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Since that day he has provided a strong opposition in the Assembly, in particular, voicing criticism at the short sighted decision by former Minister of the Environment Arlene Foster not to set up an independent Environmental Protection Agency for Northern Ireland, describing the decision at the time as ‘Foster’s Folly’.
Assembly Member Wilson also expressed dismay when the new Environment Minister Sammy Wilson publicly announced his climate change sceptism and pro-nuclear beliefs.
Since entering office, the Green MLA has campaigned vigorously for an independent EPA, inviting anglers to Stormont to highlight their concerns regarding the poor state of our rivers, waterways and beaches.
He has also campaigned for a light rail system for Belfast, believing any attempts to penalize drivers before public transport is vastly improved is unfair. Brian also rejected any attempt to impose water changes on the poor or elderly in the community.
A strong opponent of nuclear power, Assembly Member has cited renewables as the way forward. In February 2008 he hosted the launch of a new trade association for the renewables sector, the Sustainable Energy Association at Parliament Buildings.
Assembly Member Wilson also held the first ever chess championships at Stormont where school pupils from across Northern Ireland competed.
Brian has been an active member of the North Down community having chaired most of the major committees in the North Down Council. He had the great honour of being Mayor of North Down from 1993- 94. He’s also been a member of the Eastern Health Board and Health Council, Chairman of North Down Hospitals Committee, Member of Rathmore Board of Governors, Board of St. Columbanus College, Member of South Eastern Education and Library Board, Member of North Down District Policing Partnership, and Governor of North Down and Ards Institute.
Born in 1943, Brian is a life long resident of Bangor and attended Trinity Primary School and Bangor Grammar School. A former civil servant in the Department of Education, he took a part-time degree at the Open University and in 1973 left the civil service to do a full-time Masters degree in Politics at the University of Strathclyde, after which he lectured at Omagh Technical College. In 1979 he took up a post at the College of Business Studies, Belfast as a lecturer in government and economics. There he remained for the next 25 years becoming a senior lecturer at BIFHE.
While still a teenager Brian became an active member of the Northern Ireland Labour Party and campaigned for social reform. With the decline of the NILP he joined the Alliance Party in 1975. There he remained until 1997 when he decided to stand as an independent. In 2001 he was returned as an (independent) councillor for Bangor West, topping the poll for the forth successive election with 1871 votes (1.6 quotas). In 2004 Brian joined the Green Party. The decision reflected his growing concern about environmental issues. Since then he has been breaking record. In 2005 he became one of the first Green Party representatives to be elected to public office in Northern Ireland again topping the poll in Bangor West. He entered the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007.
Brian has been married to Cllr Anne Wilson for nearly 30 years, they have two sons Scott and Allan, along with a son and daughter Roy and Caroline from Anne's previous marriage.