The Norwich Green

Mixed News On Incinerator

Norfolk County Council has informed waste company WRG that its plan for building an incinerator at Costessey is no longer the Council's preferred waste disposal option. However, Green Councillors have warned that the ruling Conservatives at County Hall are still considering building an incinerator.

Green Party City Councillor Janet Bearman said: "This decision is due to problems with the site in question and sadly not because the ruling group has decided that burning waste is a bad idea. A full-blown incinerator is still being considered. The second option currently on the table is a form of Mechanical Biological Treatment involving burning as part of the process. Pellets are produced that would be burnt either on site in Costessey or transported elsewhere. The County Council should rule out any option involving burning."

"We must significantly reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Green Councillors are pressing for improved recycling facilities and a Resource Recovery Park (RRP) as environmentally-friendly ways of achieving this. RRPs have proved effective in California and Sweden at separating residual waste to achieve very high levels of re-use and recycling. They also create many new local jobs."

Only the Green Party has consistently increased its proportion of City Council seats over the last six years.

Norwich City Council has the largest group of Green Party Councillors in the country.

The Green Councillors provide a constructive opposition to the Labour administration at City Hall.

Greens Push for Ethical Investment at County Hall

Green County Councillors have persuaded the County Council to take a more transparent approach when deciding how to invest its pension funds. In May it was revealed that the Council has £9.4m invested in three arms companies. Green Councillor Chris Hull proposed that this money be re-invested into ethical funds, without jeopardising returns for pension holders. The matter was referred to the Pensions Committee who agreed that fund managers will in future have to explain exactly where they are proposing to invest money so informed decisions can be made. The Green Councillors feel this is a small step in the right direction and will continue to press for a fully ethical policy.

Norwich Union Job Losses

Councillor Adrian Ramsay writes:

Norwich Union recently announced that it would be cutting 4000 UK jobs (including 850 in Norwich) and that many of these would be moving to India. The decision by Aviva, the owner of Norwich Union, to outsource call centres and other functions reflects a global trend. Governments across the world have allowed multinational companies to take over local firms, often resulting in the loss of local jobs and exploitation of cheap labour in the developing world. Governments should be standing up to multinational companies and supporting local economies worldwide.

Save School Playing Fields!

Blackdale Middle School will close in 2008. Green Councillors are supporting the campaign for the school's buildings and land to be made available to the enlarged Earlham High School and the local community. The ruling Conservatives at County Hall recently agreed that the land could be sold, but Green Councillors are supporting an appeal to the Government.

Councillor Claire Stephenson said: "The Green Party previously helped residents stop a development on the Hewett School fields. Hopefully the Blackdale fields will also be protected. The Government should put a stop to any playing field sell-off".

Greens Call for Water-Saving Measures

Government plans to build half a million new homes in the east of England will put significant pressure on our water supply. The County Council's Scrutiny Committee held a meeting on the impact of the plans. Following a suggestion from Green Party Councillor Andrew Boswell, the committee will write to Housing Minister Yvette Cooper to urge that her proposed voluntary water-saving measures in new building regulations are made compulsory.

Councillor Boswell said: "This development will increase demand for water, just as climate change will reduce the supply. We need water conservation measures, such as water recycling, built into all homes – new and old."

Sheringham Windfarm Decision

Norfolk County Council has lodged a strategic planning objection to the proposed Sheringham windfarm – even though a majority of councillors on the Planning Panel did not want to oppose the plans. Adrian Gunson, Conservative Cabinet member, decided to proceed with the objection despite losing the vote. Green County Councillor Andrew Boswell said: "National legislation should not allow Cabinet members to ignore panel decisions. This windfarm could power half of Norfolk's homes. I hope the Government will still proceed with the plans."

How Green Is Your Home?

Comment: Funding Public Services

Green Party City Councillor Adrian Ramsay examines the problems with the Private Finance Initiative.

Public services in Norfolk have suffered major setbacks in recent years due to the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). In October 2004, plans to refurbish 37 Norfolk schools fell through when Jarvis, the company set to enter into the deal with Norfolk County Council, decided to sell the PFI wing of its business. This illustrates the first problem with PFI: the dependence on private companies not to pull out after Councils have spent time and money negotiating.

More recently, the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital at Colney has run into problems because its PFI company, Octagon, 're-mortgaged' the hospital after it had been built. Octagon obtained a £116m payment as a result. It gave just £34m of this to the hospital – and attached the worrying condition of extending the 30 year contract. This meant extending the number of years in which the N&N has to 'repay' money to the company. This premium is currently £7m per year – a cost partly met by central government and partly by the hospital itself.

Those who support PFI argue that the new N&N would never have been built without the scheme. I would argue that the short-term financial savings made by Government by borrowing money from private companies to build new hospitals (and schools and prisons) are extremely bad value for taxpayers' money in the longer-term. PFI puts significant financial burdens on our public services, requiring them to re-pay money to the private sector for decades. At the N&N this has resulted in losses of front-line staff, putting pressure on the remaining staff to work overtime. Meanwhile, Octagon declined a request from the Chair of the N&N Trust to help clear the hospital's debts.

The Government should reassess its priorities and fund our public services properly. If we consider the billions of pounds it is intending to spend on replacing Britain's nuclear weapons of mass destruction, there clearly is enough money in the Treasury to fund public services in the traditional way without mortgaging our children's future through PFI deals.