Local Election Manifesto 2003
Contents
"Politics can change lives, and today's politics must change the world".
Dr. Mike Woodin - Green Party Principal Speaker 1999-2001
1. Introduction
Welcome to the Brighton & Hove Green Party Local Election Manifesto 2003.
Many people believe that the Green Party is solely concerned with environmental issues, but this is not the case.
This manifesto sets out our core principles, the achievements of our three elected Green councillors and our future priorities for the council that will be elected in May 2003. Once again we are contesting every single seat in the city, with our target being to gain enough seats to hold the balance of power in the Council.
1.1 The Philosophy of Green Politics
The simple aim of Green Politics is to secure a decent quality of life for all, within the means of nature. This simple philosophy impacts upon every aspect of our lives: health, housing, transport, equity and democracy, employment, business practices, human and animal rights, development policy, and - of course - the natural environment.
Building a greener society requires action across all areas of economic and social policy. It means acting locally while striving for global change. It means creating a strong, diverse and sustainable local economy to meet not only our present needs, but also those of future generations.
Above all, Green politics is about people controlling their own lives and having the power to shape their own communities, workplaces and environments.
Our ideas are not new. Our grandparents knew the importance of 'making do', of conserving resources and not wasting them. They knew it made sense. Today an ever-growing number of people in this city are re-discovering these ideas of sustainability.
Brighton & Hove is a very special place. It has a unique charm, excitement and diversity. However, it also has many problems linked with dense urban areas and poverty: a housing crisis, poor inner city public transport links, increasing health and social welfare pressures and a growing reputation as the low-wage capital of the South East.
This manifesto is about providing real solutions that put Green priorities at the top of the list, rather than adding them as a greenwash as is all too often the case with the 'grey' parties -like allowing Sainsbury's a new supermarket and car park at Brighton Station and pretending it represents a move toward sustainable transport because it has a bus stop - no buses mind, just a stop. It's also about influencing other political decisions the Council takes, such as cutting back funding to groups like Rape Crisis and Citizens Advice and wasting money on the 'City of Culture' bid.
Green politics puts ordinary people at the centre of Council policies and aims to make our city work for its people rather than for big business. All too often companies look to Brighton & Hove for a rich 'money harvest' without making equivalent investments in building our communities.
By voting Green you will be adding your voice to the many thousands who already support us because they agree that the unsustainable 'business as usual' politics of Labour, Tory and Lib Dems simply don't provide the solutions to the challenges we face in the 21st century. Locally and nationally these 'grey' parties are taking us on a path of no return, consuming our diminishing resources and exploiting the vulnerable in our communities.
"Every Green vote will help us deliver the policies and actions we promise in this manifesto - and every Green vote provides a louder alternative voice for a fresh approach to local politics. Brighton is already the greenest thinking city in England - scoring the highest UK percentage of Green votes in the 2001 General Election - help us make these pledges happen by giving us your vote". Keith Taylor, Green Party Councillor 1999-2003 & 2003 candidate.
1.3 Green Councillor Achievements 1999-2003
Some Green Councillor Achievements 1999-2003
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2. Making the Council Work
2.1 Finance and Council Budget
Green Pledges
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The Council's most important job is deciding how the money raised through council tax and government grants should be spent. Most council spending is already designated for services like education, social care and health, but this still leaves significant sums that can be used to encourage sustainable development and improve people's lives.
A Green Council, or one where we hold a balance of power, will follow our core principles of living within our means, of fostering sustainable economic, social and environmental development within the city and securing the best possible deals for residents from central government. We will use the considerable spending power and influence of the council to develop our city from within, strengthening local communities, providing real jobs which are useful and decently paid and producing services or goods which the local community needs. In this way, the wealth created will largely remain within the city and can be used for the wider benefit of its citizens.
Councillor Achievements
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2.2 Council Tax
Council reports predict similar low settlements for the next 5 years, which if the shortfalls were made up by Council Tax alone would see tax bills double within four years (see graph next page).
Tax increases of this size are totally unsustainable, and huge yearly budget cuts will decimate services. The blame for the massive cutbacks lies with the Deputy Prime Minister's office, which has devised new criteria to award grants. This reduction, coupled with an increase in statutory responsibilities for the council, marks a further step toward centralisation as it strips away local decision making and tries to shift public attention away from the increasing overall tax burden being levied in stealth by central government.
