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Late licences: Greens fight for fair consultation
Under new central government legislation, every pub has the opportunity to apply for a licence to serve alcohol beyond the traditional hours. It emerged during the summer that the City Council’s Licensing Section had been giving residents incorrect deadlines for responding to consultations about late licence applications for pubs in their area. The council then refused to accept for consideration all comments received after the earlier deadlines that it should have set.
In the eight cases where no comments were received before the revised, earlier deadlines the council has (as a result of central government legislation) automatically granted late licences without discussion by the Licensing Sub-Committee. There were a further 54 pubs where some of the comments received by the original deadline were not accepted. The council is confident that it has not made any errors in the consultation processes that have started since late August.
Councillor Bob Gledhill said: “The Green Party is not opposed to all late licences. Staggered closing times for city centre outlets might help reduce ‘11 o’clock crowding’. However, when a pub in a residential area applies for a late licence it is vital that residents have a real opportunity to influence the decision-making process. It is quite unacceptable that the LibDem Executive supported the decision of officers not to accept comments that were submitted in good faith before the deadlines given to residents. The Green Party is calling for the affected consultation processes to be re-run.”
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Wensum Valley Saved!
The ruling Conservative Cabinet on Norfolk County Council has dropped its plans for the proposed Northern Distributor Road (NDR) to be built through the Wensum and Tud valleys. The decision follows months of campaigning from the Green Party, the ‘No N25’ group and the ‘Too Far West’ group to save this area from development.
Councillor Rupert Read, Green transport spokesperson, said: “It’s great news that this priceless asset will be preserved. However, the Conservatives still plan to build a ‘three-quarters’ NDR and the Green Party is calling for the whole road scheme to be abandoned. We don’t want to see any countryside concreted over for this road when the money would be much better spent on improving public transport and cycle routes.”
Photo: The valley of the River Tud, a few miles west of Norwich. The Green Party and other campaign groups have successfully persuaded the County Council to drop its plans to build a road through this area.
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Local businesses in City Centre
At a recent full council meeting, a petition was submitted containing signatures of many concerned local residents in the St Augustine’s Street area. The petition called for the City Council to take action to ensure that the empty, boarded-up shops in St Augustine’s Street are renovated as soon as possible so they can be put back into use.
Green Party Councillor Adrian Holmes said: “I hope the council can help ensure the buildings are put back into use as soon as possible. Boarded-up properties are not only an eyesore but they often attract crime and anti-social behaviour. It is worrying that there are so many boarded-up shops in Anglia Square and the northern part of the city centre. I am concerned that the opening of the Chapelfield development could worsen this trend and would urge residents not to neglect independent and local businesses.”
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NORWICH STEINER SCHOOL
Enquiries: Valentina Monguzzi 01603 623971
Holistic learning for a better world
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Greens oppose 33% pay rise for Chief Executive
City Councillors are this month deciding who should be the new Chief Executive Officer at City Hall. Before the short-listing process began, the Council’s Executive committee was asked to consider whether to alter the salary for the post from the £90,000 earned by the previous Chief Executive. The LibDems who, as the biggest party, run the Council’s Executive committee, unanimously decided to increase the salary for the new employee to £120,000.
Councillor Adrian Ramsay said: “This is well above the ‘going rate’ for councils of the size and type of Norwich. The new Chief Executive will be paid ten times the wage of the lowest-paid council workers. If the Greens controlled the council we would not have approved this huge increase but would have put the money to better use.”
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Strong Green results
At the May local elections, the Green Party gained its first two seats on Norfolk County Council. This follows the party’s strong result at last year’s City Council elections when five Greens were elected and the party obtained the balance of power at City Hall.
At the general election, Green candidate Adrian Ramsay obtained 3,101 votes in the Norwich South constituency. This means the party more than doubled its vote share since last time and gained one of the strongest Green votes in the country. The Greens would like to thank everyone who supported them in the elections.
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Are You Listening Charles?
A month of events to protest at the erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government is about to begin. The events – entitled ‘Are You Listening Charles?’ – will highlight the restriction of the right to trial by jury and the right to protest as well as the planned increase in the amount of time that the police are allowed to hold suspects without trial. The Green Party is supporting the campaigners, whose aim is to persuade Home Secretary and Norwich South MP Charles Clarke to re-think his approach.
