The Norwich Green

Greens Oppose Plans To Burn Waste

Norfolk County Council is intending to build an incinerator to burn waste at Costessey. The ruling Conservative Cabinet at County Hall has agreed that any waste that is not recycled should be burnt, rather than put into landfill. The full County Council will be asked to approve the plans at the end of January. Green Councillors have been highlighting the wide range of arguments against incineration.

Green Party County Councillor Dr. Andrew Boswell said: "When the County Council conducted its public consultation on incineration, the majority of respondents opposed the idea. Now the County Council Cabinet is pushing ahead with plans to build an incinerator locally without having conducted a full assessment of the options."

Green Party campaigner Steve Altman added: "The risk to human health and the environment from incinerators is of huge concern. This is not only because of emissions but because the private contract would tie the Council into 'feeding' the incinerator with a high volume of waste that would be transported in from across the region. This would undermine crucial aims to reduce the amount of waste we produce and to increase recycling levels – the environmentally-friendly ways to tackle the waste problem. Green Councillors will continue to lobby for improvements to local recycling facilities as a top priority for the City Council budget."

Greens Welcome Council Decision on Side Waste

Green City Councillor Bob Gledhill writes...

"In the autumn, the City Council announced that, when residents put out their materials for the recycling collection, all materials must be in a green recycling box. A number of residents contacted the Green Councillors to complain that CityCare workers had not collected materials left out beside the green box.

25 Bus Petition Update

Shortly before Christmas, Norwich Green Party submitted its petition to the First bus company calling for the former route of the 25 bus to be reinstated. In October, the route was altered and the service no longer continues beyond UEA to the hospital. There were 988 signatures on the completed petition calling for the direct route to the hospital along Unthank Road to be brought back.

Adrian Ramsay, Green City Councillor for Nelson, said: "Thank you to everyone who signed the petition. It shows First the level of support for reinstating the 25 service to the hospital. I hope the company responds positively."

'Defend The NHS' Campaign

Steve Altman writes:

"The Green Party has launched a campaign to defend the founding principles of the National Health Service: a service where health care is free at the point of use and which is owned and run by government for the public good. In recent months in Norfolk, a number of private care homes for the elderly have closed, while cuts in mental health services and the closure of some of the county’s smaller hospitals are planned. The Government is also considering increasing the number of charges for NHS services. The increasing use of the Private Finance Initiative in health provision saves the Government money in the short term but results in huge costs to tax-payers in the long term, while boosting profits for share-holders and reducing the public accountability of the services. Former Labour Health Secretary Frank Dobson has said that the Government intends to 'dismantle the NHS'."

Clifton Street Traffic Calming

Over 70 residents of Clifton Street have signed a petition calling for traffic calming measures. They report high traffic speeds, but have been told the road is 'not a high priority' for traffic calming. Green Councillors argue that road safety measures should be a much higher priority for Council funds so the Councils can traffic calm far more areas. Last year, Labour and LibDem City Councillors voted down Green proposals for increasing the road safety budget.