Ross lives in Belgrave and has lived most of his life locally. He is best known as a local councillor a position he has held since 1985 and for becoming Leader of the City Council in 1999. Before that he was a County Councillor and worked in the voluntary sector.  Ross runs a successful business supporting charities and was for many years a volunteer for people with learning disabilities. He has also worked as a lecturer and research fellow in higher education and holds both first and masters degrees.  Ross has been a board member of EMDA. A Lay assessor for RIBA awards in his role as Design Champion for the East Midlands. Was Chair of the regional Social Inclusion Task Group, part of the Regional Assembly, developing and promoting anti-poverty initiatives. He has also been a board member of the National Space Centre, and East Midlands Tourism and Chair of the Urban Commission in London. Was a non-executive director of NHS Leicester.

Ross was leader of the Labour Group on the Council for 12 years and has been a member of the Labour Party for 48 Years.

Ross stood down as Leader of the Council in March 2010 to fight for the Parliamentary seat of North West Leicestershire. Hoping to succeed his lifelong friend David Taylor MP.

My Values

My values are Labour values:

• Ensuring equality of opportunity for all: making sure everyone gets a fair chance in life
• Promoting fairness and respect for hard work and merit
• Honesty, truth and justice
• Openness in the way things are done, being ready to explain
• Fostering co-operation, responsibility and generosity
• Nurturing individual and collective creativity
• Caring by supporting the most vulnerable, ensuring individual dignity
• Ensuring Leicester’s citizens are safe
• Respecting that we are part of a larger community and that what we do impacts on the rest of the world, the environment and other people
• Fostering understanding between communities and faiths and respecting that we are different
• Providing a voice for those who are least heard.

I have been influenced in my thinking by many people that I have known as well as writers and social reformers especially Robert Owen http://robert-owen-museum.org.uk

I am a member of Unison, the Co-Op Party,  CND, and am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

10 things you don’t know about Ross?

1. His Great Great Grandfather was a police constable in the London Police in the 1880’s
2. He has abseiled down the outside of the Holiday Inn for charity
3. He learnt the rudiments of flying when he was an air cadet in 1188 squadron Coalville and flew a Hercules over Belgium
4. He collects and restores antique clocks and radios.
5. With extra time on his hands and abundance of fruit in his garden, he discovered the joys of jam making!  And has managed to produce more jam this summer than he knows what to do with, so you know what you will be getting as presents!
6. He is a Dr Who and Star Trek fan
7. His great, great, great grandfather was a glass engraver and came to England from Prague in 1857 to escape conscription into the Austro Hungarian army.
8. His favourite city, apart from Leicester of course, is Venice
9. He has a twin sister and they both served as parish councillors at the same time.
10. He used to drive a British made sports car. Can you guess which?