Chairman of Kent County Council, Gary Cooke video transcript

Transcript for the video on The Chairman page.

Video starts with the Chairman of Kent County Council, Gary Cooke, standing outside County Hall in Maidstone.

Interviewer: Gary, tell us something about the role of chairman at KCC.

Gary Cooke: Well, the role is very much one of a civic responsibility and representing KCC at significant events, civic events mostly,  around the county and actually representing to the people and what KCC does and how KCC affects people's lives.

Interviewer:  And what does it mean to you personally to become Chair?

Gary Cooke:  Well, I've been a County Councillor, this is my fourth term of office, so coming up for 16 years, and being chairman is obviously a great honour. But it's also the opportunity to focus on something that you, as an individual Member, feel very strongly about
through the choice of your charities. And in that sense it's young people for me, and young carers, and it's an opportunity to make a difference for the young people of Kent and to the young carers in particular.

Interviewer:  So you're supporting two charities this year, specifically focussing on young carers. Tell us something about that and
what you'd like to achieve through that.

Gary Cooke:  Well, in Kent we've identified something around 8,500 young carers that are known to us. There's a feeling that the real number is much closer to about 50,000. So, it's a bit of a hidden thing in the county. I want to highlight the work that these children do, I want to help and increase awareness. And at the end of the year be able to say that we've done something to make their lives better. That might be through raising money for the charities, and the charities are Imago and Crossroads, who I know very, very well, they're looking forward to this journey for the next twelve months and I'm looking forward to working with them as well.

The video ends.