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About Andrew

Andrew is the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Brentford and Isleworth (UK Parliament constituency). Elected Councillor for Brentford Ward and Leader of Hounslow Liberal Democrats in May 2006, he first ran as a Council Candidate for Syon Ward in May 2002. Andrew spends his evenings chairing the project to regenerate the historic heart of Brentford town centre.

Andrew was born on the 30th April 1979 and grew up in Brentford, went to nursery school in Chiswick, his first school in Isleworth and then travelled through Hounslow for five years on the way to his secondary school, Hampton. He still lives and works in the constituency.

With a career spanning such diverse roles IT at the BBC, business change management at GlaxoSmithKline, campaigning for WWF-UK and most recently leading Public Affairs at Business in the Community an NGO focusing on corporate responsibility charity. He has worked in Fiji, India, Uganda and the USA, and gained an MSc Development Management from The Open University in 2002.

Community Action

Andrew has campaigned locally since 2000 and since his election as a councillor in 2006 has stepped up his efforts on a range of key local issues:


 * Climate change: Called for the Council to establish a £1m climate change investment fund and successfully challenged the Council to sign up to the 10:10 campaign pledge to reduce its CO2 emissions by 10% in 2010


 * Schools expansion: Supported local amenity groups that for many years were highlighting the pressure population growth would put on primary and secondary schools – The Council now has a managed expansion programme in place
 * Health services: Queried the carryover of debt from the previous health authority and scrutinised dubious procedures around the retendering of counseling services


 * Housing crisis: Suggested that the Council make the Locata housing allocation system easier to use by introducing ‘auto-bidding’ – he is still pushing for the Council to implement its promised pilot


 * Historic buildings: Demanded action at Gunnersbury and Boston Manor Parks – and is now challenging the Council to find ways of funding the Gunnersbury regeneration that does not involve building on the corner of the park


 * Sustainable urban development: Led drives for further design and environmental sustainability improvements to a number of major developments across the constituency - and established award-winning Brentford High Street Steering Group to fight the decline of the town centre and catalyse regeneration


 * Responsible investment: Set out detailed proposals, now broadly adopted by the Council’s pension fund, to raise the responsible investment practices of the authority’s multi-million pound pension fund assets


 * In 2009 Andrew took on the Liberal Democrat party leadership endorsing calls at the party’s national conference for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2010.

Articles and reports written or edited by Andrew


 * Sustainable food in Hounslow (January 2007)


 * Brentford High Street - The Community Vision (November 2007)


 * Hounslow Climate Change Fund (February 2008)


 * The 2007 Leadership Summit on the Talent Challenge - Progress Report to the Prime Minister, BITC, July 2008


 * Corporate responsibility and the financial crisis, BITC, October 2008


 * Response to Conservative Party Commission on Waste and Voluntary Agreements, BITC, December 2008


 * The talent challenge facing the UK 2008-2020 – and the response from responsible business, All Party Parliamentary Group on Corporate Responsibility, December 2008


 * Responsibility in a recession: Checklist for responsible restructuring and downsizing, BITC, January 2009


 * Green talent – Creating a low carbon economy, BITC, February 2009


 * Stopping expansion by stealth: The Cranford Agreement Bill (February 2010)


 * Regenerating Gunnersbury Park, local history museum and mansions: A way forward (February 2010)

More about Andrew

["http://www.andrewdakers.com/"]

Follow Andrew on Twitter ["http://twitter.com/andrewdakers"]