Norwich Green Party | Nelson Ward Newsletter

The Norwich Green
Newsletter of the Norwich Green Party

NELSON EDITION		FEBRUARY 2005
Clock tower projections challenged CityCare contract Andrew Boswell selected East of England Plan Direct tsunami Aid Surgery Times Contacting Nelson Greens

CLOCK TOWER PROJECTIONS CHALLENGED

Green Party Councillors have challenged the decision to project images advertising some new domestic flights from Norwich Airport onto the City Hall clock tower. Council officers organised the projections for the nine evenings leading up to the launch of the new flights earlier this month. Councillors were not consulted prior to this decision being made - although LibDem Executive members later supported the advertisements.

Councillor Bob Gledhill said: "Councillors agreed unanimously to make the Council a partner in the UEA-based Carbon Reduction project. It is outrageous that the Council is promoting domestic flights when the viable alternatives of rail and coach result in far lower carbon dioxide emissions per passenger.

We are disappointed at the lack of democratic debate over the decision to promote a private company in this way. We will be bringing up this point with the Scrutiny Committee. We will also raise the issue of why the projections continued even after they were deemed to breach planning regulations."

CityCare contract

The City Council has paid out Ł60,000 in compensation to leaseholders of council flats after many were overcharged by CityCare for repairs to their properties. The Council has decided to suspend this part of the CityCare contract. As a result, most repair work on leased council flats has been put on hold and only urgent repairs to these flats will take place this year.

Councillor Adrian Ramsay said: "It is unacceptable that this overcharging occured and especially that council tax payers have had to foot the bill

"The Green Party believes such services should be run by the Council. Contracts with private companies on this scale are extremely costly to set up and often contain many loopholes. This latest news provides more examples of the costs and delays that can occur along the way.

"The delay in repair work should only affect leaseholders, rather than tenants renting Council properties."

Andrew Boswell selected

The Green Party has selected Dr Andrew Boswell as its Nelson Ward candidate for the County Council elections on 5 May. In 2004, the Green Party won all City Council seats in Nelson and this year has a good change of gaining a strong Green voice at County Hall on issues from social services and education to transport and the East of England plan (see below).

Andrew Boswell lives in the ward on Havelock Road. His work is providing scientific computation support to researchers at the UEA. He engages in peace and environmental activism with several local groups, and is president of the local United Nations Association (UNA) branch.

East of England Plan

A consultation is currently being conducted on a draft new regional plan for the East of England. Once adopted, the document will influence planning policy in the region for the next twenty years.

The main policies relating to Norwich are:

29,000 new homes for the area;
expension of the 'research park' at Colney;
an expansion of Norwich Airport; and
the building of the Northern Distributor Road

Residents have until 16 March to submit comments on the plan. For a consultation form, phone (01284) 729442 or get one from www.eera.gov.uk

Dr Andrew Boswell said: "It is important that people take part in the consultation. The Green Party will oppose over-development in the Colney area, which would worsen transport problems around Earlham Road. We will argue for new homes to be concentrated more in the north of England rather than the overheating southern economy and we will put the case for sustainable transport to be a top priority."

Direct tsunami Aid

Many people in Norwich gave generous donations to appeals for the tsunami victims in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The devastated communities in South Asia still urgently need financial assistance as they work to re-build their lives.

Councillor Jessica Goldfinch said: "We recommend that people now donate to community-based organisations in Asia. Donating to such groups means every penny will go to directly helping the local people and it means the local people will determine exactly how their communities are re-built."

A directory of community-based tsunami relief organisations is available at www.redpepper.org

Surgery Times

Your Green Party Councillors hold the following surgeries:

Last Friday of each month
Cadge Road Community Centre
10-11am

Second Monday of each month
Belvedere Community Centre
Belvoir Street
6-7pm

Contacting Nelson Greens

Your Green Party Councillors continue to take up local issues of concern with the Council. If you have anything you would like us to investigate or any questions please contact us:

Nelson Greens
15 Connaught Road
Norwich
NR2 3BP

T (01603) 503607
E Nelson Greens