We will lobby hard for the restoration of government grants. We will also institute a thorough review of council management in order to minimize the effects of these cuts on front line services and aim to re-deploy staff where necessary to provide value for money. Ensuring tax payers get value for money in the way the council operates will be a priority, as will a review of council press activities and the budget allocated to them.
Under the existing and proposed criteria future New Labour grants to Brighton & Hove Council will leave massive holes in the city budget. This graph shows the effect of these cuts on Council Tax for a Band D property if the shortfall were made good by Council Tax alone.
2.3 Ethical Investments & Pensions
Ethical Pensions & Investments sham exposed. In 2002 we highlighted the news that The East Sussex Pension Fund, in which the Council is a partner, invests taxpayers' money in the arms, tobacco and oil industries. Greens will develop an effective ethical pensions policy that channels investment into ethically based organisations. Despite their alleged concerns over this issue, Labour would not support our calls for policy change when they were asked.
3. Securing Quality of Life
We believe a just society should meet everyone's basic needs. This means decent housing, effective health care and social support, and imaginative education delivered in safe communities. A decent quality of life encompasses all these basic needs, and the Council has an important role in ensuring they are provided, both in its own right and as a partner in the delivery of health care.
3.1 Housing
Green Pledges
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Affordable homes
The relentless promotion of Brighton as 'the place to be' has produced a dramatic upsurge in house sales to people new to the area, especially buyers from London. House prices and rents have been forced through the roof with the result that many local people, among them key workers, have been priced out of the market. Homelessness has rocketed, locals have been forced out of town and 15,000 households are in immediate need of housing. Brighton and Hove faces a shortfall of 27,000 affordable housing homes over the next 10 years.
The Council proposes to build a meagre 76l new affordable homes over the next ten years - fewer than the number of council homes that will be sold in the same period at the current sale rate of about 110 a year.
The Greens will take urgent steps to identify empty homes owned by the Council, Health Trusts and the private sector to bring them back into use.
Full consultation on transfers
The Council must ensure its tenants are fully consulted over the future of Council housing, and we would oppose any stock transfers to Housing Associations unless there was convincing support for it from residents. This is because we are concerned that transfers may result in a lack of local democratic involvement and rising rents. Additionally we have concerns over transfers in the light of some high profile financial collapses in Housing Associations in other areas where transfers have taken place.
Increased tenant participation
It is our belief that tenants should be offered the opportunity of increased participation and if they choose to remain under direct local authority control, then we would work to ensure real tenant involvement through the Tenant Compact.
We believe the potential for increased tenant involvement in the alternative ownership model of a Tenant Management Organisation offers a constructive model for an accountable housing service, and would support the introduction of such a scheme, providing there was approval from residents.
3.2 Social Services, Health Care & Food
Social Care, Health & Food - Green Pledges
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More social workers
The most vulnerable members of our community are at risk because of the severe shortage of qualified social workers and the increasing workload of those employed by the council. We must protect the rights of those at risk by ensuring we recruit, train and retain qualified social workers to serve the city. To help retain key workers across the whole range of public services, an adequate supply of affordable and decent housing must be provided.
Increased funding for health care
Our city also faces staff shortages in health care, where the council has shared responsibility for the service with the Primary Care Trust and the NHS Trust since 2001. Our acute shortage of GPs, in particular, must be addressed by lobbying government to allow them greater freedom to spend more time with patients and to enhance quality of care. This will involve a fight for a proper allocation of resources to meet the city's needs and to restore morale in the medical profession. We also believe that GPs should be able to offer alternative therapies at local surgeries through the NHS.
Support for older people
Greens believe council and health service policies should be directed at allowing Brighton and Hove¹ s 55,000 older people to maintain their independence in their own homes for as long as they wish. This can be achieved through supplying help at home through Council and voluntary services, like those provided by Age Concern. Home improvement grants should be used to adapt homes of older people where necessary. The Council must support frequent and reliable bus services and local shops and post offices, which are also key elements of independent living for older people, many of whom make an important contribution to the life of the city.
Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community
We will ensure the full and effective targeting of social care, housing and health services - includingHIV/ Aids support - to all members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender community who need it.
Council Food policy
We have actively campaigned for a Council Food Policy, which encourages healthy eating, local production and distribution and GM-free foods. Our policy will stimulate the city economy by providing more jobs in growing and selling local produce, and will have a positive health impact. In partnership with others a Green Council will promote initiatives such as food co-ops, organic foods, grow-it-yourself projects, cooking clubs, community chefs, more farmers' markets and community cafés. Our policy would also cut the 'food miles' travelled by the food we eat, thus reducing global pollution. It is estimated that the average contents of a shopping trolley costing £100 have travelled 4,000 kilometres to reach the supermarket shelves in the UK.
Only 30% of organic food sold in the UK is grown here. The rest has to be imported, usually by air.
Organic food production will be stimulated in Brighton & Hove.
"The success of local food co-ops such as Infinity Foods and Stanmer Organics and the growing popularity of the permaculture and allotment movement is a sure sign that people are beginning to realise the value and importance of organic foods"Rik Child, Brighton & Hove Green Party Councillor 1999-2003
3.3 Education
Education - Green Pledges
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Community involvement with schools:
We believe that schools should be closer to the heart of their local communities with teachers, students, parents and local residents having a greater say in the way they are run. Schools should be developed as community facilities to be used in the evenings, weekend and holidays by all members of the community. We must also aim for consistency in the Schools Admission Policy, safeguarding the right of siblings to attend the same school as their brother/sister
Supporting under-achieving schools
The Council must effectively target poorly performing schools to improve educational standards in co-operation with teachers trade unions to ensure learning is possible in a constructive and safe environment. Alternatives to mainstream education - such as Montessori and Steiner schools - prove effective with some children, and we believe should be considered and offered within the state system where appropriate.
GM-free food in schools
An important part of school life can also be played by the provision of decent nutritional food which should be GM-free.
Free higher/ further education
We will continue to press for free higher and further education and for top-up fees to be scrapped and student grants restored. Lifelong learning and vocational retraining opportunities need to be developed further in conjunction with our education partners.
Section 28
Greens are opposed to the discredited Section 28 of the Local Government Act which continues to deter an open understanding of human sexuality and stigmatises gay and lesbian people. In conjunction with the National Union of Teachers, Unison, Schools Out and Queericulum we have published a guide for education workers which explains their responsibilities under this legislation, and which deals with handling sex and relationship education in a responsible and unbiased way to create a balanced understanding of mutual respect amongst pupils.
3.4 Privatisation of Public Services
"The early PFI schools have not been built cheaper, better or quicker, and learning from this early experience is critical."
James Strachan - Chairman of the Audit Commission, Jan 2003
Privatisation of Public Services - Green Pledges
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Public services must stay in the public sector
Greens are committed to the delivery of public services by the public sector. We are not opposed to learning lessons from private enterprise if they are able to deliver the same services more efficiently, but there is no place for private profit in delivering public services. Increasing commercial involvement takes control away from the Council, and the new providers are far less accountable and often indifferent to the needs of service users.
Support local ethically based organisations
Greens believe more should be done to encourage and support local and ethically based not-for-profit organisations - like the Magpie Recycling Co-op - to take on council services.
3.5 Crime and Public Safety
Crime and Public Safety - Green Pledges
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Community partnerships against crime
Greens believe that the causes of crime can be most effectively dealt with by creating partnerships across the voluntary and statutory sector in strengthening and rebuilding local communities. Any solution to problems of crime has to come from considering all the elements of what goes to make up neighbourhoods - housing, education, employment, leisure facilities and the quality of streets and open space. We need to make the connections between these community 'building bricks' to provide or rebuild civic pride and a sense of place and identity.
'Hate' crime
We would provide continuing support for the Anti Victimisation Initiative (AVI) which has done so much to tackle hate crime against vulnerable groups, such as ethnic minorities, the mentally ill and the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender members of our community.
Community policing
We support the community policing efforts of Sussex Police, and will call for an increased presence of 'beat-bobbies', with an increase in attention paid to education and crime prevention measures. However we believe that goodwill toward the Police is often lost through their heavy-handed policing of some meetings, marches or demonstrations.
