Sarah Boyack’s glass is not just half full – it’s positively fizzing!

At the age of only 38, Sarah Boyack was appointed to the first Scottish Cabinet as Minister for Transport, Environment and Planning, serving from May 1999 to November 2001. During this time she introduced free bus travel for elderly and disabled people in Scotland, improved energy efficiency standards for social housing and sat on the European and Audit committees.

Her passionate interest in the environment led to her receiving the RSPB Goldcrest Award for the greatest contribution to the development of environmental policy since devolution and in December 2005 she was named The Scottish Renewables Best Politician.

Sarah was born in Glasgow but brought up in Edinburgh. She was educated at Edinburgh’s Royal High School and was among the first intake of girls at the school. Sarah later studied Modern History and Politics, gaining an MA at Glasgow University, which she followed with a Diploma in Town and Country Planning at Heriot Watt University.

“At the root is of what drives me is my belief that I want to improve the world I live in. This goes back to my choosing being a town planner as my first career and then becoming a planning lecturer”.

Her political beliefs were undoubtedly formed and fostered by her late father Jim Boyack who served for 3 years as a councillor on the old Edinburgh Corporation. She says, “I was aware of politics from a very early age. This was in the Margaret Thatcher era and I was active in student politics in campaigning for devolution. I got a good grounding in reality at Glasgow University and found the lives of shipyard workers and those in other heavy industries worth fighting for.” She adds “university is the place where you find yourself.”

Recycled
Sarah is pleased that the environment, not formerly centre stage, has now become so and this she says, “keeps me going. I feel it is a fantastic privilege to be in the Scottish Parliament. I personally have been recycled on several occasions! You choose to do things but events move you on, in my case from Cabinet Minister, to Committee Chair and now a backbencher!”

One of the best things to happen in her life so far, unsurprisingly, was being elected to, as she put it “The first Scottish Parliament in 300 years.” “At the time I thought this is as good as it gets, but I have pretty much enjoyed everything I have done so far. I’ve learned a lot along the way and I always see things as the half full glass not the half empty one.”

She is also proud of introducing, in particular, environmental policies into Parliament.

Sarah BoyackPerspective and Prediction
Inevitably there have been a few low periods. As she says “If you put yourself up as a politician you don’t know how it’s going to be. Being in the first Cabinet was fantastic but challenging. I had suddenly to deal with conflicts, which became easier as time went by but sometimes it is difficult to get things into perspective and you can never totally predict how things will work out.”

She thinks her greatest achievement to date was the introduction of free bus travel which Sarah believes has long-term benefits in improving people’s lives. She also considers politics are now much more accessible to people.

This is essentially a private, indeed shy woman who is quite guarded about her family “Family and friends keep you supported – constituents keep you grounded. Family and friends help you to relax and switch off. I do find it hard to be disciplined enough to say “no” to an event though.”

Reading crime novels, going to movies – for entertainment – and films –thought-provoking ones, are ways in which Sarah relaxes. She finds reading novels “lifts the spirits and is a form of escapism.”

She feels that she is rather unfairly considered to be anti-car and came in for some mild ridicule for riding her bicycle to Parliament (without a car following behind her). But Sarah does practice what she preaches and believes you learn from life’s experiences and move on.

Her heroes include Barbara Castle. “She was the first woman in a really senior position in politics. Her diaries show her as a very human person, active until she died and she made an incredible contribution to public life.”

She also admires Nelson Mandela for his capacity to live through personal sacrifice and imprisonment and come out of it smiling and forgiving and going on to play a pivotal role in healing society in South Africa.

Currently her next big challenge is to get her Member’s Bill to promote energy efficiency and household Renewables through the Parliament. She is also passionate about securing the future of Edinburgh’s Kings Theatre. She believes the arts can have a beneficial influence in combating anti-social behaviour and one senses a campaign coming on.

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Published by

Christine Richard OBE FRSA

http://www.lothianlife.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Christine.jpg Christine has over 25 years' experience in public life in Scotland in the fields of politics, education, public relations and charity work. For 12 years she served on the City of Edinburgh District Council and was her Group's leader for 4 years. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1992 she was made an OBE. Christine is a member of the Board of The Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy. She has just completed six years on the Board of The Edinburgh International Festival. Christine's business experience has covered the fields of theatre, economic development, science, coal mining, education and training. She has held a number of non-executive directorships in these disciplines. She is a trained and experienced personal relationships counsellor and a business and personal mentor. In 2005 Christine established Christine Richard Associates who undertake Event Management and Public Relations as well as company and individual profiling. She coordinated the 'Yes to Edinburgh' campaign on congestion charging in Edinburgh. ten years ago Christine co-founded West Lothian Women in Business, which is a network for women who are self-employed and also for women managers. Christine has now stepped down from the Chair of this thriving organisation. For 5 years Christine was a magistrate in the District Court. She was also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on the appointment of Justices of the Peace. She has been an adviser to Government in various areas of policy, including health, local government and education. Christine is a trained and experienced radio and television broadcaster and writer as well as an entertaining and accomplished speaker. She has a wealth of topics on which she is invited to speak. These range from witty after lunch and after dinner speaking to the more serious topics of the economy, health, education, enterprise, the Powers of the Mind and Life/work balance. She writes reviews and articles for lifestyle magazine, Lothian Life. She took part as a contestant in an ITV gourmet TV show, Chef V Britain, challenging TV chef Gino D'Acampo to cook her signature dish, Posh Cottage Pie. Currently Christine is a member of the Goodison Group in Scotland and Scotland's Futures. Also she is involved in the group Changing the Chemistry of Scottish Boards. Her first novel, Whitewalls, a modern Scottish family saga has been published by New Generation Publishing and is available on all internet books siets and from libraries. She is writing a sequel Autumn at Whitewalls. Her leisure interests include her family, literature, music, theatre, food, wine and horse racing. She is a member of a racing syndicate, which has two horses in training.

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