In the modern political landscape, it is rare to find individuals who dedicate half a century of their lives to serving their communities in local government.
But that is exactly what former Mayor Peter Barnes did for over 50 years in Gedling borough.
After decades serving Gedling Borough Council and three mayoral terms, the now 87-year-old political icon retired on May 17, following the local elections.
Peter spent a collective 53 years in local government, 49 of which have been as a member of the borough council.
As a member of the Labour Party, he has been representing Daybrook as a member of the council since 1974.
Before his mayoral terms and the chairmanship of Nottingham County Council, Peter began his political journey in his home town of Arnold.
According to him, at the time his journey began due to South African Leader Nelson Mandela.
He said: “The plight of Nelson Mandela got me into politics when I got involved with the Mandela organisation to keep him from being prosecuted in South Africa.
“After that, I joined the Labour Party in Arnold, which was under Tom Leverse and Earnest Lester at the time.
“Both of them had been councillors a long time, with Earnest having been the Chairman of the Nottinghamshire County Council and Tom being the leader of the Arnold Urban District.
“So I learned a lot from them.”
At first, Peter did not get elected to the Arnold Urban District and was instead appointed as a non-elected member.Â
He stated that after his appointment, an overall reorganization of the council began.
Peter said: “This was between the Arnold, Carlton and Basford District Urban Districts; which combined to form one authority.
“The first time I stood for an election in this new council, I was beaten by six votes.
“The second time I stood, I won and I have been representing Daybrook ever since.”
Peter explained that he joined local politics to make things better for the community around him.
His motivations were further driven by the young people returning home after military service at the time, to find no housing.Â
He stated that at the time, the Arnold Urban District Council had a good reputation for building council houses for these displaced youths.
“That was good training for me because I was always interested in finding accommodations for people living in the area,” said Peter.
“This was difficult to do at the time because there was not a lot of money at the time to build these council houses.”
Peter stated that when he first started in the Gedling Boroughs Council, his party (lab) was in the minority.
He recalled labour only having 10 seats at the time, while the council was primarily conservative-run.
Despite this, Peter was made the mayor of Gedling by then-Labour Party leadership and conservative members alike.
He said: “I was made the mayor by the Labour Party to get the extra vote; that was the thought process behind the leadership.Â
“Then we gradually increased our control in the council, and we still hold that control to this day.”
This was Peter’s first mayoral run in 1987, following which he earned the position two more times with the most recent being last year.
During his time as mayor, Peter has managed to raise money for local charities and hospitals, with the help of the boroughs.
Peter said: “We have been very fortunate.
“The people in Gedling have been extremely good.
“My first year as mayor, I chose to focus on leukaemia research as my charity.
“I wanted to raise £20,000 for it during a time when people did not have a lot of money, and the council at the time said that if I raised that they would match it.
“It was a lot of work but we did it, and raised an overall £40,000, which was a lot of money at the time.”
Peter stated that over the decades, he has witnessed a growing interest in local politics by the public.
He explained that the general public has increasingly become more involved with local politics, wanting to know what their councils are doing and what they can do.
However, he stated that the future of the Gedling Council is unpredictable.Â
Peter said: “I think there may be some reorganisation taking place soon, which happens every 20 or 30 years.”
Despite this unpredictability, Peter stated that the biggest issue the local government needs to address now is the housing crisis.
He explained that a lot of young people are not able to afford houses due to the current financial situation; leaving it to the council’s responsibility to build housing.
“We have no council houses being built currently,” he said.
“And youngsters need to have at least £20,000 to get a property on mortgage, which most of them don’t have.”
Peter stated that despite receiving very little money from the central government, the council has done “tremendous” things within the boroughs.
These include assets such as the Gedling Country Park, and other leisure centres, which have all been positively received by the public.
“It’s been a very interesting job with interesting people,” said Peter.
“Gedling has done well, and the leadership has been good.
“We have had some extremely good chief officers over the last 30 years.”
Both Peter and his wife Sandra Barnes, have done a collective 80-plus years in local politics and public service. Â
Happy retirement Peter you have served the people of the Borough with exemplary fortitude. Enjoy spending time with Sandra and put your feet up. Lynda & Michael Jordan
Only ever asked for one thing from you in 30 years..to reinstate a memorial plaque that was removed from Carlton Forum , erected in honour for my late father.. at the unveiling that you attended. You blanked me. Twice. Nuff said.