Our parliamentary candidate at the General Election, Barney Norris, was recently interviewed on Tistalk, a podcast dedicated to serving the residents of Tisbury. If you’d like to hear what he had to say about improving life in the local area, click here to listen.

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Dear Voter,

we’ve all heard this will be a ‘turn the page’ election: change is coming to Salisbury and the UK. So who do we want to be after the ballots close on July 4th?

In 2021, after years as a carer navigating the UK healthcare and justice systems, I found myself homeless, out of money and out of work, living in my car in the winter of the second lockdown. It took a lot to come back from that place, but a big part of my recovery was coming home to Salisbury. This city put me back on my feet. I felt safe here. I rebuilt a career, bought a flat, and now I’ve resumed my career as a writer and university lecturer, with a passion for helping others to recover just like I have. Just like we’ve all had to in the last few years.

I know first hand that Salisbury is a compassionate city, deeply committed to social justice and the cherishing and preservation of our environment. I’m standing to be your MP at this election because I’d like to place those values at the heart of who we are. I hope you’ll join me.

Barney Norris

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Following our last Green News focussed on the topic of waste, Salisbury Green Party members pursued the issue of food waste collection with Wiltshire Council and were disappointed to receive this reply from Waste Management Team Leader Tom Bennell: “We are aware that other council’s [sic] successfully collect food waste from the kerbside. However, in Wiltshire, and other large shire councils, food waste collection costs are a significant barrier to the introduction of weekly food waste collections”.

Strange that food waste has been collected in our neighbouring (rural) Dorset for years, and that the local Malaby Biogas plant would take all Wiltshire’s food waste without charge and pay Wiltshire a share of the income from the electricity it generates for Warminster. But the council would still prefer NOT to follow the government commitment to have all food waste collected by 2023, and burn it instead in Westbury, causing yet more air pollution and climate change (although council approval for the new incinerator has now been deferred until June after public pressure). Please get in touch with Wiltshire Council’s leader Richard Clewer (richard.clewer@wiltshire.gov.uk) and tell him Wiltshire’s policy is rubbish and you want them to start food waste collections.

We have also been gathering information on what Salisbury folk are already doing to reduce our rubbish, and it turns out to be quite a lot. Our handy guide for where to recycle all the things the council won’t collect can be downloaded here. However, we should all use the ‘waste hierarchy’ approach, as it is far better to reduce the amount of stuff we use in the first place, reuse what we have, and re-purpose items where possible, before finally throwing what’s left in the recycle bin or compost – hopefully with nothing left for landfill!

Please note that while recycling is great for high value and easily recyclable waste such as glass, paper and metal; the picture is very different for plastic; a low value and costly material to recycle which can only be recycled once. Existing schemes e.g. those run by Terracycle, are subsidised by participating companies. So we think single-use plastics should be eliminated completely (after all, the point of plastic is that it pretty much lasts forever!).

Don’t forget that a great way to reduce/re-use is to try our many great charity and secondhand shops and keep an eye out for car-boot sales, bric a brac stalls and jumble sales at churches and community events.

This list is only a start. If you think we have missed anything, or if your business is trying to go waste and plastic free, please email us and we will try to include it. If you missed our last issue and would like a copy, please email us at hello@salisbury.greenparty.org.uk

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Wiltshire Council has published its long-awaited “strategy” for tackling climate change, two and a half years after recognising that we face a global climate emergency. Sadly, although it contains a lot of fine words, hopes and aspirations, and pays lip service to their stated aim of making the county carbon neutral by 2030, it actually reveals that they have no concrete plans and no real idea of how they are going to get there.

In 2015 the Paris climate summit (“COP 21”) adopted the target of limiting global temperature rises to 1 .5 degrees C. In 201 9 the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told us that to hit this target we needed to cut CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030. Recognising that Britain, as the historic home of the Industrial Revolution, should be leading the way, Green councillors in Bristol introduced a climate emergency declaration, pledging their city to become zero-carbon by 2030, and Lib. Dem. councillors in Wiltshire followed the Green lead by proposing a similar declaration in Wiltshire in February 2020.

