Is town ripe for the taking by Greens? (From Gazette)

Is town ripe for the taking by Greens?

10:58am Monday 21st May 2007

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At the local elections in one ward in Colchester the other week, the Liberal Democrats got 41 per cent of the vote.

The Greens came second in Castle ward with 32 per cent.

"We didn't get a single seat, which was a bit galling," declared Peter Lynn. "But that won't happen next time. Two elections ago we only had ten per cent of the vote. Now we have 32 per cent (in one ward) - and we will turn that into seats."

In Colchester, the Greens stood in every ward. Mr Lynn, who contested Castle ward, believes Colchester is ripe for the taking - some going for a party which, three years ago, hardly had any presence at all in the town.

"The Colchester and District Green Party had been around but not really active," explained Maria Iacovou, who stood for Wivenhoe Cross. "Then, 2 years ago, seven of us got together in a pub and decided to get active and political."

That's where the Greens, until recently, came unstuck. Mention the Green Party and most people's take is universal recycling and a ban on anything which has a whiff of a carbon emission. Being "green" is OK as part of a manifesto (low down, usually), but as a mainstream party with its own policies? Come on.

Which is exactly what Linda Wonnacott thought. She had been a member of the Labour Party for 45 years, had always been environmentally green, but never thought of "green" as a party. As she became more and more disillusioned with Labour, she began looking for an alternative, was immediately taken with a Green Party leaflet which came through her door and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ms Wonnacott stood for New Town, a Liberal Democrat stronghold. The Lib Dem candidate took the seat, with the Conservative second. But she was so close to the Conservative candidate, you could hardly see daylight.

So, if the Greens are coming - they currently hold 12 seats on Lancaster City Council, ten on Norwich City Council and are doing quite nicely in Brighton - do they have workable policies?

"Yes, workable and well-developed," pointed out Mr Lynn, "and applicable at local level. Take town planning - this is a big issue, especially in Colchester. I do not feel Colchester has been planned at all. It has just been allowed to happen. It is an unsustainable town - especially as regards transport - and highlights the failure of the planning system."

Ms Iacovou explained Green policy would never allow housing developments to go ahead without amenities - schools, GP surgeries, shops, community centres - in place from the outset.

"Amenities are always an afterthought. If they were always taken into consideration at the planning stage, life would be a lot more pleasant on those developments."

The Green Party is very people-focused.

It is why Pippa Lane, a post-graduate student at Essex University, finds it so appealing. That, and student-focused higher education policies.

She is from Perth, Australia, and joined the West Australia Greens in 2002. When she came to Essex in 2004, she helped "re-activate" the Colchester and District Green Party and joined the national party's youth wing. She stood for the Berechurch ward on May 3.

"I didn't do as well as other Greens," she smiled, "but there is always next time."

If there is one thing the Green party has, it's stoicism plus a belief that no country can develop in isolation.

"We are all citizens of the same planet," stressed Mr Lynn "so the whole planet must be involved if we are to improve our environment and our way of life. We cannot just concentrate on our individual countries."

Nor only on carbon emissions. The Green Party, they insisted, had policies which are "workable and sustainable" - and Colchester might just get to see them in action in the very near future.

• The Colchester and District Green Party meets monthly at the New Inn, Chapel Street, Colchester.
  
  GREEN PARTY POLICIES AT A GLANCE
  
  
• Human scale education - emphasis on much smaller, personal secondary schools with children attending schools within their communities. Education will be promoted as life-long
• Citizens' Income - the lynchpin of the Greens' taxation and benefits policy. Everyone would receive this income which would be sufficient to live on. This would wipe-out form filling and means testing and get rid of many benefits. There would be a slight increase in personal taxation
• Health - emphasis on promoting good health with push toward community-based GP surgeries
• Foreign affairs - to be tackled by conflict avoidance and defusion, not invasion. "Peace in Northern Ireland was down to politicians talking to each other and not through armed conflict," said Maria Iacovou. Green MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Caroline Lucas is putting this policy into practice in the Middle East

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