Green News And Action From The Last Year
These centre pages highlight a selection of the issues that Stephen Little and your Green Councillors have been campaigning on over the last year. Please elect Stephen Little as your local councillor to ensure there is a strong Green team at City Hall to continue to campaign on these and many other issues.
May 2006: At the local elections, the number of Green Councillors at City Hall increases from five to nine – making the Greens a large opposition group. The Green Councillors continue to play a constructive role in cross-party discussions. They start by securing a commitment to include a requirement of a 30% renewable energy quota in all new developments in future council planning policies – one of the most progressive policies in the country.
June 2006: Green Party Councillors support a LibDem motion calling for the introduction of 20mph speed limits on all residential streets. Only the Green Councillors call for money to be redirected away from road-building and invested in road safety measures.
July 2006: Former LibDem Councillor Dawn Castle-Green defects to the Green Party, citing the unwillingness of the Norwich LibDems to oppose incineration as a key reason for this move. Later in the year she is joined by fellow former LibDem Councillor Simon Richardson who joins the Green Party partly because of the Green Councillors' opposition to the demolition of the structurally sound council flats on Barrack Street.
August 2006: Local residents and Green Councillors successfully persuade the City Council to reject a third application from Tesco to build a store at the junction of Unthank Road and Trinity Street. Green Councillors are calling on Tesco to sell the land so it can be put back into use.
October 2006: Green Councillors propose a motion calling on the council to encourage businesses in the city to reduce the amount of packaging they use. Council officers take the issue up with the City Centre Management Partnership. The Greens argue that national taxes on packaging are needed to tackle the problem effectively but that raising the profile of the issue locally will also help.
October 2006: Mini recycling banks for glass, paper and card are installed in various city centre locations.
November 2006: The local councils launch a scrutiny review of local bus services. The Green Councillors repeat their calls for the service along Unthank Road to the hospital to be reinstated.
January 2007: The council agrees to alter the timing of the crossing over Chapelfield Road by Vauxhall Street so pedestrians do not have to wait so long to cross. (This is now set to happen in the near future.)
January 2007: The City Council adopts a Green Party motion opposing any incineration of Norfolk’s waste. A few weeks later the County Council confirms that incineration is no longer its preferred option and that it plans to pursue the more environmentally-friendly option of a mechanical biological treatment plant at Costessey.
January 2007: Green Councillors oppose the decision of the ruling Conservatives at County Hall to axe the orbital bus service, just 17 months into its three-year trial period.
January 2007: The City Council adopts a Green Party motion asking for a commitment to reductions in carbon emissions from council services. The council later agrees to appoint an energy officer to secure energy efficiency measures in council buildings.
January 2007: Town Close Green Councillor Janet Bearman attends a Safer Norwich Partnership Open Day at the Vauxhall Centre where Police and council officers are on hand to discuss local anti-social behaviour and environmental concerns with residents and launch various crime prevention measures for the area.
February 2007: The City Council agrees funding for significant improvements to local recycling facilities over the next two years. The improvements will include the collection of plastic bottles as part of the doorstep scheme and provision of recycling banks for flats.
February 2007: The City Council proposes various road safety measures for the section of Unthank Road between Park Lane and Dover Street. The Green Councillors respond to welcome the plans for a 20mph speed limit and for the widening of the narrow footpath around Cambridge Street but to oppose plans for buildouts because of the effect they would have on cyclists. (We will report the outcome of the consultation on these proposals in a future newsletter when it is known.)
February 2007: Local campaign group RAID discovers that the County Council is still in discussions with David Lloyd Leisure about selling off some of the Hewett School playing fields for a private development. Only the Green Party Councillors are actively campaigning to protect the playing fields.
February 2007: Green County Councillors propose an alternative budget, including a lower council tax increase, saving £1million that is currently spent each year on the expensive NDR road project and setting up a Climate Change Mitigation Fund.
April 2007: Residents raise a variety of issues with Stephen Little while he is canvassing in the ward which he agrees to take up with the relevant authorities after the election if elected. These include:
- litter problems in parts of Town Close.
- the need for traffic calming measures on many streets where residents are concerned about traffic speeds. Green Councillors are pressing for more money to be invested in road safety measures instead of road-building so more areas can be helped.
- anti-social behaviour concerns in some areas where more police and community warden patrols are needed.
- The lack of bus services going into the city centre in the evening from parts of Town Close ward.
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"I have enjoyed meeting so many residents during this campaign. If I am elected I will continue to keep in touch by visiting residents and delivering newsletters all year round. The Green Party has increased its number of council seats each year for the last five years and we now form a significant opposition group on the council. In Town Close ward we have won the last two local elections and this year have an opportunity to elect another Green for the area. On 3rd May we are asking residents to return more Green Councillors to City Hall to help us work for a socially inclusive city, for a clean local environment and to protect the unique character of Norwich.