Support for drug users
Greens believe that 'tough' action on drug users advocated by the other parties is inhuman and ineffective. Such action drives the problems underground and makes it more difficult to address them. Users must be supported in their attempts to tackle their dependency problems. Information about the effects of drugs on the user and the rest of the community, and about the help and advice available should be widely disseminated.
Targeting drug dealers
Drug dealers, on the other hand, need to be tackled and tackled hard. We need tough laws, used effectively, to deal with this problem. Swift action should always be taken by the police and Council where homes used for drug dealing disrupt the community around them. Overall the problems created by drug and alcohol misuse are all too often a symptom of some social, medical or psychiatric condition for which the user needs help to address.
Greens believe that laws need to change to bring the prescribing of street drugs into the statutory health sector. In this way the supply of drugs would be taken out of the hands of criminal drug-pushers, who sometimes supply drugs adulterated with potentially harmful additives. The current illegality of drugs drives their use underground making it easier for the user to progress from one drug to another. The free availability of prescription street drugs would end much of the violent and property crime in which users engage in funding their habits.
Anti Graffiti measures
Graffiti, especially 'tagging', is widely perceived as an anti social act although some street art has its admirers. However both are illegal when painted without the permission of the owners of the affected property. Previous attempts to control graffiti through bans on the sale of spray paint have failed to work.
We will encourage street art in permitted areas such as the skate park at The Level, and work with police and other affected parties to end this anti social activity in other areas.
Measures to combat graffiti will include use of anti-graffiti paint in hot spot areas, clean up crews, improved and more responsive reporting procedures, and closer working with community groups.
4 Making the City Work
Brighton & Hove is a special place, which is why thousands of people have chosen it as their home and millions visit it every year for business and recreation. But these special qualities need both nurturing and protecting, and Greens believe the Council must begin to make stronger links between the way it controls and directs the essential services that make the city work. Building and strengthening communities in the city giving people a strong local focus - that's why we support Credit Unions or Community Banks and active Community Centres with positive adult education programmes.
4.1 Local Economy, Regeneration & Culture
Local Economy, Regeneration & Culture - Green Pledges
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Worthwhile jobs
Although unemployment in Brighton has fallen in line with the national trend, the city has reinforced its reputation as the 'low-wage capital' of the South East, with new Labour's promises of regeneration falling short of the aspirations of many in the job market. We believe new jobs should be interesting for the employee with a chance for career development and community enhancement and be socially worthwhile. Brighton & Hove has a flourishing Community and Voluntary Sector, which should be encouraged and developed. Providing vocational training matched to the needs of employers is high on our list of priorities.
Help for small local businesses
At the same time as protecting large and small existing city businesses the Council has a part to play in unlocking the potential of local business initiatives, both commercial and not-for-profit social enterprises. Bottom-up regeneration should be encouraged by co-ordinated proactive measures in all the Council does, particularly planning and licensing. Similarly the Council should use its expertise to help the existing 11,000 small and local businesses (many of which have no employees) expand by overcoming the red tape involved in employing people, especially young apprentices.
Local Arts
It is important to maintain and develop the culture of the city. The Council's failed City of Culture bid promoted an artificial image of Brighton & Hove to the outside world, when it should have focused on developing the artistic and social infrastructure of the city for the sake of the people who live here. 'Culture' should include all forms of expression and our social and environmental heritage, and not be seen as only a pursuit of a rich elite.
4.2 Tourism, Play & Sports
Tourism, Play & Sports - Green Pledges
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Business and leisure tourism are key elements of our local economy, with around 5.5 million visitors to local events generating some £380m and supporting 15,000 jobs. Striking a balance between enhancing and preserving the qualities which attract tourists and business visitors whilst protecting local people from the worst excesses of tourism is a very real challenge that we will address by improving local transport and leisure facilities.
Sport for all
We recognise that participating in sport plays a very important role in the lives of many residents and carries with it valuable social and health benefits. The Council has an important role to play in retaining and enhancing safe sports facilities and providing adequate maintenance for grounds and sports pavilions. Water sports and swimming must be adequately provided for and encouraged. A city Ice Rink will be encouraged.
