What would Green councillors do for Enfield?

Whilst other parties promise a freeze in Council Tax for two years with no clue as to what will happen after that, Enfield Green Party councillors will have a wider vision for the borough focusing on jobs, insulation, 20mph speed limits, community centres, trees and actually listening and acting on what you say: true consultation.

• Jobs, training and apprenticeships.

Unemployment is now at 7.1%, up from 5.3% in January 2009. Enfield has a strong industrial heritage, once making cookers, electric fires and light bulbs. It’s time for Enfield to become a hub of ‘green industries’, manufacturing eco-light bulbs, insulation, solar panels and wind turbines.

Jack Johnson, Bowes ward candidate, says: “We do not accept the Labour-Tory-Lib Dem commitment to cut public spending while cutting national debt. We believe that we need to invest in our communities to reduce Thatcher-like levels of unemployment. Our aim is to create an economy based on green manufacturing and sustainable production, not the boom and bust of the last thirty years.”

• Grants for loft and cavity wall insulation.

We need to reduce both our C02 emissions and our fuel bills. Insulation is the obvious way forward. Green councillors in Kirklees have established a far-reaching grant system that all local authorities could implement if they had the political will. For more details of their scheme that we would look to mirror click here

• 20mph on residential roads.

If we want more people to walk and cycle then we need to make the streets calmer. The council does have a policy of implementing 20mph schemes on roads next to a school but surely if we want more children walking to school then every road that they cross needs to be made safer, not just the last one they cross before they reach their destination. Slower traffic brings communities together.

A pedestrian hit by a car at 40 mph only has a 10% chance of surviving, at 30mph 50%, but at 20mph the chance of survival increases to 95%. If Portsmouth can slow down traffic why can't Enfield?

• Community centres.

What is an important part of any community? It's a place where everyone and anyone can meet up with people from the local and surrounding area. Communities need community centres. A local community centre could offer:

                 Play groups
                 Luncheon clubs
                 After school activitie
                 Youth clubs
                 Markets selling locally produced goods and services
                 Meeting rooms for local groups
                 Exercise classes
                 Notice boards to keep people up to date with council developments and what                                 everyone else in the community needs.
                 It would provide a space for people to come together, discuss and debate what                               matters locally.

• More trees.

Enfield is a beautiful borough, the north west being predominantly farm land and country park but the more densely populated parts of the borough need a huge variety of trees. Trees do a variety of jobs. As we know, they soak up C0₂ - great for the planet; they pump out oxygen - great for our lungs; they absorb noise from highways and they make people feel differently about where they live. If we planted hundreds of trees along the North Circular Road, filling up all the empty plots with broadleaf trees, then people currently treating the road and the area like a motorway would begin to treat the area with more respect, slowing their speed, being aware of pedestrians.

• Consultation.

Enfield Council fails time and again to consult the right people in the right way. They failed to ask Palmers Green library users their views, they consulted with the wrong people regarding a playground in New Southgate, they have failed to discuss properly the relocation of New Southgate businesses. Incompetence or indifference? Green councillors will keep you up to date with regular newsletters, hold surgeries and public meetings where you can come and talk to them about your concerns.