Your green newspaper for Norwich

Summer 2014

Green Party

Norwich Green Party: Sackville Place, 44-48, Magdalen St, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1JUPromoted by Spinoza Pitman on behalf of Norwich Green Party.Printed by Sharman and Company Limited, Newark Road, Peterborough, PE1 5TD.

Greens engage in real democracy

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www.norwichgreenparty.org

Expenses scandals, hidden agendas, spin and political u-turns mean that trust in politicians is rightly low. The political system is failing ordinary people. Your job, your neighbourhood, your family, your children’s future seem second to political in-fighting.

Ahead of next year’s general election millions of pounds will be spent by mainstream parties to try to win your vote, but at the end of it all, does anything really change? Does your representative at Westminster really represent

you, or do they follow a party line dictated to them by head office, or their friends in big business?

This is where the Green Party does things differently.

The Green Party’s MP Caroline Lucas and councillors up and down the country have been campaigning for better democratic processes where decisions are transparent, results of elections are proportional to public opinion, and everyone has an opportunity

to participate in the making of decisions that affect them.In Norwich, Green Party

councillors have campaigned for better democracy on local councils, and for the bodies that spend public money to be made as transparent and accountable as possible. Greens played a big role in Norfolk County Council’s recent move to a more democratic ‘committee’ system of governance (see page 3), and are challenging trade treaties that undermine our democratic rights (see page 2).

It’s close in Norwich South!

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Norwich South City CouncilResult 2014

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UKIP2%Co

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The Norwich Green Party is very grateful for all the support shown during the recent local election in May and 0.28% of votes is all that stands between Labour and the Greens in Norwich South. This is a great foundation for the general election in 2015.

Page 2 The new councillor working to make a local park better

Page 2 EU’s TTIP undemocratic trade deal with USA

Page 3 Meet our Norwich candidates for next year’s general election

Page 4 Greens campaign to save Norfolk mental health services

Inside this issue:

Pictured: General election candidate Councillor Lesley Grahame, Green Party councillors and activists

New councillor: Tim Jones

Greens fight against excessive corporate powers

Local communities know what they want. In Norwich, Green Party councillors have been helping them to get it.

Across the city, people are taking action. Groups have sprung up on a wide range of important topics - from starting community gardens to stopping speeding; from protecting local assets like green spaces and pubs to working with young people.

Green Party city councillor and spokesperson on communities Lucy Galvin said: “People are the best judges of what they need. There are so many good ideas out there and Green councillors are assisting over thirty groups at present.”

“From those with a wide focus such as Norwich People’s Assembly, which campaigns to counter unfair austerity cuts, to helping to set up and run all sorts of community groups, Green party councillors actively assist.”

“This year we have requested that the City Council take a careful look at what communities want through its scrutiny committee. If you have ideas of how the council could work better with communities, please do contact l.galvin@cllr.norwich.gov.uk”

Photo: Community group Friends of Train Wood, with Lucy Galvin, centre, present a petition at City Hall asking to keep Norwich’s heritage in public hands.

For the people, by the people

Questioning the Greater Norwich Growth Board

In Norwich, decisions are concentrated in a few hands.

Four Council leaders and one unelected business leader have formed the new Greater Norwich Growth Board. They want to deliver their ‘vision’ of 37,000 dwellings and major roads regardless of local concerns.

Denise Carlo, City Councillor for Nelson said: “The Green Party supports genuine devolution from the grass roots up. We want to see communities given a bigger role in local development needs. Decisions about future developments should not be taken by just five people”.

All the main Westminster parties claim to support localism despite the fact that many local people here will not have a say in matters.

Leading opposition to EU-USA ‘TTIP’ trade deal that gives companies too much power regardless of local governments

Greens in Europe, throughtout Britain and in Norwich have been challenging the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a treaty currently being negotiated to reduce ‘trade barriers’ between the European Union and USA.

In Europe the Greens have led on opposing TTIP, and are a part of the Alternative Trade Mandate Alliance, which is developing an alternative vision of European trade policy that puts people and planet before big business.