Although less than half of Wiltshire’s Conservative councillors voted in favour of the declaration, it scraped through on opposition and independent votes and some Tory abstentions. Wiltshire’s new Tory leader, Richard Clewer, has shown himself to be very good at talking the talk on climate change, but (beyond changing a few lightbulbs) equally good at explaining why things cannot be done, or not as fast as they need to be. Long-standing Conservative policies like support for more road building and the Westbury incinerator have remained unchanged despite their climate change implications.

With a quarter of the time between 2019 and 2030 already gone, and the next global climate summit, COP26 in Glasgow, now only weeks away, signs are not looking good. Despite a slight dip at the height of the pandemic, global emissions have continued to go up instead of down. Climate change is moving even faster than the IPCC predicted, and time is fast running out.

Wiltshire Council’s new “strategy” contains no action plan, no timetable, and no milestones to show how it can be achieved. It is simply not good enough.

Wiltshire Council’s climate strategy is open to public consultation until October 17th, and can be found at www.wiltshire.gov.uk. Please let them know what you think about it. A full analysis of the plan and help with the consultation are available at www.wiltshireclimatealliance.org.uk.

The post The plan without a plan appeared first on Salisbury Green Party.

One of the first decisions of the new Conservative administration on Wiltshire Council was to approve plans for a huge incinerator in Westbury, which makes a nonsense of all their claims to be trying to tackle the problems of climate change. Burning our rubbish is one of the worst things we could do in relation to climate change, and if it is built the new plant will add an estimated 16% to Wiltshire’s current level of greenhouse gas emissions, and will continue to do so for at least 30 years – to beyond the present government’s 2050 target date for reducing all the UK’s net emissions to zero.

Local people in Westbury have been opposing this plan for the past six years, and have gained the backing of the Westbury Town Council, neighbouring parish councils, and even the local Tory MP Andrew Murrison. Local businesses are also against it, especially the ARLA butter factory which is a near neighbour of the site, and expects to have to close with the loss of many local jobs, because of contamination fears if the incinerator goes ahead.

This is much more than just a local issue for the people of Westbury though. It should concern people throughout Wiltshire, because it will be waste from council collections all over the county which will be burnt there, as well as thousands of tons of imported commercial waste from beyond Wiltshire’s boundaries. Although local residents will suffer the worst effects from toxic pollutants from the site and from increased lorry traffic, we all share the air we breathe, and the increase in greenhouse gases is a global problem.

Although the plant will generate some electricity from the waste burning, this is no excuse because only coal-fired generation is worse for the environment. Current air quality controls will limit the amount of large particles which are released, but do not cover either climate-changing CO2 or the smaller toxic micro-particles, especially heavy metals and those derived from burning plastics, which are a known cause of cancer and other health effects.

Waste contractors Hills, who are behind the scheme, have had a cosy relationship with successive Wiltshire Council administrations over many years, and have a long-term contract with the council (renewed in 2014 with no competitive tendering) which requires the council to supply them with at least 50,000 tonnes of waste for burning every year. It is this contract which is the root of the problem, and needs to be set aside.

The plan now has to be either approved or “called in” by the new Housing and Local Government minister Michael Gove, so both he and Wiltshire’s MPs need to face an urgent deluge of letters and protests from Wiltshire residents if this plan is to be stopped. They can be written to at the House of Commons, or emailed via the parliamentary website, at www.members.parliament.uk.

