Camden Green Party is fighting to save essential public services. At the council’s budget debate, Councillors Adrian Oliver and Maya de Souza moved an amendment to the council budget that would have allowed the preservation of a few of the borough’s key services that the LibDemTory coalition plans to decimate. The plan was costed so that the investment would not raise the level of council tax in real terms.

Cllr Oliver said the Green amend-ment, which won the backing of the Labour faction on council, would have helped to keep the elderly fed at a cost they could afford, would have preserved vital legal services for the most disadvantaged, would have al-lowed much-valued child services to continue, and would have provided for environmental measures to help us all deal with the enormous threat of cli-mate change by taking steps to reduce our own emissions.

By keeping council tax at the same level as that of 2006 in real terms, the cost of these vital services – which would also help to maintain our communities – would have meant an increase of approximately 10p a day for the average council taxpayer in cash terms.

Sadly, however, the Liberal Demo-crats stuck with their Tory allies in voting to raise the charge of meals for pensioners at daycare centres by 50p a day, to cut funding to the Cam-den Community Legal Centre (already under threat from national cutbacks),

Waste strategy not good enough, says councillorGreen Councillor Maya De Souza has requested a “call-in” of the council’s waste policy, meaning that council-lors will have to vote on whether it must be reconsidered.

She said: “Given the all-too-obvi-ous fragile state of the planet, it simply is not radical enough. Much more can be done, especially on reducing waste (packaging, building byproducts and other materials) and by ensuring that materials reused, rather than sent down the more energy-intensive path of recycling.

“The benefits of this are not just environmental, “ she added. “This can also reduce landfill costs, and ensure that council tax can be directed to more productive and use-ful purposes: for youth services, for example,.”

Councillors will be voting on waste strategy in October; the Green Party in Camden will be working hard to ensure that it is as effective as possible.

Greens fight to save essential Council services

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BLOOMSBURY Summer 2007

Green councillors Maya de Souza, right, and Adrian Oliver on a stall in Highgate earlier this year

Talking with you

Tavistock Square cycle route ‘unsafe’The Green Party’s South Camden coordinator, Natalie Bennett, a keen cyclist and regular user of the Tavis-tock Square cycle route, has applaud-ed the installation of traffic lights that provide a safer route through the intersection of Marchmont and Tavistock Place, but is concerned about safety at other intersections along the route.

She said: “At Judd Street cyclists coming from the east must actually cross over the path of cars to reach the route, and further west, at Gordon Square, cyclists going straight ahead regularly find their path crossed by cars, particularly taxis heading for Euston station.

“These are issues that need to be dealt with immediately - the fact that the route, only just beautifully made, is being dug up again, pro-vides an ideal opportunity to deal with these problems.”

Zero-carbon homes planned The building of zero-carbon model homes as an exemplar from which Camden residents can draw ideas and inspiration has been adopted as policy by Camden Council’s Sustain-ability Task Force.

Cllr Maya de Souza, who proposed the plan, said she was delighted that this has been adopted, but added that she wanted to see action on this immediately. “With so many older homes in areas such as Bloomsbury not everyone will be able to reach the ideal,” she said, “but they can at least get tips on practical improvements.”

and to cut vital mental health servic-es and services for children

The LibDemTory coalition also voted to end the hugely popular door-to-door estate-based recycling (which the Green amendment would have maintained). The Green plan also provided additional funds to save energy and establish projects using renewable energy, and funding for a planning sustainability officer, plus small sums for cycling routes, allotments and green spaces, which could have enormous benefits for the quality of life for many Camden residents.

Cllr Adrian Oliver said: “We sup-port the new administration’s aims of keeping council tax down and streamlining costs. We also agree that council tax is regressive and hits the less-well-off harder.

“But this year’s budget is even more regressive – it will hit the poor-est in society including the old and disabled that need social care by increasing charges,” he said. Cuts are also planned in play schemes, mental health provision and home support for families in need. These cuts should not be made under the guise of efficiency savings – they de-

serve proper discussion and debate”.Cllr De Souza said: “What we were

proposing was very modest. There were more services that we would like to try to save, but what we did was to select a few highly deserv-ing cases to illustrate what could be achieved by keeping the council tax at the same level as last year’s in real terms.

“We gave councilors from the other parti es the chance to vote for a positive, moderate motion. La-bour took up our ideas, but sadly the Liberal Democrats and Tories did not.”

Camden Green selected as party’s London mayoral candidateSiân Berry, a Kentish Town Green Party activist who is also Green Party national Principal Speaker, has been named as the party’s candidate following a ballot of all party members in London.

Siân commented, “Life is a struggle for ordinary people in London. If It’s not the chaos of our transport network, it’s the high cost of living, the daily struggle to make a living wage, or crazy levels of rent and mortgages. Our vision is clear: a fairer, greener, healthier London. A city run on a human scale, which enriches the lives of everyone.

“A Green Mayor would be the best thing that ever happened to London. I can help bring a wide range of voters behind us with my record of action, and our vision of London as the world’s leading example of a diverse, socially just, green city.”

As one of the Green Party’s two national Principal Speakers Siân already has a growing public profile. She is the public face of the anti-4x4s movement and her high profile campaigning has been crucial in bringing forward proposals for higher charges for gas guzzlers in London.

Welcoming the result, Green Party London Assembly Member, Darren Johnson said: “Green Party

members have absolutely made the right choice in Siân. While the other parties are struggling to find cred-ible candidates, Siân Berry will bring passion and vision to an otherwise dull campaign.”