Norwich Green Party helped organise a public meeting attended by 100 people, which inspired attendees to start a campaign

Hello! I’m grateful to have been elected this May with such a large amount of support from Nelson residents. I have lived on Unthank Road for five years and am pleased to be representing a vibrant area of a fantastic city. I have been helping the Norwich Green Party for the last seven years and I have just completed a Literature PhD at UEA,. So on both counts life is entering an exciting new phase!

As part of our effort to protect green spaces, as pledged in our manifesto, Councillor Denise Carlo and I have been helping local residents set up a Friends of Heigham Park group. The first meeting was held on July 5th and was well attended, with lots of residents throwing in great ideas for protecting and improving the park. If you missed the meeting but would like to be involved, then please email me at t.jones@cllr.norwich.gov.uk.

I also want better decision making at City Hall. The majority of Norwich residents have no direct, elected link to the very few Labour councillors in the Cabinet who make all the important decisions about the city. People would be better represented by replacing the Cabinet system with Committees where all councillors make decisions under the same system as that employed by Norfolk County Council.

group in opposition to TTIP. A recent Green Party motion to Norwich City Council called on local MPs and MEPs to reject the TTIP. The executive has promised to re-examine this issue in the autumn.

Councillor Lesley Grahame, who proposed the motion, said: “TTIP could mean that corporations would have the option to sue governments if their standards such as environmental protection,

rights at work and labelling, reduced company profits.”

“Similar deals have led to tobacco companies suing Australia for demanding plain packaging to reduce harm from smoking and energy companies suing Germany for setting emission standards on power stations.”

To get involved in the campaign group, please contact Councillor Lesley Grahame on 01603 632228.

Greens climbing the national polls

Introducing our general election candidates

Since May 2014, County Council is making key decisions which affect residents by Committees with councillors from all parties, rather than by a small number of Councillors in a Cabinet. This means that Councillors from every area of Norfolk get to be involved in decisions. Green Party councillors Richard Bearman and Elizabeth Morgan hold key positions in this new system as vice-chairs on Children’s Services and Adult Social Care committees. Overall the Greens influence all the areas of the Council’s work and hold the balance of power on most committees.

Councillors Adrian Dearnley and Andrew Boswell specialise in the Council finances, and environment, transport and economic development respectively. Andrew Boswell is also involved in developing a new waste policy for the County, and in how the County will deal with any planning applications for Fracking.

Recently, the Greens proposed that the City Council should adopt a similar Committee system, which allows more elected representatives a role in key issues, but the ruling Labour group closed down the debate and rejected the idea.

Green initiative sees cooking oil bins introduced across Norwich

Over two years ago Green coucillors raised with City Hall officers the idea of recycling cooking fats. Now we are proud to say that Norwich City Council is encouraging residents to safely dispose of their cooking oil and fats at six new oil recycling banks in the local area. Cooking oil deposited down sinks can cause expensive blockages in water networks by clumping into iceberg-like masses of fat.

The six new oil banks have been installed alongside existing mini recycling points at Waitrose (Eaton Centre), Enfield Road (near the shops), Sainsbury’s (Queens road), Morrison’s (Albion way), Tuckswood shops (Tuckswood centre) and St Saviour’s car park (St Saviour’s lane).

Vegetable and cooking oil, lard, roasting fats, BBQ fats, grill fats, margarine and butter can all be placed in the banks in sealed plastic tubs or glass bottles. The oil banks are sealed to ensure no leaks and all the material goes into a secondary container which is replaced regularly.

Norwich South Norwich North

As a local councillor with a long track record in the constituency, I feel well-placed to be Norwich South’s Green candidate. I’ve lived in the city since 1980 and have met people across the constituency, through my roles as parent, community nurse, Unison member, and as a city councillor, having been elected in 2010 and re-elected this year.