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• The full slate of candidates across Salisbury and South Wiltshire
• The high-profile campaign with around 50,000 leaflets and Green News distributed along with Salisbury Journal and Facebook advertising
• The increase in local membership from under 130 to 155 during the campaign
• The number of members and non-members contributing time and funds to the campaign with over 90 leafleteers

Of course, it was bitter sweet in that we did not win a councillor in the City or Unitary elections, but this was always an outside chance for a small but growing party under the first-past-the-post electoral system. But we did gather a large volume of votes …

Yes, we got more votes than Labour and is almost 22% of the Salisbury City council vote! It represents a huge uplift from 2017 when we had 10.40%.  Across South Wilts in the Unitary elections we had almost 12% of the vote. The electorate and the other parties will all be very aware now that Greens win substantial vote shares and run high profile campaigns. The message we have sent is that we are a serious party! We intend to use this substantial and collective Green voice to campaign and pressurise our councils.

Annie Riddle is the elected Independent and she has blogged on the iniquities of the first-past-the-post system and this is well worth a read …

In the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioners Election, which ran at the same time, Brig Oubridge, Green Party, received 16,606 votes. This was 8% of the vote.

The Green Party is celebrating the best local elections results in its history with more Green councillors on more councils across the country than ever before. Voters across the country have made clear their hope for a Greener future after the Covid pandemic.

The Greens have won a total of 155 seats, including 99 gains and gained representation on 18 new councils in this year’s local elections. It takes the total tally of councils with Green representation to 141.

In Bristol, Greens made 13 gains, more than doubling their number of councillors, winning 50% of the vote and are now the joint biggest in the city with Labour on 24 seats each.

Can Salisbury follow in the footsteps of Bristol Greens? We have created a great platform. But where do we go from here? Everything is up for review. The structure of meetings, expanding and actively involving more of the membership, getting the Green voice heard, running some active local campaigns, pressuring Salisbury City and Wiltshire Council, developing the website and social media, working alongside and to support Transition City and Wiltshire Climate Alliance and probably much more!

We want everyone to contribute their ideas and views. We want to capture the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the wider membership over the last couple of months. So we will be in touch again shortly to listen to your views and to take the Salisbury Greens forward.

Thank you for your part in the elections and your commitment to the Green Party. Rick Page                          Peter Matthews
Co-ordinator                     Membership Secretary

The post Reflections on the Local Elections in South Wiltshire and Salisbury appeared first on Salisbury Green Party.

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Di Cross, Green Party candidate for Amesbury West

THE STONEHENGE EXPRESSWAY IS WRONG FOR AMESBURY

Wiltshire is blessed with a site as special as Stonehenge within its boundaries. It is a place of spirituality, contemplation and celebration. Not only is it a landscape of immense archaeological, historical and environmental importance, but also home to several valuable species of conservation concern, including the stone curlew and the great bustard.

We are part of this landscape and must strive to protect it. The tunnel, at around 3km long, is far too short to protect a site 5.4km wide. The Government’s own inquiry found the same thing and recommended against the scheme.

Is it worth the risk? 

The development will take AT LEAST five years to complete and probably many more, bringing heavy plant, noise, dust and construction traffic to the area, diverting traffic onto alternative local roads causing delays and traffic disruption.

In 2017, the capital cost of the scheme was given as £1.6 billion; this has already risen to £2 billion, plus annual tunnel maintenance costs of £7 million – money that could be spent on improving public transport, school building and the NHS.

Even in the most generous of economic appraisals, the scheme has been shown to have negative economic benefit. Congestion around the site and consequent ‘rat running’ have, understandably, caused concern in Amesbury West. However, any traffic flow improvement brought about by the scheme would be temporary, since road widening is known to induce more traffic and rarely brings hoped-for economic benefits.

The Green Party is committed to supporting efforts to overturn this decision and put protection of your outstanding landscape ahead of a road-building scheme that will cause you traffic chaos for years to come.

Note: The Stonehenge expressway is part of a much bigger plan totalling eight improvement schemes along the A303/A358/A30 corridor. At present, funding has been provided for just three of these schemes. Highways England has admitted that travel time benefits will not be achieved until all eight schemes have been completed.

The scheme’s benefits “would not outweigh the harm arising from the excavation of a deep, wide cutting and other engineering works, with the WHS and its setting, of a scale unseen in this unique ‘landscape without parallel'”.

