In this issue

Just one vote in it! Please vote Green on 1st May
Manifesto and election video
Time for a change!
Kerrison Road housing proposals
Business parking permits
New OAP bus passes
Safer Neighbourhoods Action Panel
Council to engage with young people
Council must introduce recycling for all flats
Save the Rosary Road Post Office!
News in brief

Just one vote in it! Please vote Green on 1st May

Last year the Green Party missed out on winning a seat in your area (Thorpe Hamlet) by just one vote. This year your vote could make the difference! Use your vote to help make Norwich a Greener place.

Peter Offord (pictured left) is your Green Party Candidate for Thorpe Hamlet Ward in the City Council elections on Thursday 1st May. Peter and the Green Party Councillors have been working hard in Thorpe Hamlet Ward all year round, delivering newsletters, visiting residents and taking up local issues. Some of their local campaigns are outlined in this newsletter.

Help build a Greener Norwich: please elect Peter Offord on Thursday 1st May.

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Manifesto and election video

Norwich Green Party's full Manifesto for the 1st May City Council elections is now available online. If you would like a paper copy please call us on (01603) 611909. We will provide a summary in our next leaflet.

Or… watch our election video here!

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Time for a change!

It's time for a change in Thorpe Hamlet Ward! With one vote in it, your vote could make the difference!

There are currently ten Green Councillors providing a constructive opposition to the Labour administration at City Hall. On Thursday 1st May elect Peter Offord as your Green representative for a strong Green team on the City Council.

The Thorpe Hamlet Ward result in 2007

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Kerrison Road housing proposals

Plans for a major housing development around the Kerrison Road and Hardy Road area have been submitted to the City Council. The plans involve demolition of current buildings, including the Laurence Scott premises, and building 403 student accommodation units, 71 retirement flats, 202 penthouse and private flats, 24 sheltered housing units and 562 other houses. The plans involve a 14-storey tower block.

The local residents' group has expressed concern about the scale of the plans and encouraged anyone with views to write to the Council. Please send your views to Anne Napier, Planning Department, City Hall, Norwich, NR2 1NH or annenapier@norwich.gov.uk. The proposals are likely to be considered by the City Council Planning Committee in May.

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Business parking permits

Photo: Green Councillor Adrian Ramsay (left) with Peter Offord
and local resident Helen Richardson on Cedar Road.

Green Councillors have been pressing for a review of the policy on the number of parking permits that local businesses are allowed to have. Several residents of the Cedar Road and Chalk Hill Road areas have contacted the Green Councillors about the congestion and parking problems created by each business being entitled to three permits. Misuse of the permits has also been raised.

When the Green Councillors raised this issue again recently, the Labour administration said it would not be ordering a review of the policy in the next financial year but that a review is scheduled for 2009/10. At that point residents and businesses will be consulted on options for a new policy.

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New OAP bus passes

The new England-wide bus passes for free bus travel for the over 60s came into effect on 1st April. However, as reported in the local press, many residents are still without their passes.

Council officers are emphasising that residents can continue to use their old passes for free bus travel within Norfolk while they wait for their new ones for free travel within the rest of England.

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Safer Neighbourhoods Action Panel

Photo: Peter Offord on King Street, which is now a priority for the City Centre SNAP.

The last meeting of the City Centre Safer Neighbourhood Action Panel (SNAP) decided that the community policing priorities for the area should include anti-social behaviour problems around King Street and Prince of Wales Road. At the next public meeting the Police will give an update on progress. This meeting is on Monday 12th May, 7pm at Friends Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane. Residents can come along to ask questions and suggest future priorities for community policing in the area.

The next meeting of the Thorpe Hamlet and Heartsease SNAP is on Monday 16th June, 7pm at the City Gates Centre on Cowgate. The areas covered by this SNAP include the Heathgate estate and the parts of Thorpe Hamlet outside the inner ring road.

One priority for this SNAP has been reopening the Heathgate Community Centre. This goal has moved a step closer as Norwich Premier Judo Club is seeking funding to renovate the building so it can relocate there. If this happens other community groups will also be able to use the facility. We will keep you informed of developments.

To talk to the Police about work on SNAP priorities phone 0845 456 4567.

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Council to engage with young people

Norwich City Council is to improve the way that it consults and engages with younger people in the city, following a successful Green Party motion to last month's full Council meeting. The Council's Scrutiny Committee will talk to young people from different parts of the city about how it can best give them a say in the Council's work. Options to be discussed include setting up a Youth Council.

This proposal is part of the Green Party's campaign for Norwich City Council to be more open, democratic and inclusive in the way it operates and the way it consults residents. For more information on Green Party policies for an Open Council please see the party's Manifesto.

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Council must introduce recycling for all flats

Photo: Peter Offord at Providence Place flats - one of a number of areas in Thorpe Hamlet Ward where residents of flats have been asking for recycling facilities.

Residents living in flats in various parts of Thorpe Hamlet Ward have been asking when they will be given local recycling facilities. Some flats in the ward have already been provided with communal bins for recycling paper, tins, plastic bottles and glass. City Council officers have produced a programme for more flats to be provided with facilities but have not yet confirmed the timescales.

The Green Councillors believe that all flats need to be given these facilities as soon as possible and must not be left out as the new recycling facilities are introduced for houses in the city over the next year. In the longer term the Green Councillors would also like to see recycling collections for food waste, batteries, different types of plastic and tetrapaks.

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Save the Rosary Road Post Office!

Photo: Peter Offord with Green Party Councillors Bob Gledhill and Adrian Ramsay and local residents outside the Rosary Road Post Office. They are holding up the petition signatures collected by the Green Party in the area.

The Green Party is campaigning against the proposed closure of Rosary Road Post Office. The National Post Office is currently conducting a consultation on its proposals to close 51 of Norfolk's 316 Post Office branches, including three in the City Council area. One of these three is the Rosary Road branch.

The Green Councillors asked the Postmaster how we could best help the campaign to keep the branch open. Peter Offord and the Green Councillors have already collected hundreds of additional signatures for the petition that she set up and is still on the Post Office counter for people to sign. However, the Postmaster said it would also be helpful for us to encourage people to write letters in response to the consultation.

Points that residents could make when responding include: many of the Post Office users are elderly and would find it difficult to travel to another branch; the branch is located in an area with a dense population; car parking is available outside; the Castle Mall branch is not easy to access and often has long queues.

Branches in and near Thorpe Hamlet Ward which are not recommended for closure are Queen's Road, Castle Mall, Thunder Lane and Silver Road.

Peter Offord, Green Party Candidate for Thorpe Hamlet, said: "The Rosary Road Post Office is essential to the community in Thorpe Hamlet. We must put pressure on the Government to stop its planned large-scale closure of local Post Offices."

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News in brief

Plans for improving and re-opening the Memorial Gardens between the market and City Hall are now a step closer. The long-awaited planning application is set to be submitted this summer, with the work to take place between 2009 and 2011.

The long-awaited new Skateboard and BMX park is to be built in Eaton Park this summer. Keen Norwich skateboarders have been waiting for this for years. Green Councillors are disappointed by the delay but pleased that this important recreational facility will soon be available.

The Green Party and many local retailers supported the recent plastic bag free day in Norwich. The day was an opportunity to highlight the importance of re-using plastic bags, or using alternatives. This is because of the environmental problems caused by plastic bags relating to litter, landfill and harm to wildlife. Green Councillors are now pressing for more long-lasting action on the issue.

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Published by Tom Dylan, 123 St Leonard's Road, Norwich, NR1 4JN
on behalf of Peter Offord, 116 St. Clement's Hill, Norwich, NR3 4BY