Green Party launches council election campaign

Eight candidates to stand in wards across Hounslow

Hounslow Green Party has announced its candidates in eight of Hounslow's 20 wards.

The candidates standing in the Chiswick wards are:
Chiswick Homefields - Martin Bleach
Chiswick Riverside - John Devaney
Turnham Green - Anthony Agius

All the candidates are promotong the Green Party objectives of improving local neighbourhoods, enhancing local services, promoting health and protecting the wider environment.

A healthy local environment
* Tackling climate change with renewable energy and energy efficiency, not nuclear power -- helping to build 2 million solar roof systems over the next five years and scrapping the £30 billion road building programme - putting the money into public transport and safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians
* Protecting our parks and wildlife - no more building on open spaces that are important for people and biodiversity
* Less waste, more recycling - trebling our recycling rates to bring us into line with Germany and the Netherlands

Decent local services
* A clampdown on more new supermarkets - supporting local shops instead
* Vital local services within walking distance for everyone - protecting schools, libraries and other local services from cuts, closures and privatisation
* Delivering safe healthy school meals - switching to organic food, local produce and fresh ingredients

A strong local voice
* Standing up for the local community, providing proper value for money and listening to local people not big business
* Giving local neighbourhoods more of a direct say in the decisions that affect them - devolving powers to neighbourhood forums and parish councils
* Taking your complaints seriously - Ensuring graffiti and fly-tipping is removed within 24 hours of it being reported. Council house repairs will be dealt with swiftly and empty properties brought back into use.

Martin Bleach (Chiswick Homefields) is focusing on transport. "Heathrow is an obvious issue", he said, "but there is a serious problem with road use in the borough. Chiswick High Road should be for local traffic and people going shopping, yet it is used as an A4 by-pass by an increasing amount of through traffic. Solutions need to be found and enforced."

As far as opposition to Heathrow expansion is concerned he said that elected Green Party councillors would press the whole council to take the issue more seriously. "It is bizarre that Labour Party councillors try to win local elections by pretending to oppose Heathrow expansion but then defend Labour MPs - the people who really do have the power to force a change of direction - when those MPs vote for more terminals, more runways and more night flights.

"One of the really big problems we face is the unfair electoral system", said John Devaney (Chiswick Riverside). "We have members in the European Parliament and we have members on the Greater London Assembly. Both those bodies are elected by a system of proportional representation. Local council elections aren't, and a party sometimes gets all three of its candidates elected on barely a third of the votes. This is an absurdly unfair system that the bigger parties keep because it favours them. We ask voters to just use one vote and vote for the Green Party. Using your extra votes for other parties just cancels out your first choice. But if you normally support another Party and believe that the Green Party's point of view should be heard on Hounslow Council, then consider giving us at least one of your votes."

Anthony Agius (Turnham Green) is particularly exercised by the proposal for a third Heathrow runway. "This is a serious issue for Turnham Green residents - it will seem as if aircraft are trying to land on Chiswick High Road. And because it will be a shorter runway and therefore take the smaller planes the other runways will get a higher proportion of bigger planes, so its bad news for those living under the existing flight paths too. In fact it is even worse than that. The current spacing of landings has more to do with reducing risks from turbulence than any air traffic control considerations. With only larger aircraft landing on the existing runways they will be able to land closer together. All in all its a nightmare scenario."

He added that while noise pollution is a very serious problem the Green Party now considered that climate change and atmospheric pollution were the killer arguments against any air transport expansion, at Heathrow or anywhere else. "Even if a silent plane were invented tomorrow all the other arguments would mean that air transport expansion has got to stop", he said, "and that means everywhere, not just at Heathrow".

April 14, 2006