Examining Authority for the Planning Inspectorate

The Green Party is committed to supporting efforts to overturn this decision and put protection of your outstanding landscape ahead of a road-building scheme that will cause you traffic chaos for years to come.

Note: The Stonehenge expressway is part of a much bigger plan totalling eight improvement schemes along the A303/A358/A30 corridor. At present, funding has been provided for just three of these schemes. Highways England has admitted that travel time benefits will not be achieved until all eight schemes have been completed.

The post The Stonehenge scheme undermines the UK’s commitment to address climate change and biodiversity loss appeared first on Salisbury Green Party.

The call comes after it emerged last month that the government would legislate against the ability to appeal, which has granted small, independent businesses a lifeline amidst financial difficulties with lockdown restrictions not set to fully lift until the summer. Last December the Greens laid out their five point plan for small businesses to get back on their feet in the wake of the pandemic.

Salisbury Green Party’s lead candidate Rick Page said:

 “Non-essential retail, hospitality and leisure are some of the sectors in the UK hardest hit by Covid-19 due to the nature of social distancing. It’s only right the government reverses its decision to stop appeals, extends business rates for a significant period of time and offers immediate financial support to those companies still losing money as a result of not being fully open.”

“Many of these small businesses which are often family-run were struggling from online retailers before the pandemic began and for a year they have been pushed to the brink of closure. The long-term financial effects of having no business for such a prolonged period of time is a terrifying prospect.”

The Greens’ five-point plan includes an extension to the business rate holiday and larger monthly grants, offers independent high-street businesses a route out of the hardship of the last 12 months, something the government continually fails to provide. We want independent businesses to be at the heart of a Green recovery, and would facilitate this by lending at affordable rates and establishing a network of regional mutual banks, which would provide funding for locally-led economic initiatives and opportunities.

The Greens would support the creation of a bigger, more diverse future for business, through stakeholder finance, ownership rooted in communities and business done for the common good. We place huge value on the importance of small, family-run businesses and realise how hard it can be to start and run these enterprises. Three important areas of focus are: 

• Greens would increase the money provided through grants for businesses that had to close due to lockdown. Currently, the payment tallies £1,300 per month for those with a rateable value of £15,000, which is simply not enough.
• Many businesses, like nurseries, have had to remain open throughout lockdown at extra cost to them. Greens are pledging a discretionary grant, administered by councils and paid for by the government, to cover these extra costs.

• Greens would extend the business rate holiday for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, with the government providing compensation to local authorities for loss of income. With business rates devolved in Wales, we would also call on the Welsh government to do the same.
• Greens would extend the current tourism VAT cut and expand it to: food and drink served in pubs, bars and restaurants, theatre, music concerts, museum and gallery tickets, and hotel bookings.
• This would be part of a process to review our VAT system so it differentially supports smaller shops compared to larger and online ones.

• The Green Party wants 15% of government contracts to be granted to small or micro businesses, while making it easier for a business to apply for a contract.
• We would provide independent businesses access to lending at affordable rates by establishing a network of regional mutual banks; these would provide funding for locally-led economic initiatives and opportunities, including co-operatives and non-profit businesses. 

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We need new social rented homes and affordable properties to buy, particularly for younger people, not high price properties to maximise profits for developers and speculators.

Local Greens are opposing this development, just as we have opposed other unsuitable developments in the past, like that which was planned for Britford Water Meadows. We have put in objections to Wiltshire’s new Local Plan, and will continue to fight inappropriate speculative development, in Harnham and elsewhere in the county.

Appropriate planning policies are essential to combatting climate change and building a better future for us all. All new housing should be built to zero carbon standards, with top class insulation, solar panels and pollution-free heat pumps – cutting bills and cutting pollution.

Developments must be planned to incorporate public transport, walking and cycling routes to cut unnecessary car use, and with community facilities like local shops, community centres, playgrounds and nurseries. Greens will ensure that we build the right things in the right places with the right infrastructure – not a speculators’ paradise.

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