AT CAMBRIDGE City Council’s annual council meeting today (Thursday 23 May), councillors elected Cllr Baiju Thittala as the new Mayor of Cambridge for the municipal year 2024-2025.

Mayor Cllr Jenny Gawthrope Wood, who has served as Mayor from May 2023, was thanked for her work as she reached the end of her mayoral term. 

Cllr Thittala, who is a practising criminal defence solicitor representing people in courts in and around Cambridgeshire, has served as Deputy Mayor for the municipal year 2023-2024.

As Mayor, Cllr Thittala intends to focus on championing social justice and equality and inclusion, with his mayoral themes being deep diversity, inclusivity and pluralism.

One of Cllr Thittala’s chosen mayoral charities is Cambridge Street Aid, the council’s award winning initiative which supports rough sleepers. Street Aid gives people who want to support rough sleepers an alternative to handing money directly, by pooling people’s donations and giving more meaningful grants to people to support them to make lasting change.

The other mayoral charity is the new world-class Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital which has the potential to facilitate breakthroughs in early detection of cancer and lead the way in delivering bespoke, precision treatments that will radically improve patient outcomes worldwide, enabled in part thanks to local philanthropists.

Cllr Thittala said: “In 2018 I was elected to represent East Chesterton in the by-election, becoming one of only a handful of first-generation people from a minority ethnic background to be a councillor in the history of Cambridge City Council.

“Since then, I have continued to campaign to build a fairer society, whether in my role as Lead Councillor for Equalities, or my ongoing commitment to supporting my community, as a way of repaying the support I received myself when I first arrived here from Kerala.

“Having experienced homelessness myself, I can better understand the pain, sorrows, sufferings, and agonies of the people who are homeless.

“Even in my professional practice, I have seen people going to prison because they are homeless, inspiring the choice of Street Aid as one of my mayoral charities.

“The new world-class Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital has the potential to lead the way on detecting and treating cancer early. The Give Us a Lift charity, in partnership with Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, which is raising funds to support the hospital, is predominantly led by local immigrants, inspiring my second choice for mayoral charity.”

Cllr Mike Davey, Leader of Cambridge City Council, said: “I am particularly proud that Baiju will be the first person of colour to hold the mayoralty in Cambridge.

“It’s been great to welcome the Natyanjali School of Dance and Samarpana Classical Arts to the Guildhall today showcasing traditional classical dance, sharing some of Baiju’s heritage with us. Following a successful year as Deputy Mayor, I know he will build on the work he has already done to champion the voices of minority groups in Cambridge and I look forward to supporting new initiatives in the year ahead.

“Thank you to our outgoing Mayor, Cllr Jenny Gawthrope Wood, for her work this year. Jenny has used her role to build bridges across the Cambridge community, working both with long-standing institutions and local charities.

“One of my personal highlights was an event organised by Jenny, with support from Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, linking up Cambridge colleges with local charities to form worthwhile and hopefully long-term connections. This is work that as a council we can and must do.”