Mere tinkering at the edges will not fix what is broken; we need a complete reset of society. Let’s start with a vision of the world we want to see and set a roadmap for getting there. Greens have a vision of a world based on cooperation and democracy which would prioritise the many, not the few, and would not risk the planet’s future with environmental destruction and unsustainable consumption. We know that our planet has environmental limits, and that inequality is not just unfair, but damaging to everyone in society.

The Green Party is not like other parties. We have bold solutions. Conventional economic policy uses economic growth, inflation, balance of payments and unemployment as ‘economic indicators’ of progress, but we replace the conventional indicators with those that measure progress towards sustainability and equity.

Fairer, greener homes would be well-insulated with low (or no) heating costs and low carbon emissions. Taxing the wealthiest 1% of the population and the biggest polluters could provide money for a million homes a year to be insulated. Fairer, greener housing policy would put a freeze on rent rises and a ban on no-fault evictions.

There is a real need for fairer, greener public services, such as education, health services, water services and transport. There is an essential contradiction in private ownership of public services. Private companies’ first duty is to provide profit to shareholders, but public services’ first duty is to provide a service to the public.

If all children are to benefit fully from education, we need to make sure that they all have enough to eat. A hungry child can’t concentrate. Free school meals for all children would satisfy the need, and if everyone received them, there would be no stigma attached.

We need long-term funding for public transport that recognises the service that workers provide, and that provides routes that people need, not just where they are profitable. While the money diverted to public transport from the cancellation of the northern section of HS2 is welcome, it is short-term and it takes time for people to change their travel habits and start using buses and trains. With cheaper fares and free travel for the under 22s, there would be benefit to pockets and the climate. It could be funded by cancelling the road building schemes which would be unnecessary if public transport use increased.

Our rivers and lakes are vital habitat for wildlife and green/blue space for residents, but for too long they’ve been used as sewers by water companies who haven’t been upgrading waste water treatment works to cope with extra housing and increased rainfall. The only sustainable way to run vital services like water is to put people ahead of profit and take water back into public hands.

Our current means-tested benefit system is complicated and expensive. It and the harsh system of punishment by withdrawing benefit payments need to be replaced with a Universal Basic Income, sufficient to cover an individual’s basic needs as an unconditional, non-withdrawable income.

So let’s look forward to radical change in 2024 and coming years.

Cllr. Jill Perry

The post 2024 Year of Opportunity appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

Social rented homes offer the most security and affordability, however numbers have declined. Two million properties were sold under Right to Buy and these have not all been replaced. The private rented sector now accounts for 19% of homes and it is growing but demand exceeds supply.

An independent review of housing in Cumbria said retrofitting old housing is perceived as difficult due to the costs. As in other parts of the country land prices are high and development projects get held up in planning and over agreements with developers. In some of our villages, particularly in the National Park and on the coast, potential rental properties are eaten up by Airbnb and second homes.

These are just some of the issues with housing in the UK today.

The current Government’s response is disappointing. There are no meaningful plans for improvements. Not only this, literally billions are spent each year on ineffective temporary measures.

So how has it got into this state? At the heart of it, quoting the Green Party, is that housing is treated as a form of speculative investment. New homes are at the mercy of commercial market forces and the major development companies. Why would a private developer build small energy-efficient units or renovate old buildings – or indeed do anything innovative – when they can make more profit from traditional developments? Maximising rental income is an “acceptable” business practice.

This approach overlooks the needs and aspirations of people and local communities. It won’t change unless forced to. A Conservative Government will support the status quo, the developers, landlords and investors. It will do the minimum to address supply because scarcity adds to value. It won’t address second homes when 25% of MPs have one. The Labour Party has joined the housing debate by publishing their own proposals. These would provide some improvements but they don’t go far enough.

The Green Party has a holistic approach to housing and tangible proposals for real improvements – Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price. We need more Green voices where they can really be heard to give housing a chance at a rosier future.

Jane Hall

Published in Local Newspapers

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The building was neglected, declared unsafe and evacuated. There is money around, plenty of it, but not in the right hands. It was no-one’s priority. There was so much to fix, and it was so difficult to know how to start, that no-one started and then it was too late; the catastrophe had happened, and it almost certainly can’t be fixed. There are knock-on effects: the bridge was closed, at first to all comers, now just to cars, busses and lorries, though the pedestrian and cycling experience is far from ideal, and I’m sure the businesses in Market Place are feeling the effects.

190 years ago, when it was built, it probably wasn’t such a dangerous location, but damaged in heavy rains two years ago, it’s just another victim of extreme weather events made more common by climate change. It’s only due to remarkable resilience, strong building materials and good workmanship that it survived two years before its eventual collapse.

Meanwhile, at conferences held for their party faithful and the press, politicians state categorically what they would (or wouldn’t) do to keep our planet within safe limits. The Conservatives will delay proposed action to lower carbon emissions. They have offered so low a price that no new offshore windfarms will be built in the latest round of funding allocations, but they will allow new oilfields and gasfields in the North Sea. Labour has finer sounding words but won’t overturn the Rosebank Oilfield license, won’t introduce a wealth tax to fund the investments we need to see and won’t introduce a proportional representation voting system so that politicians who prioritise the common good could get elected in numbers.

