London Assembly member Andrew Boff to stand for Conservatives in council byelection

Andrew Boff, the Conservative party candidate for the Hackney Central ward byelection

Andrew Boff has been selected as the Conservative party candidate for the Hackney Central ward byelection to be held on 3 May.

Mr Boff is a London Assembly member and former Hackney councillor who has lived by Broadway Market for over 10 years and in Hackney for almost 20 years.

He is also standing for re-election to the London Assembly on the same day.

Mr Boff said: “Hackney Central needs a councillor who is not just going to toe a party line.”

His byelection platform includes the following: “the ban on local small businesses bidding for Council contracts should be removed; residential road schemes should only be undertaken with the full consent of the residents who live on them; buses on the Narroway should be diverted to allow Hackney’s High Street to thrive; high-rise developments are not the solution to the Hackney’s housing problem, which requires a greater investment in housing suitable for families; and cuts to the Youth Service should be reversed.”

If elected, Mr Boff says he will use his £9,900 council allowance to fund youth projects in Hackney Central ward.

Mr Boff was at one time leader of Hillingdon Council. He is currently chair and volunteer at the RCC youth club by London Fields and editor of EASTeight magazine. He has also been an active member of the Broadway Market Traders’ and Residents’ Association since 2004.

He was elected to the London Assembly in 2008 where he has argued for more family housing and investigated overcrowded homes, given evidence to the inquiry into the London Plan to support small retail businesses, pushed for faster compensation for shopkeepers whose premises were damaged by the riots, and compiled a report on violence against women in the sex trade.

He is also a member of the Congress of the Council of Europe where he has been part of a team that has written a new code to be adopted all 47 member states which seeks to increase the participation of young people and successfully lobbied for the new democracies in North Africa to have representation at the Council of Europe.

“Voters can choose a tame councillor who will do what [Hackney Mayor] Jules Pipe tells him or one who will hold the council to account,” he said.

Other candidates who have so far put their hats in the ring for the byelection include barrister Ben Hayhurst for Labour and ‘Hackney Heroine’ Pauline Pearce for the Liberal Democrats.

Related:

Barrister Ben Hayhurst to stand for Labour in council byelection

‘Hackney Heroine’ Pauline Pearce to stand in council byelection