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Honorary Doctor of the University, 2000
Bio | Citation

Born in 1940, Paul White, The Lord Hanningfield, is a farmer, amateur botanist, Shadow Minister for Transport and former Leader of Essex County Council. Educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, he gained a Nuffield Scholarship for Agriculture and soon after became a livestock farmer. In 1962 he was appointed Chairman of the Young Farmers, and at the same time became a member of the Executive of Chelmsford Conservative Party, a relationship that was to last 37 years. He served as Chairman of Essex County Council from 1989 to 1992 and later as Leader of the Council. During all this time he remained committed to enhancing education services in the region. He was made a life peer in 1999 and has since served as Opposition Whip and as Shadow Minister for Education. Lord Hanningfield is a Vice Patron of the Helen Rollason Trust and Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Essex.

In 2000 Lord Hanningfield received the honorary degree of Doctor of the University.

Areas Of Interest: Local Government, Agriculture, Charity Sector
Faculty: No particular faculty affiliation
Citation:

"The Senate of Anglia Polytechnic University has great pleasure in recommending the award of an Honorary Doctorate of the University to The Lord Hanningfield (Paul Edward Winston White), Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Essex, farmer and amateur botanist.

Today we honour Lord Hanningfield, currently Leader of Essex County Council, who has given distinguished public service in local government and proved himself a great supporter of the University over many years. He was born locally and underwent his secondary education at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. He later gained a Nuffield Scholarship for Agriculture which took him to the USA, where he pursued research, specialising in Marketing in Farming.

His background is in farming and a significant early milestone in his career was his appointment as Chairman of Young Farmers in 1962. Two years later he was winner of a national Public Speaking Contest for Young Farmers and in due course he served for ten years (1965-1975) as a Member of the National Executive of the National Farmers Union.

However, his career shifted increasingly out of farming and into the political and public service arena, with him serving as a Member of the Executive of Chelmsford Conservative Party for an extraordinary 37 years from 1962 to 1999. Meanwhile, he had also become Chairman of the Conservative Party for the Stock area of Essex, where he stayed until 1975, subsequently assuming the post of Vice Chairman and Conservative Group Leader of the Local Government Association (that body which represents all local authorities in England and Wales) which he holds still, today. Here he played a leading role in bringing together the three previous local authority associations.

Related to this was his appointment as a founder Member, in 1994, of the Committee of the Regions (a European Union institution representing local government from fifteen EU member states) later becoming its Conservative Group Leader and subsequently, at different times, Vice President of the Committee of the commission on Transport and the Information Society, Vice President of the European People's Party, President of the Committee of the Liaison Group on Enlargement of the EU (which is concerned with the development of relationships of the EU with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe) and has served as a Member of the Assembly of European Regions Sub-Commission since 1990.

Back in Britain, Lord Hanningfield continues to serve as a Member of the Central (Local Partnership) Meeting chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Conservative Councillors Association, Board Member of the Conservative Party (representing local government) and as a governor of Brentwood School. Of course, he also has a long pedigree of association with education in the region, on the Eastern Region Further Education Council, Council of Local Education Authorities and Chairman of Education of Essex County Council. He is an outstanding example of public service in local government in the region, especially in relation to education and a longstanding stalwart supporter and friend of APU."

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