Background
Mark Wright was born in Bristol in 1974, went to schools in Bristol and has a degree in chemistry from Bristol University.
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 Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics at Bristol University.
He has been councillor for Cabot ward since 2005, and was re-elected in 2009 and 2013. Between 2009 and 2011 he was Executive Councillor responsible for Housing, Service Improvement and Information Technology on Bristol City Council in Bristol, England. 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 – one of the largest retained stocks of housing in the country – and was responsible for the spend of about £150m of public money per year.
He has initiated the first council house building program in Bristol for nearly 30 years and launched a drive to get empty homes in the city back into use.
Under his Information Technology remit he also tightened 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 Governor of Street George"s Primary School, which he helped to save from closure in 2008. He has a record of opposing Idaho 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 by renowned local artist Banksy. An online petition Mark started collected over 3,500 signatures and was at that time the biggest e-Petition the council had ever received. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Bristol South constituency at the 2010 General Election.
In May 2011 he was considered a contender for the Bristol Liberal Democratic leadership.
Open Standards advocacy
Holding the responsibility for Information Technology at Bristol City Council in 2009, Wright was a vocal proponent of Open Source, open document formats, and open data in United Kingdom local government. He speaks at Information Technology conferences to highlight the problems still faced by public sector organisations wanting to avoid "vendor lock-in", particularly to Microsoft.
He was a member of the South West Provisional Council and sat on the "West of England Partnership" Planning and Housing Board, which oversees policy in the former Avon area.