4.3 Planning & Licensing
Planning & Licensing - Green Pledges
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Sustainable communities
Planning policies should aim to create thriving and diverse sustainable communities, each with its own mix of housing, shopping facilities, workplaces and amenities. Policies should reduce the need to travel and should protect urban open spaces areas and the sea front, which are so important to the city's special character and its well-being.
The links between planning, licensing and economic strategy need to be reshaped to give priority to the interests of the citizen through more responsive development policies that recognise and respect our resources and capacity. We have successfully challenged Labour over their attempts to secure large land takes for development, most notably over their project to tarmac 3000 car parking spaces on the South Downs.
The Council's licensing and planning functions should work closer together - there is no point in approving planning applications for buildings which will depend on the granting of a licence without considering the views of the licensing authorities. The Aquarium Terrace development, for instance, has stood completed but unused for two years, partly because it cannot get a licence to operate.
Response to community feelings
Pro-active local planning must have its base in enabling developments that the community needs and wants. All too often the public's view has been over-ruled by an arrogant Labour Council which has produced a spate of unsuitable, unwanted and unpopular planning decisions over the last four years. Greens will work to ensure that greater weight is attached to the wishes of the community.
4.4 Falmer Stadium & Brighton Station site
Two local sites have been particularly controversial
| Albion Falmer Site
The Greens have made no secret of the fact that, whilst we want the Albion to have a proper permanent home in or near the city, after looking at the club's application in detail we don't think Falmer is a suitable site. We are not alone in thinking that and believe the suggested alternatives need to be properly considered. We believe that on planning grounds the application is not strong or detailed enough for approval. We think it is now most appropriate that the application be finally decided by an impartial Planning Inquiry, and will respect whatever decision it reaches. |
| Brighton Station Site
A source of disappointment both to Greens and to thousands of locals was the Council approval of plans for a mixed-use development with a supermarket and 200 space car park which was given in December 2002. Subsequent requests the Greens and others made for a Public Inquiry were refused by central government. We have always campaigned for a development at the Station site which met the local needs of housing and offered decent employment opportunities as part of a sustainable development - instead of which we have a scheme which is more about private profit than public benefit. Although the new supermarket and car park has been included in the scheme the Greens are proud to have been part of the wider community effort to deliver a visionary scheme. People who campaigned should be congratulated for their efforts, as their pressure on the council and the developers secured real improvements in the quality and features of the approved scheme. Greens will now work to secure the best deals possible from the 'community benefits' offered by the developer as part of their permission. |
"I believe at heart the decision to allow a supermarket and car park on this site in the face of such widespread public concern was politically motivated". Keith Taylor, Green Party Councillor 1999-2003
4.5 Transport
Transport - Green Pledges
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Public transport
Making it easier to travel to and around the city is one of the Council's stated priorities. Anyone who has attempted to drive, ride, walk or use public transport in Brighton and Hove will know this priority remains unmet. Greens are not against cars, but against dependency on cars. Government statistics acknowledge that traffic levels are set to rise by 20% in the years 2000 - 2010 alone, (marking a dramatic failure in the promise made by John Prescott, who promised a 5% reduction). Cities like ours cannot accommodate increases of that size, and sooner rather than later other ways of travelling to and around the city will have to be found. To suggest otherwise makes no sense.
Instead of taking a positive lead on transport new Labour has clung to the out-dated and discredited 'predict and provide' approach and supports the massive plans to build or enlarge 19 new roads in the South East. Furthermore, it endorses Park and Ride schemes, which the Greens believe undermine regular buses leading to service cutbacks and subsidising and encouraging the use of cars. The Council has a major role to play in developing a sustainable and integrated public transport system, which would bring many benefits to the city: easier travel, long-term health improvements, pollution reduction, and less time and money wasted through transport delays.
The easiest way to reduce the demands on our transport system is to reduce the need for travel - any solutions to our impending traffic crisis will have to combine both incentives for walking, cycling and using public transport, and reduced private car use. We simply cannot solve the problems by building bigger roads and bigger car parks, which are suggestions at the core of Tories and LibDem transport policies
The council must make links between ALL its services
CO2 emissions generated by traffic now account for 24% of all global warming gases - causing global extreme weather events as well as national and local flooding. Traffic fumes are now recognised as an important health danger, with the national death rate from air pollution increasing in 1998 to 24,000 per annum with a further 31,000 hospitalisations. Yet despite these frightening statistics the Council regularly cuts back its budget for public transport subsidies and is supporting a recent government report which called for a major increase in local road building - policies that will increase the use of the private car and increase traffic pollution.
