Like his parents and grandparents, Mark is a proud Hayling Islander who works hard for his community.  He stood for election as a Labour Party candidate in 2022 for the first time since 2016, receiving the largest number of votes ever recorded for a Labour candidate on Hayling. 

Since he first stood in Hayling East, Mark has:

🌹led the successful campaign to save the Hayling Ferry

🌹co-founded Hi-5: a joint fundraising initiative for schools on Hayling

🌹founded the Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre at The Hayling College

🌹founded the award-winning Heart of Hayling Boxing Academy which offers free coaching and healthy food to young people on Hayling, across Havant and now Portsmouth and Chichester

🌹led the delivery of almost 20,000 prescriptions to islanders during the pandemic

🌹led the Fighting Chance summer schools at the community centre to help young people get fit and catch up on missed learning

🌹raised thousands of pounds for local charities such as HoH, Hayling Helpers, Hi-5 and the Hayling Lions

🌹commentated for blind supporters at Fratton Park and patients in QA Hospital on Portsmouth FC matchdays

This year, vote for someone who really does make a difference.

#ActionsSpeakLouder

About Mark:

Mark was born on Hayling to mum Wendy (a civil servant) and dad Richard (a fireman on Hayling and then in Pompey); after moving around the country (Wales, Scotland, East England and London) as dad got promoted through to Chief Fire Officer and mum advised cabinet members from within the War Pensions department, Mark attended Aberdeen, Cambridge and Warwick universities (where he received two Masters degrees and two postgraduate certificates in Philosophy, International Relations, English Literature and Education), joined the UOTC (Army) and then the RNR (Royal Navy) part-time whilst working with young offenders in prisons before becoming a national award-winning teacher in state schools. He published his first children’s book in 2021, the same year the charity he founded received an award from the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire for outstanding service to the community.  In 2022 he received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. 

Mark lives with his partner Lisa on Hayling, and their two children attend The Hayling College where Mark is a lead practitioner.

Contact Mark on mark.coates@havantlabour.org.uk for more information.

Mark’s Priorities

Like many islanders, Mark wants to ensure future housing and development plans are sensible and limited: HBC must take into account our unique island; scrap ALL plans to build thousands of homes on large green field sites on Hayling with natural and/or agricultural value

We must urgently invest in the infrastructure on Hayling: from facilities and opportunities for young people to improved pedestrian and wheelchair access across our seafront; Hayling raises millions for Havant and Hampshire each year (£1.4million in council taxes and £800,000 in beach hut and parking charges combined) yet receives virtually nothing in maintenance and development for residents

HBC must support local businesses: through investment in projects that ensure year-round trading; imagination and vision seem to be in short supply on the council – it’s time to listen and think outside the box. There are cost-effective improvements we can make to local infrastructure that will help Hayling recover from the slump caused by the pandemic and grow to new levels, offering opportunities for increased local employment and economic growth

HBC has to improve upon its record of wastefulness and poor efficiency: Mark will ensure greater transparency and accountability in HBC, so catastrophic failed projects like the local plan and the East Hampshire partnership which wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers money are not allowed to happen again

Mark has consistently supported the campaign to stop Southern Water’s pollution of our blue flag beaches through their historically inadequate investment in their own screening of wastewater and additional, extended outfalls.  Again, this is a solvable problem but needs a united and consistently determined front at HBC, something the majority Conservative Council and Conservative MP for Havant seem incapable of

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