The Norwich Green

Greens Oppose Plans To Burn Waste

Norfolk County Council is intending to build an incinerator to burn waste at Costessey. The ruling Conservative Cabinet at County Hall has agreed that any waste that is not recycled should be burnt, rather than put into landfill. The full County Council will be asked to approve the plans at the end of January. Green Councillors have been highlighting the wide range of arguments against incineration.

Green Party County Councillor Dr. Andrew Boswell said:

"When the County Council conducted its public consultation on incineration, the majority of respondents opposed the idea. Now the County Council Cabinet is pushing ahead with plans to build an incinerator locally without having conducted a full assessment of the options."

Tom Llewellyn, Green Party City Council candidate for Wensum ward, added:

"The risk to human health and the environment from incinerators is of huge concern. This is not only because of emissions but because the private contract would tie the Council into 'feeding' the incinerator with a high volume of waste that would be transported in from across the region. This would undermine crucial aims to reduce the amount of waste we produce and to increase recycling levels - the environmentally-friendly ways to tackle the waste problem. Green Councillors will continue to lobby for improvements to local recycling facilities as a top priority for the City Council budget."

Greens Welcome Council Decision on Side Waste

Green City Councillor Adrian Holmes writes:

"In the autumn, the City Council announced that, when residents put out their materials for the recycling collection, all materials must be in a green recycling box. A number of residents contacted the Green Councillors to complain that CityCare workers had not collected materials left out beside the green box. We raised this issue at a full Council meeting and the Council has now agreed a compromise.

Earlham Road Bus Services

In December, Norwich Green Party submitted its petition to the First bus company calling for the original route of the 26 service to be reinstated. Until October, the 26 ran all the way down Earlham Road from the city centre to UEA. Now the service turns off Earlham Road at the ring road, depriving people living in the section of Earlham Road leading up to Fiveways of a local service.

Tom Llewellyn said:

"Thank you to the 397 people who signed the petition. We will inform residents of the response we receive from First. I am pleased to report that, earlier this month, the Konect bus company increased the frequency of its service along Earlham Road. The 3/4 Konect service now runs every half an hour during the day Monday to Saturday, from the N&N hospital, all the way along Earlham Road to the city centre. It calls at Earlham Fiveways at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour.

However, the Konect service is not in itself adequate. It doesn't run on Sundays or in the evening."

'Defend The NHS' Campaign

Green Party Councillor Rupert Read writes:

"The Green Party has launched a campaign to defend the founding principles of the National Health Service: a service where health care is free at the point of use and which is owned and run by government for the public good. In recent months in Norfolk, a number of private care homes for the elderly have closed, while cuts in mental health services and the closure of some of the county's smaller hospitals are planned. The Government is also considering increasing the number of charges for NHS services. The increasing use of the Private Finance Initiative in health provision saves the Government money in the short term but results in huge costs to tax-payers in the long term, while boosting profits for share-holders and reducing the public accountability of the services. Former Labour Health Secretary Frank Dobson has said that the Government intends to 'dismantle the NHS'."