Road safety experts blame excessive speed for road deaths, currently placing the UK eighth in the EU for child injury and fatalities. Extra factors contributing to these figures are the lack of safe children's play space and cars used by parents for the school run. We believe that the speed limit in all urban areas should be reduced to 20mph as recommended by the Institute for Public Policy Research, and will crack down on cars illegally parked outside schools.
4.6 Waste, Recycling & Cleansing
Waste, Recycling & Cleansing - Green Pledges
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Greens led the call for the Waste Collection and Street Cleansing services to be brought back 'in-house' -in fact we were the only party to do so following the Council's disastrous attempts at working with private companies like Sita and Ecovert. Although initially Labour swore it couldn't be done in-house, since the transfer great improvements have been made in the service, the equipment used and relations with the workforce. We welcome this and look forward to continuing improvements particularly in the area of street cleansing where the cost of keeping land free from refuse and litter per kilometre is FIVE TIMES the UK average.
Recycling and Incineration
However, the Council has failed miserably to get to grips with waste recycling. Targets for 2000/ 01 were 50% lower than the average unitary authority performance and the current year's collection costs are more than double that of comparable councils. The Council has joined with East Sussex CC and plans to embark on a £1bn 25-year Private Finance Initiative with a private contractor to handle waste disposal based on incineration, with increased but unambitious targets for recycling. We are concerned that incineration of mixed waste will produce large quantities of highly toxic base ash which will need to be landfilled and can also cause dangerous emissions. Mixed waste incineration also undermines recycling.
Zero Waste Policy
The Greens believe that we should look at waste as a valuable resource to be recycled rather than rubbish to be thrown away. Other councils in England have formed partner-ships with their communities and businesses to adopt a ZERO WASTE POLICY. We believe this approach could yield enormous savings and green business opportunities for the city.
5. Social Justice & Equity
Social Justice & Equity - Green Pledges
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5.1 Equal provision for everyone
Equal provision for everyone
The basic rights of decent shelter and food, imaginative education, efficient transport systems and public services should be delivered equally throughout the city without prejudice or favour. Inequity generates social exclusion and problems of anti social behaviour and crime. Much good work has been done by the Council and our local active voluntary sector, but in the light of the cutbacks in government funding we will need to be especially vigilant in its protection.
Council policies should seek to protect and enhance the lives of all city residents, whether that means ensuring that children's parks are secure, younger people have safe places to congregate (including skateparks) and disabled people have increased access and facilities. In addition, the interests of Older People are of particular importance and we welcome the government's recent decision to award equal concessionary fares to both men and women after a long campaign by the pressure group 'Parity' which we were proud to champion within the Council.
5.2 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community
We will continue to work on promoting LGBT rights and ensuring members of this community are afforded equal rights and respect. Section 28 continues to confuse teachers and fuels a culture of bullying. We would positively require schools to educate for respect and understanding. In partnership with the NUT, Unison and local experts, we have distributed our own guidance leaflet to all education workers in the city.
The German Greens (partners in the coalition government) have just won equality for same-sex couples. We call on our government to legislate for full partnership rights, following genuine community consultation to determine the preferred model. In the meantime, we would lead by example and provide equal employment benefits for same sex partners of council employees (as for heterosexual married partners).
We are determined to offer services appropriate to the needs of the whole community. LGBT residents may have specific requirements in health, social care and housing sectors which must be effectively targeted. Similarly we must ensure the safety of LGBT people, and will seek to secure continued funding for the Anti Victimisation Initiative which targets hate crime in the city.
5.3 Peace & Democratic Equity
Peace & Democratic Equity - Green Pledges
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PEACE & DEMOCRATIC EQUITY We held the Council to account as a Peace Messenger City and successfully argued for the city of Brighton & Hove to formally call on Prime Minster Blair not to invade Iraq - the first city in England to do so. Greens remain firmly at the centre of peace movement efforts, locally, nationally and internationally.
