To Finish – Say Hello and Wave Goodbye
To Finish – Say Hello and Wave Goodbye
This has been another challenging yet productive year for the committee. We have still been largely operating in the virtual environment with some face to face engagement sessions where members have attended events or conferences to represent and cover off MACS interests.
As with most years, the Committee itself has seen a lot of change. We have welcomed three new members in Elliot Cooper, Catherine Barile and Lesley Macinnes. A little background on our three new members can be found on the next page.
Of course, whilst it is always a happy and exciting time for the Committee to welcome new members I would like to take the time to acknowledge the hard work and commitment to their roles in both Audrey Birt and Heather Still.
Audrey and Heather brought a great deal of knowledge and experience to our team and were influential in their input towards our work on Transport to Health and Social Care.
Audrey also led our Bus, Taxi and Community Transport Workstream and was our lead liaison on equalities and human rights. We wish both members well for their future endeavours.
This coming year will also see both Hilary Stubbs and David Hunter see out their two terms as Committee members (8 years) so the challenging process of finding suitable replacements has begun. What this space for adverts!
Hilary and David have been integral to MACS work since I joined as Convener, and both will be a huge loss to the Committee in terms of experience, ability, leadership and knowledge and will certainly be big shoes to fill.
In signing off this years report I would like to finish where I started; and thank my Team who have once again worked tirelessly throughout the year, during good times and bad, to ensure we progress our work and make transport more Available, Accessible and Affordable for all.
New Committee Members:
Catherine Barile
Catherine graduated from the University of Dundee with an honours Law degree and Diploma in Legal Practice.
After qualifying as a Solicitor, she worked in private practice for 10 years, specialising in mental health law, before becoming a Children's Reporter for the Scottish Children's Reporter's Administration where she is an active member of the disability group.
Miss Barile grew up in a family with physical disabilities and she is passionate about protecting and promoting the rights of disabled people.
Elliot Cooper
Elliot is a writer and content creator who brings his lived experience as a full-time wheelchair user as well as interdisciplinary academic knowledge to the role. This complements a lifelong commitment to Human Rights and accessibility.
Lesley Macinnes
Lesley has spent most of her career in public service, including a long period in Geneva as the Deputy Support Director of an international NGO responsible for humanitarian demining (landmines and cluster munitions) and for administering the international Secretariat for the Ottawa Treaty.
More recently, she has served as an elected councillor in Edinburgh, leading political efforts on transport and the environment and has led on the City Mobility Plan, the City Centre Transformation strategy, the Low Emission Zone and the Trams to Newhaven project.
After the May 2022 elections, Ms Macinnes became her party's spokesperson on finance.
The rest of the team
The remainder of the Committee's serving members include Linda Bamford, Hilary Stubbs, David Hunter, Graham Dunn, Susan Fulton, Simon Watkins, Naghat Ahmed, Joanne Devitt, Lynsey Shovlin and Michael Tornow alongside the serving secretariat.
You can find out more about our current committee members at the link below:
View Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland Members' biographies