Biography

Alison was born in Irvine, Ayrshire. After a 4 year spell in the South of England when first married, she returned to Scotland and settled in the North East. She has lived in Ellon for the last 24 years. Alison and her husband have 2 grown up children – a daughter and a son.

Alison combined parenting with voluntary work when her children were young, before becoming actively involved in politics in the early 1990s. She was first elected to serve on Gordon District Council in 1992, going on to serve as a councillor on Aberdeenshire Council from 1995 – 2007. During that time she became one of Aberdeenshire's most senior councillors, chairing its Infrastructure Services Committee for 8 years.

She also chaired Nestrans - the Regional Transport Partnership for North East Scotland.

She is a keen European and played a key role in the North Sea Commission as chair of its Sustainable Development Group. At a local level she has been a strong ally of young people in their campaigns for better facilities and a stronger voice in decision making.

She has also served as an Areas Board member with Scottish Natural Heritage and as a non-executive director with Scottish Enterprise Grampian.

She is a director of Callisto Productions Ltd, her husband’s media production company.