Green London Assembly Member, Jenny Jones said: “Siân has already demonstrated she is an articulate advocate for the Green Party, con-

founding stereotypes and building credibility. I am delighted members have given her their backing.”

Explaining why she got into poli-tics, Siân said: “I wasn’t very political when I was younger but I became disillusioned with New Labour very quickly after voting for them in 1997. By 2000 I felt like I had to do some-thing to make a difference. “

She has lived in the area for nearly ten years and has three times run for Camden Council, just missing out on a seat in the Kentish Town by-elec-tion last November, when she beat into third place the Labour candidate in what had previously been one of their strongholds.

Despite her London-wide role, she will continue to work for the people of Camden, saying: “As we’ve sadly seen, you can’t trust the other parties not to make cuts, and they really do need pushing on the environment. “

Siân has lived in London since leaving Oxford University, where she studied metallurgy and the science of materials, in 1997. She was one of the founders of the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s, the locally founded and now national campaign that has seen great success in campaigning for higher congestion and parking charges for these polluting, danger-ous vehicles that had threatened to take over our cities.

She has been involved in fight-ing to tackle the poor air quality in Camden, in opposition to the Iraq War and genetically modified foods, and in supporting local shops, busi-nesses and services. She has also worked with the campaign for the King’s Cross development to serve the needs of local people.

Siân Berry: the public face of the anti-urban 4x4 movement

Schools: what is Green Party policy?

Published by Richard Eden, 130 Torriano Avenue, NW5 2RY. Printed by Hillingdon Greenprint, 58 Beech Avenue, Ruislip, HA4 8UQ on recycled paper using environmentally friendly inks.

The Green Party is the only major national party opposed to the replacement of the Trident nuclear missile system. We work not just in Camden, but across to country on major national issues

What can we do for you?

Greens are working to improve life for everyone in Bloomsbury.

Is there an issue affecting you that we can help with?Please email:southcamdengreenparty@ googlemail.com Or call Natalie:07967-417859

Or can you help us? We need people particularly to deliver leaflets in Blooms-bury. It isn’t an onerous task - there are runs that take from 45 minutes to com-plete. Some can be great exercise -- all those mansion block steps -- while others require only a gentle, level stroll.

Or perhaps you’d like to get more involved in Green Par-ty work? There’s a monthly Camden Green Party meet-ing, and regular social activi-ties, political briefings and much more.

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Green Party policy* seeks to provide for “human-scale education”. It recog-nises that large, impersonal institutions fail to meet the needs of many pupils, and supports smaller institu-tions, in close proximity to pupils’ homes. It also supports community-run schools, seeking to ensure that the institutions meet the needs of the pupils, rather than outside agencies or businesses.

In Camden, despite strong support for a new secondary school in the south of the borough, where there is clearly identified need and well-demonstrated community support, the council has decided to put use the significant funds available for a

new school on Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage, in an area where there are many other schools.

Green Cllr Maya de Souza has ar-gued for a school in the south of the borough, in line with community de-mand and the obvious need. She said: “If there really is the need for extra provision in the north of the borough then perhaps two smaller schools, rather than one, could be built, but there is no doubt of the need in the south.

“Parents in Bloomsbury, in Covent Garden and Holborn, and in King’s Cross, shouldn’t have to send their children - age 11, 12 or 13 or older - across the busy, dangerous Euston Road to school, or to make the choice to send them on even longer journeys out of the borough.

“It might be that there would be some initial extra cost in placing a

school in this central location, but generations of pupils would benefit from it. By failing to make the sen-sible decision now, the LibDemTory

council is failing not just current pupils, but future generations.”

Cllr de Souza said she was also greatly concerned by the decision to hand over control of the school to University College London, without

any form of selection procedure or allowing the chance for those sup-porting a community-run school to present their plans. In the neighbour-ing borough of Haringey a fair com-petition in fact found that was what parents wanted, she said.

Cllr de Souza also expressed con-cern about the treatment of Frank Barnes School for Deaf children, now on the site in Adelaide Road that the council plans to use for the new school. *You can read the complete Green Party education policy, and other poli-cies, at policy.greenparty.org.uk. You might just think of environmental policy when you think of the Green Party, but it has a complete set of poli-cies, which are democratically made by party members at conference. A focus on social justice is at the centre of these.

Join a successful, growing partyThere may not have been local elec-tions in London this year, but there were in the rest of the country. The Green Party increased its number of seats significantly. In Brighton the number of Green councillors jumped from six to 12, in Lancaster from seven to 12, and there were also gains from Norwich to mid-Bedfordshire, from Scarborough to mid-Suffolk.

The party membership is growing, in Camden, and nationally, but there’s a lot of work to do and everyone can help, whether you want to be an arm-chair member or get more involved.

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Most people these days want to do their bit for the environment, but keeping track of all the rules can be tough. Camden Green Party newsletters will give you some useful tips: if you have any questions please contact Kentish Town Greens; we can share the answers with everyone.

You CAN put in for paper recycling:* envelopes, including those with plastic windows and sticky seals* telephone directories and cataloguesYou CAN’T put in for paper recycling:* metallic wrapping paper* Tetra Paks (these contain a blend of plastic and paper).* Shredded paper - but it can go in a wormery or compost.

You CAN recyclePlastic milk and juice bottles, and other plastic bottles (including those of detergents and cosmetics).You CAN’T recycleAll plastic lids, yoghurt pots and other plastics.Find more atcamden.gov.uk/recycling

How can I help? Recycling in Camden

Cllr Maya de Souza