Public participation in democracy After the city's rejection of new Labour proposals for a Directly Elected Mayor in 2001 following a Green led coalition of parties, Green Councillors have helped develop the 'Improved Committee System'. We have championed opening meetings to the public, public question times and increased involvement of people in council business.
The next stage in developing the new system is establishing greater community involvement in decision making. It is a Green priority to develop partnerships with groups in the community such as the Local Strategic Partnership. Other Green Councils have successfully championed the idea of Area Parliaments with their own limited decision making powers and budgets, which is an idea we would consult on locally and implement if supported by the community.
Falling turnouts in local and national elections betray a public mistrust and disenchantment with the existing political system. Gimmicks that New Labour are toying with like all postal ballots (in place for the May 2003 elections), supermarket voting and text message voting will not make any difference to the feeling that an individual vote counts for nothing and that politicians no longer listen to the community they are supposed to represent.
Local Greens are breaking the mould of first past the post politics and have increased the number of elected councillors since first entering the Council in 1996, and that success is at least partly due to the importance we attach to genuine community representation and involvement.
Proportional representation Nationally we are lobbying for a more representative electoral system of proportional representation, which Labour have repeatedly promised would be the subject of a referendum, but again have failed to deliver.
5.4 Asylum Seekers & Travellers
Asylum Seekers & Travellers - Green Pledges
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Integrating asylum seekers The Council has limited powers in regard to Asylum Seekers, but we have lessons to learn from other authorities which have found ways to integrate asylum seekers thereby enriching local communities. The UK is the fourth largest economy in the world, and we believe that carries with it a moral responsibility to offer sanctuary to people seeking asylum who may be escaping religious or political persecution or environmental disaster.
Central government continues to make seeking asylum in the UK as difficult as possible, but we believe local communities welcoming people seeking refugee status provides an opportunity to champion the virtues of tolerance, compassion and humanity and to challenge racism. At the same time the government must ensure adequate resources are given to enable this to happen.
Facilities for travellers Travellers all over the South of England have been faced with the closure of many established traditional stopping sites, with the effect that they are hounded from place to place and often vilified by the local press. Travellers have a right to choose their own lifestyle, and need access to the education, health and social services to which they are entitled. Contrary to popular belief travellers do pay taxes like all of us, and many communities acknowledge the economic and cultural contribution they make.
The Council has an existing Travellers Strategy which we believe needs updating and extending to take account of future traveller provision which will help both the settled population and travellers to live alongside each other in a spirit of mutual responsibility and respect.
There is a need for a range of provision to suit the different travelling communities; from fully serviced permanent sites, to stop-over sites, and rotational sites. Brighton & Hove Council is fortunate in having an 11,000 acre landholding, which needs to be democratically and socially managed for multiple non-built development purposes. This can include provision for travellers without impinging on the urban fringe, open spaces or nature reserves.
5.5 Animal Rights
Animal Rights - Green Pledges
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Respect for animals We believe that animals, both wild and reared, should not be seen simply as products for use and exploitation by humans, but should be valued and respected for themselves. All animals have the right to live without exploitation and suffering.
Ethical purchasing policy We will adopt an ethical purchasing policy for council services which ensures any products used are manufactured in an animal and environmentally friendly way. Cruelty to wildlife and developments harmful to it will be opposed. Policies to conserve natural habitats form an important priority of our vision for urban and countryside areas. Where control of wildlife is deemed necessary, humane and non-lethal methods will be adopted.
The Global Food Swap "Global trading in food has reached absurd proportions - for instance in 1997 Britain imported 240,000 tonnes of pork and 125,000 tonnes of lamb while at the same time exporting 195,000 tonnes of pork and 102,000 tonnes of lamb. Even more bizarrely we imported 61,400 tonnes of poultry meat from the Netherlands in the same year that we exported 33,100 tonnes of poultry meat to the Netherlands. This trading consumes resources in transportation, creates further climate change gas emissions, threatens animal welfare and increases the risk of animal infection such as Foot & Mouth Disease - moreover as these statistics show, it is completely unnecessary".
Dr Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South East England 1999-2004
6. Natural Environment
6.1 Global warming, carbon reduction & renewable energy
Global warming, carbon reduction & renewable energy - Green Pledges
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Carbon reduction and climate change
Greens everywhere are finally being believed after 30 years of campaigning about global warming - people are now realising that the assurances of the grey parties and industrialists that climate change is a fiction -or something that can be ignored - cannot be trusted.
