Quick Facts
Biography
Dr Mark Wright is a software engineer and elected councillor in Bristol. He has been councillor for Cabot ward since 2005, and was re-elected in 2009 and 2013. After a ward boundary review in 2016 in which Cabot ward was abolished, he was elected for the new successor ward of Hotwells and Harbourside. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Executive Councillor responsible for Housing, Service Improvement and IT on Bristol City Council in Bristol, England.
Background
Mark Wright was born in Bristol in 1974, went to schools in Bristol and has a degree in chemistry from Bristol University. He also completed a PhD in astrophysics at Bristol University, with a thesison "interstellar hydroxyl masers" that won the Royal Astronomical Society's prize for "Best PhD in the UK" in 2002
Politics
In his role on the council executive, Mark Wright was responsible for nearly 30,000 council houses in the city that house over 60,000 residents,the first council house building program in Bristol for nearly 30 years . Under his IT remit hetightened the Council's rules on RIPA authorisations to limit council "snooping" on residents. He was also chairman of one of the City Council's planning committees from 2007–2009.
He was a member of the South West Provisional Council and sat on the "West of England Partnership" Planning and Housing Board.He was a Governor of St George's Primary School, which he helpedsave from closure in 2008.
He has a record of opposing ID cards, supporting tidal power in the Severn Estuary and supporting civil liberties, and campaigning for reform of Parliamentary expenses. He has also campaigned against nuclear power and against light pollution.
In 2006 he helped save a popular piece of graffiti bylocal artist Banksy; an online petition he started collected over 3,500 signatures.
He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Bristol South constituency at the 2010 General Election (coming a close 2nd place), and again for the 2015 General Election.
Open Standards advocacy
Wright has been aproponent of Open Source, open document formats, and open data in UK local government,..