I’ve brought people together to organise events and campaigns: creation of community gardens, re-instating a local playground and reducing drink-fuelled violence in the city centre. I first became political because of nuclear weapons. However, I’ve learnt that alongside a nuclear weapons convention, peace requires justice and care for our shared environment. Therefore I became involved in a range of activities such as Transition Norwich, Farmshare, People’s Assembly and Peace Camp. I’ve organised, marched, petitioned and spoken in public. Now I believe the time has come for a step-change in Norwich South to follow the example of Brighton and elect a Green Party MP.

I was born in Norwich and brought up in rural Norfolk. I work for a local software firm in South Norfolk which I have been commuting to by bicycle for over fifteen years. I have experience of working in Holland, the USA and the Oman as a geophysicist.

I have previously been a Green city councillor in the Mancroft and Wensum wards of Norwich and look forward to drawing on this wealth of experience as the candidate for Norwich North. The Green Party has to provide a progressive alternative to the mainstream parties and our electoral track record locally and regionally has shown that we have large potential support.

Climate change is of course the major issue facing mankind. However, one of the biggest barriers to combating this problem is wealth inequality both between and within nations. Social justice would therefore be one of my key priorities. I would be committed to the people of Norwich North and work wholeheartedly on constituency matters if elected.

The Green Party has been polling well in the run-up to the general election next year.Nationally, the Greens are on 8% according to a recent Ipsos MORI poll.

Lord Ashcroft undertook a polling initiative in Norwich South recently and his survey asked 1000 constituents of Norwich South, based upon the constituency and its candidates, which party they would be most likely to vote for in the May 2015 general election. 21% responded that they would vote for the Green Party, placing the Party second behind Labour on 33%. It also placed the party ahead of the Conservatives on 18% and UKIP on 16% and far in front of the Liberal Democrats (the party of the current MP) who polled 11%.

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Above picture: An example of the cooking oil bins at the Eaton Waitrose supermarket.

Adrian HolmesLesley Grahame

County Council makes decisions differently

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CONTACT Norwich Green PartyFor more information or to offer help please get in touch –

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POST: Sackville Place, 44-48, Magdalen St, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1JU

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Greens help protect mental health servicesNorwich Green Party has supported the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk after local mental health services have been subject to a so-called “Radical Redesign”. This has meant the closure of in-patient beds, 200+ redundancies and the disbanding of ‘Assertive Outreach Teams’. These specialist trained teams were able to reach out, identify and support some of the most vulnerable people in our region.

Combined changes and cuts have led to a ‘perfect storm’

resulting in: patients in acute beds sometimes hundreds of miles away from home; unacceptably high staff case loads; increased staff sickness and people failing to recieve adequate treatment with proper support.

Evidence-based reports show worsening patient-staff relationships, neglect, emergency admissions to hospital for physical and mental problems, self-harm, harm to others and entry into the criminal justice system. A review has also been ordered

into the unexplained deaths of 20+ mental health patients.

With coordinated care (from assessment, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up support), many people do recover from short-term mental health conditions. However, for those with life-long ailments, safe, compassionate care, coordinated by well supported staff is vital to their very survival. Self-sufficiency is also enhanced, costing the NHS less in the long run. Yet, with the Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust’s (NSFT) proposal for a further £44.1 million in cuts, a 1% wage freeze until 2019 and at least 200 more job losses over the next five years, everyone is being squeezed. The coalition government must realise that the care of vulnerable people

should be a high priority and not an after-thought .

Norwich South Green candidate, Lesley Grahame commented: “Mental distress can affect anyone, but the most vulnerable are by definition the ones least equipped to deal with it. Cutting mental health services leads to privatised health companies cherry picking profitable services and abandoning those with more complex needs.”

The ‘Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk’ started in November 2013 at a meeting attended by hundreds of people including: staff, patients, carers, cross party supporters & union members. The Campaign is working hard and engaging with the NSFT. We hope to turn this crisis around.

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Green Party joins the Campaign protest at Hellesdon Hospital. Photo by kind permission of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk & Suffolk

“Combined changes and cuts have led to a perfect storm”

Green PartyFor the common good

Please join the campaign here: norfolksuffolkmentalhealthcrisis.org.uk