The biggest ecological threat facing the whole world is climate change, the principal cause of which is the burning of fossil fuels. Whilst the catastrophic extreme weather events that have caused major loss of life have so far happened in far way places, there is very real danger that the local flooding and rising sea levels are set to increase in coming years. As it is, we have already seen serious flooding in Lewes and Uckfield, as well as Patcham and Bevendean.
Recent government figures show that nationally £222bn worth of homes and business are under a direct threat of flooding - 1 home in every 13, 180,000 businesses and more than three-fifths of the country's best farmland.
The mantra ACT LOCAL, THINK GLOBAL is nowhere more relevant than with this issue. Local authorities must take a local lead in reducing the emission of climate change gases and in encouraging homes and businesses to do the same. From ensuring that council services minimize carbon dioxide emissions to improving energy efficiency, from reducing traffic levels to buying renewable energy, we will make sure Brighton and Hove Council improves its performance in this area.
Housebuilding and residential energy use are major contributors of climate change gases.Groundbreaking mixed use developments such as BedZED in Surrey offer a practical and functioning example of a zero fossil fuel, energy self sufficient development of housing with workshop space. Left -Dr Caroline Lucas, Green MEP
for the South East and Pooran Desai of Bioregional Developments at BedZED.
6.2 Urban Environment, Parks, Green Spaces & allotments
Parks, Green Spaces & allotments - Green Pledges
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From the 18th and 19th centuries when much of central Brighton & Hove was planned and developed over later years we have added to those designs to create a bustling city, the diversity and architectural quality of which is nationally recognised. Our major parks date from these periods, whilst much of the remaining allotment space and urban fringe is space left over after developments have reached out further from the centre of the town.
Urban greenspace
With an ever increasing pressure for building land it will be a priority for a Green council to protect urban greenspace through robust Local Plan policies, as this is an essential component of happy city dwelling, offering leisure and sport opportunities and natural habitats for wildlife. School fields offer welcome green space in residential neighbourhoods, and should be available for community use. An additional important local amenity and leisure resource is the coastal strip which we will protect and promote as a sustainable asset for residents and visitors alike.
Managing change in a historic environment requires a sensitive understanding of the existing urban fabric, and a balance to be struck between the competing demands for limited space. We will make sustainability the key test when planning the city's future, and encourage modern architecture, both sympathetic and bold.
6.3 Countryside & National Park
Countryside & National Park - Green Pledges
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"As a founder of 'Keep Our Downs Public' in 1995 I successfully challenged the New Labour sell-off of 11,000 acres of publicly-owned downland, taking the first steps toward the creation of the South Downs National Park. We need a continued strong Green council presence to take the next steps of bringing this land back under democratic control" Pete West, Brighton & Hove's first Green Party Councillor 1996-2003
Democratic policy for open land
Greens were enthusiastic supporters of the South Downs being made a national Park, and we are now keen to see the park's early establishment. Gaining national park status will be a great victory for the Downs, however we are concerned about who will be managing the park and what their priorities will be. We are the only party to have called for the park authority to be more democratically representative of the people who live in and around it - people who are mostly in urban areas. We have called for some members of the park board to be directly elected.
We opposed the current draft park boundary, proposed by Labour, that keeps some very important and vulnerable areas on the urban fringe out of the park. We fear that once deprived of their AONB status these sites will fall prey to Labour's plans for development. Chief among these threatened areas is Toad's Hole Valley, where Labour has supported ideas for a business park. At Waterhall, Labour and Lib Dems wanted a 3000 space Park & Ride car park - Greens campaigned against this and won!
We see the intrinsic value of the countryside and don't accept Labour's view that there has to be a trade-off between (unsustainable) development and the countryside. We also recognize the importance of our downland as a recreational, biological and cultural asset, which has an increasingly important role to play in our local economy.
The new Park Authority will have an important role to play in restoring the species-rich chalk grasslands destroyed by inappropriate intensive agriculture, and we support the further development of the green-waste to soil-enhancer production programme which would help reinstate the quality of the soil.
