Campbell Knox may only be 18-years-old but he has a firm plan for local government in Maitland.
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Believed to be the youngest candidate to run for a seat on Maitland City Council, Campbell, of Morpeth, will run for a seat in North Ward at the September Local Government Election.
He is currently co-convenor of Maitland Greens and has strong interests in the environment (including Landcare), recycling and supporting local business.
Campbell, a former Hunter Valley Grammar School and Maitland Grossmann High School student, is one of two Greens lead candidates.
The other is John Brown, of Bolwarra Heights, who will stand in Central Ward.
John is concerned with environmental issues across the city especially the unnecessary removal of trees for development.
The Greens believe that the difference in ages and experience make for a perfect combination.
This will be Campbell's first tilt at a local government election while it will be the third in a row for grandfather of two John as a Green.
Campbell works as a drama tutor and at Quinn's service station at East Maitland.
He said he wants to use his election campaign as a platform to encourage more young people to vote and to have their say on how they want to see their city shaped.
Campbell also has three key initiatives which are safe development and Landcare, reliable Maitland works and heritage maintenance and renewable industries infrastructure.
"There is a lot of opportunity for Landcare within North Ward particularly in Miller's Forest and an area in Tenambit that houses a Flying Fox colony," Campbell said.
"In terms of reliable Maitland works and heritage maintenance, Morpeth is one massive heritage area and a tourist attraction for Maitland because of this.
"The issue I see with heritage buildings in Central Maitland and Morpeth is that the council doesn't plan for their continued use or maintenance yet expects businesses and community groups that operate around them, and out of them, to fork out for their maintenance privately.
"We need council to provide a base maintenance and standard upkeep for these buildings whilst allowing access to them for sustainable city growth.
"Regarding renewable industries and infrastructure, growth is a very important thing to a lot of Maitland businesses and residents but we need to ensure that growth remains sustainable and uses renewable practices. Our infrastructural growth needs to remain environmentally accountable and make as much use of renewable materials in construction as possible," Campbell said.
John said "we can't just keep tearing down trees".
"This is 2021 and climate change is on us. Keeping our natural bushland and our wildlife safe is just one small thing that we can all get involved in as a community project," he said.
"I like to call my personal campaign the Make Maitland Green Again campaign. Let's slow down the tree destruction and the development. Let's just pause and take a breath to let infrastructure catch up.
"I have heard so many complaints about the amount of traffic on our roads. Enough is enough."
Maitland Greens will announce other candidates and their mayoral candidate closer to the election.
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