Marina Baker - Political Career

Political Career

Baker is active in local politics in the Lewes area of England, now working under her married name of Marina Pepper.

In 2006, she chaired the Lewes district council, where she represented the coastal communities of East Saltdean and Telscombe Cliffs, just five miles east of the cosmopolitan hub of Brighton in Sussex. She lost her seat on 3 May 2007 when she was defeated for re-election by the Conservatives.

She has also served as the mayoress of Telscombe and during the 2005 General Election she stood (unsuccessfully) for Parliament in the Brighton Kemptown constituency as a Liberal Democrat. She has been quoted as saying, somewhat facetiously, "I'm not sure Page Three girls can become MPs".

Baker is active in a number of local environmentalist programs such as the Saltdean "walking bus", which accompanies a line of children to school, reducing the number of cars on the road and giving the children "a good bit of exercise" before school. She has also set up a community recycling scheme for a local preschool and ran eco-fairs to help promote understanding of sustainable living.

As a member of the Telscombe town council, she takes an active role in REGEN—part of the Local Strategic Partnership—where she organises projects to promote social economic and environmental well-being in the towns of Peacehaven, Telscombe and East Saltdean.

She organises regular REGEN events in the community, including "The Circle", a sustainability fair which has run in conjunction with Telscombe's Town fair, RANDOMfreeFEST—a youth festival in Peacehaven—and "Cool Yule", a seasonal market held at the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, promoting local food and gifts.

Marina also appeared in the 2011 documentary "Just Do It" on environmental activism.