Parliament is in recess and the main council chambers are quieter until September, but the work of our local politicians carries on throughout the summer.
That is what Beverley Review’s summer series is about. We spend plenty of time covering the debates, disagreements and decisions of local politics, but public life also involves a great deal of work that rarely makes a headline.
As an independent publication, we want to hear from people from across the political spectrum. We started the series with East Riding Council’s Conservative leader Anne Handley, have been hearing from Liberal Democrat figures including Denis Healy, and will eventually culminate with Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart.
The politics can wait for another day. For these summer profiles, we are asking what our local political figures are working on, what they love about the places they represent and, rather less seriously, the five records providing their summer soundtrack.
This time we are heading down the road to Hull and Councillor Mike Ross, Liberal Democrat Leader of Hull City Council.
What’s on your plate this summer?
For Mike Ross, August has arrived in the middle of what is already turning into a significant summer for Hull.
Much of the first part of the month was dominated by the reopening of Hull Maritime Museum following its major transformation.
“This was a pivotal moment for Hull, with national coverage putting the city in the spotlight for all the right reasons,” Mike says.
The museum is only part of the wider Hull Maritime project. Another very visible milestone comes with the return of the Arctic Corsair to the North End Shipyard.
For a city whose identity has always been tied to the water, these are important pieces of Hull’s maritime history being brought back into public life.
Then there is football.
Hull City’s return to the Premier League already made this a particularly big summer for the city. Beating Manchester United 2-0 at the MKM Stadium on the opening weekend has given it a rather spectacular start.
Mike’s interest in sport extends beyond what happens at the MKM Stadium. Increasing participation in sport across Hull is one of the areas he says he has been working on during the summer, particularly the opportunities available for people to get involved themselves.
[Maritime Museum reopening] “was a pivotal moment for Hull, with national coverage putting the city in the spotlight for all the right reasons”
Mike Ross, Leader of Hull City Council
There is another constituency demanding some attention too.
Mike is a dad to two young children and, amid museums, football and council business, he is hoping to find some time during the school holidays to spend with them.
What’s on your playlist this summer?
Mike’s playlist begins with perhaps the most obvious summer record available to a Beatles fan, Here Comes the Sun.
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince follow with Summertime, Alice Cooper provides the traditional end-of-term celebration with School’s Out, while Len’s Steal My Sunshine takes things firmly into late-1990s territory.
Seals and Crofts’ Summer Breeze completes the five.
It is unashamedly a summer playlist. Sunshine, school holidays and warm evenings. No attempt to sneak Radiohead in and pretend August is a time for introspection.
Why, to you, is Hull a great place to be this summer?
Mike’s answer begins with the Maritime Museum, and the timing could hardly be better.
After years of work, one of Hull’s best-known museums is open again just as the city enjoys a particularly busy summer.
“This month there has been a special moment with the reopening of the fantastic Maritime Museum,” he says. “This has transformed a much-loved destination into one fit for the 21st century.”
Then comes the events calendar.
Hull Pride, Humber Street Sesh and Freedom Festival are among the major events Mike picks out, alongside the smaller activities taking place in communities across the city throughout the school holidays.
“Hull is somewhere that sees something taking place every day to entertain and often inform,” he says.
The large festivals draw crowds into the city centre, while parks, museums, libraries and community organisations provide much of what families actually do during the long summer holidays.
And this year Hull has plenty more to talk about: a newly reopened Maritime Museum, another major milestone for the Arctic Corsair and Premier League football back at the MKM Stadium.
“Hull is somewhere that sees something taking place every day to entertain and often inform”
For once, describing it as a big summer doesn’t feel like civic exaggeration.
Recess isn’t rest
Mike acknowledges that the formal council calendar eases during August. His diary doesn’t necessarily follow it.
“While formal council meetings may ease up a bit during August, the work doesn’t.”
The Maritime Museum reopening has occupied much of his time at the beginning of the month, alongside work around participation in sport and the everyday responsibilities that come with leading a city council.
That is one of the reasons Beverley Review is running these profiles.
Council meetings and political disagreements are the most visible parts of local politics. Away from the chamber there is casework, meetings, projects, events and the everyday business of representing communities.
Our summer series is deliberately hearing from politicians from different parties and different parts of Hull and the East Riding. They will disagree about plenty when the formal political calendar gets going again, and Beverley Review will continue scrutinising those disagreements and decisions when it does.
For now, we are interested in the people doing the job as well.
For Mike Ross, this particular August happens to coincide with quite a lot happening in Hull.
The Maritime Museum is back, the Arctic Corsair is returning, Hull City are back in the Premier League and the city’s summer events are in full swing.
Somewhere amongst all that, he also has two young children expecting to see their dad during the school holidays.
Perhaps Summertime was the right choice after all.
Image Credits: Mike Ross & Hull Maritime