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Council votes to keep housing stock
In June, it was announced that 87% of Norwich council tenants and leaseholders responding to a survey had backed the option of the council retaining ownership and control of its housing stock. City Councillors have now unanimously voted to do just that.
Councillor Jessica Goldfinch, Green housing spokesperson, said: “I am delighted that Norwich has resisted attempts by the Labour Government to force councils to sell off their homes. Stock retention had the clear support of tenants and leaseholders and was supported by the Green Party from the outset. It is the best way to ensure this affordable housing remains available for future generations. We now need a commitment from the Government that all councils will receive adequate funding for housing improvements, regardless of which option was chosen.”
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Plastic bottle banks installed – Councillor Adrian Ramsay writes...
Banks for recycling plastic bottles have recently been installed at Sainsbury’s on Queen’s Road and Waitrose in Eaton. The Green Councillors secured funding for the new banks as part of the negotiations for this year’s City Council budget.
We will continue to lobby for money to fund enough banks to ensure good coverage across the city. We would also like to see plastics included in the doorstep collection service. However, at least there is now a facility for plastic bottle recycling in the City Council area. The LibDem budget proposals did not include any money for plastic bottle recycling. But as a direct result of the Greens holding the balance of power we were able to secure money for these two banks. Another improvement is that residents with green recycling boxes will soon be able to put tins and cans out for collection.
Photo: Green Party Councillors Adrian Ramsay and Chris Hull by the new plastic bottle recycling bank at Sainsbury’s, Queen’s Road.
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Green Talks at Bridges Café
Councillor Jessica Goldfinch is holding fortnightly informal chats about Green issues at Bridges Café, St John Maddermarket. Bridges is an informal meeting place for people living with mental illness. For details please call (01603) 664120.
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Save the playing fields!
The company hoping to build a private leisure centre, nursing home and nursery on a quarter of the Hewett School playing fields has withdrawn its application. Local residents and Green Councillors were preparing their case against the development when they heard the plans had been withdrawn.
Green County Councillor Chris Hull commented: “We are delighted that these playing fields have been protected for school students, and hopefully the local community, to use. They are an important green space in our city. New school facilities should be funded by the County Council and the Government – the school should not have to sell off assets to generate cash.
“The Green Party has formally objected to the planning application for a private leisure centre to be built on the former Lakenham cricket ground. Instead, we are supporting plans by the County Council for the land to be used as school playing fields following the reorganisation of Norwich schools. Preserving green space is the much better option for the environment, but also a better option for the local community than an expensive private leisure centre.
“Similarly, we are keen to ensure that the playing fields at Blackdale Middle School are not lost to development under the reorganisation. We would strongly oppose any plans by UEA to build on this site. One option is for the land to be given to Earlham High School.”
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About streetlights – County Councillor Andrew Boswell writes…
Norfolk County Council is planning to embark on a private finance initiative scheme for the maintenance of Norfolk’s streetlights. The Green County Councillors are opposing the scheme, arguing that functional streetlights should only be replaced when necessary and that private finance initiative schemes prove very costly in the longer term. I am in talks with council officers about minimising risks and have suggested that streetlights should be powered from renewable energy, such as grid-tied solar power. Not only would this have major environmental benefits, but it could also save money in the longer term. Officers are investigating the proposals I have made.
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LOGS LOGS LOGS
Seasoned hardwood logs cut to order. By-product of local tree surgeon's work.
Single load £30
Double £50
Treble £70
Box of kindling free
Pallets £1
(01603) 811686 |
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Surgery Times
Your Green Party Councillors hold the following surgeries:
- Second Monday of each month
Belvedere Community Centre
Belvoir Street
6-7pm
- Third Wednesday of each month
St Alban's Church Hall
Grove Walk
7-8pm
- Last Friday of each month
Cadge Road Community Centre
10-11am
You can also contact the Green Councillors at any time on 212969 / 503607 or enquiries@norwichgreenparty.org for help or advice.
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Contacting Norwich Greens
The 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:
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We would be pleased to hear from you
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The Norwich Green is published by Adrian Ramsay, 98 George Borrow Road, Norwich, NR4 7HU
on behalf of Norwich Green Party, 23 Havelock Road, Norwich, NR2 3HQ.
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