Manifesto - Green spaces
Green thinking on green spaces
Greens believe that a healthy local and global environment is essential for the quality of life of residents and the security of future generations.
The way forward
A Green Council would:
- Support the protection of green spaces (including parks, school playing fields and gardens) from development.
- Support the use of parks and green spaces by the local community, and encourage input from local residents into the running of parks by promoting 'friends of….' schemes.
- Increase the number of allotment plots available in Norwich and the support provided to allotment holders by employing a dedicated Allotment Officer, in order to increase the level of cultivation and biodiversity on local allotments.
- Support regular pruning of trees rather than more drastic maintenance methods such as radical pollarding. Ensure that trees are only ever felled as a last resort. Lobby for funding for the planting of more street trees in Norwich. (Funding for street trees currently comes from the County Council.)
- Support for a local agricultural system that encourages organic farming, maintains biodiversity and promotes local food initiatives and farmers' markets.
- Oppose agribusiness-scale farming practices, including GM and use of pesticides.
- Oppose large-scale biofuels production and argue that local farmland should be used for growing food crops. The large-scale biofuel industry fails to address climate change and often causes significant impacts on biodiversity.
- Support for the creation of 'green corridors' through any areas that are earmarked for development, so that green spaces are integral to all new developments.