first young people to benefit when the minimum age for voting was reduced to 18 (and now fully support votes at 16), one still then had to be 21 to stand as a candidate. So it wasn’t until I was 24 that I did that, and then was elected for the first time the following year at 25. It was still quite some time though before I was no longer the youngest councillor……..so all the best for the future!
Admirable that the author of this piece has got involved, also admirable that they are clearly passionate and enthusiastic. I appreciate it is a difficult commitment to make at age 18, what with so many young people that age considering university or being unsure if they’ll be moving away from the area in search of work/apprenticeships.
I just hope that the realities of the role do not jade Isabelle and then in 5 or 10 years we find she’s lost that enthusiasm. I also hope that the party will make a real effort to reach out to young women like Isabelle, who are clearly incredibly motivated and interested, and seek to support them in the long term with a view to encouraging them to seek positions of responsibility within the party and more prominent elected positions too. The party has a wealth of wasted female potential, let’s not waste another generation of it.
Congratulations, Isabelle.
I am hugely encouraged by your result and what you have written,
I am of the same generation as David Rogers – I voted six weeks after my 18th birthday during my A-levels in the 1970 General election (the first election when 18 year olds were allowed to vote). It took me another 12 years to actually get elected to my local council.
Your third objective – to work for affordable housing – is so important for young people throughout the South East. I do hope you achieve success in that.
Don’t forget about the possibilities of self-build and small-scale housing co-ops and other less traditional housing solutions. 🙂
My son got elected to our parish council in May at 18 years and 2 1/2 months – as a Lib Dem. He’s finding it “not as bad as I thought and some of it is quite interesting.”
Well done Isabelle 🙂
Well done, Isabelle. May you have much success.
Like you, I joined the (then) Liberal Party at your age when I was 18 before the Orpington by-election in 1962. I remember talking to an old lady in West Yorkshire who told me she had attended a meeting in Huddersfield Town Hall to hear Mr. Gladstone speak when she was 18……. and was also lucky enough to meet the former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith’s daughter, Lady Violet.
You never know – in another sixty years – you might be able to say you met Tim Farron !!
Good Luck…keep the faith !!!!!
Congratulations Isabelle!
Congratulations!
Congrats, Isabelle! Go for it!
Brilliant! Congratulations Isabelle.
Well done, Isabelle. I am sure you will do great things for the community, as a Parish Councillor.
I’m coming off my short-lived and partial Lib Dem Voice strike. Isabelle deserves congratulations and encouragement!
Thanks for writing to LDV too.
Congratulations Isabelle …. wishing you every success as a Councillor in Seaford where I used to live.
Congratulations, good luck and I am sure you will find it enjoyable.
My son became a Cllr at 21 (before the age change) and defended his seat before he was 22. Constituents loved having a young Cllr and the Council reacted positively.
Well done Isabelle. What a great start to what I am sure will be a long and shining career with the Lib Dems.
Well done 🙂
Isabelle many congratulations. Re Sammy’s point please come back to us all and ask for support if you need it during your term of office.
Eddie welcome back – you could always compromise and instead of going on strike stick to my new rule of an LDV over-time ban! 😊
Well done! I too am from the generation which benefitted from the change in voting age to 18. In my first election I voted for Tony Benn!
I am also from the generation which by and large has had it all. When I first started work if you didn’t like your job you left on Friday and got another one on Monday. We benefitted from social liberalisation, the freedom to travel, relative peace after two world wars, fancy pension schemes, easy finance and house price inflation.
Now we have got pensioner benefits many don’t need and if we’re minded to we can use our homes as collateral to go into the buy to let business and rent homes to deposit-less young people for rents in excess of what mortgage payments would be.
There is a dangerous generational gap opening up and we Lib Dems should be campaigning hard to get more young people into politics and for votes at 16.