At Green Party conference we voted through a new policy that companies should be required to put environmental and social priorities ahead of financial returns to shareholders. Speaker after speaker affirmed that energy security and cheaper bills aren’t delivered by allowing highly-subsidised, foreign-owned fossil fuel giants to extract more oil and gas from these islands and sell it overseas to the highest bidder. They come from grasping the opportunities of unblocking and upscaling abundant and affordable renewables, and properly insulating the nation – ensuring clean air and water, thriving nature and wildlife, and high-quality skilled and stable jobs in the process.

It’s not just the energy and climate spokesperson in our party who cares about climate change; it runs through the Green Party like lettering through rock. The benefits of action on climate change include more comfortable housing, cheaper bills, a healthier population, better food, better public transport, more green spaces, better mental health, recovering wildlife populations.

Let’s hope the house doesn’t fall down before we get there.

Cllr. Jill Perry

Published in Local Newspapers

The post Green Party Conference appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

A fortnight ago, the Conservative Government announced it’s scrapping ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules as a way to boost house building. This could lead to the ecological collapse of our waterways. The River Ellen in my ward already made it into The Times newspaper as running through the worst spillage site in the country (Plumbland waste water treatment works). Residents know the works are already too small for the number of houses.

Nutrient neutrality rules were put in place in 2017 by the EU. The rules prevent local authorities giving the go-ahead to new developments that are projected to add to river nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates, either through wastewater from new homes or run-off from building sites. We were promised that leaving the EU would not result in watering down our environmental regulations.

Rather than weakening regulation we need firmer controls on private water companies and hugely profitable housebuilders. The Green Party campaigns for public ownership of water companies so they could invest more in cleaning up our rivers. We also have a clear focus on affordable, high quality and environmentally friendly homes, by investing in a large-scale council house building programme.

Meanwhile last week, closer to home, the Labour-led planning committee refused consent for a single wind turbine at New Balance, Flimby. There were 20 letters of support and 21 letters of objection; it was recommended for approval by planning officers (albeit with 21 conditions) but still rejected by 6 members of the planning committee, with only one in support.

In the two main parties, despite their fine words, the lack of understanding of the climate and ecological emergency we are living through is quite shocking.

Cllr. Jill Perry

Published in Local Newspapers

The post It’s Not Easy Being Green appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

With change comes challenge. Human beings have survived through the ages, like all living organisms, by adapting to changing circumstances. But wise leadership is required to enable communities and individuals to respond in constructive ways. It’s recently been reported that organisations have written to Rishi Sunak to warn him that he needs to show leadership on the green agenda. Who were these agencies? Some woke left-wing do-gooders? No, actually it was 100 companies that including Tesco, M&S, Amazon and BT. And who reported it? Well not some militant firebrand. It was The Times.

So, everybody is waking up to the fact that we need to lead more sustainable lives at every level, individual, family, community, country, world. We need to care more for our fragile planet and we need to invest more in the transition to more sustainable ways of being. The only question that remains is how? Political parties from across the spectrum now boast of their “green” agendas making claims about how much they care about the environment. But do they really mean it? They are like the guests that turn up to the fancy dress party wearing the wrong costume. Their actions do not fit their words.

Sunak has been openly criticised by government experts this week for his “lackadaisical” approach to the climate emergency (Lord Stern). We in the Green Party are sometimes told that we ought to “live in the real world,” but maybe it is us that are living in the real world, a world that requires urgent, inspiring and committed leadership and action, not just platitudes. The other parties can carry on their childish mud-slinging games while Rome burns, but we will just carry on caring and working for the better world we believe can be created for the sake of our children and grandchildren, and our precious home.

Keith Fitton

Chair Allerdale and Copeland Green Party

Published in Local Newspapers

The post While Rome Burns appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

The garden was struggling for lack of rain, despite my best efforts at watering. My peas and mangetout grew to a height of 8 inches before refusing to go any further and putting out their measly few pods. Delicious in their rarity! However, the courgettes and runner beans did well and are loving the July rains. So did the blackcurrants and raspberries. Upsettingly I managed to pull out half a ragwort plant (from the veg patch) before I noticed it was covered with cinnabar moth caterpillars. Thankfully the remaining half seemed to take up the slack and is now just a bare stick, and last week I saw an adult cinnabar moth in all its beautiful red and black robes.

Council-wise, we held our first Community Panel meeting which fills me with hope that we can really achieve some of the changes we’d all like to see. A large part of the meeting was about the administrative detail of setting up discussions and consultations on our priorities, and about grant-giving. However, we also discussed lessons from the defunct Cockermouth market, and a delegation from the Allonby chalet owners group came to talk to us informally about their problems with the council tax assessment. It does seem to be to be grossly unfair. Markus Campbell Savours appears to be taking a lead on this and I’m happy to let him.

Our other first was the first meeting of the Climate Advisory Group. It was held on Teams (internet) so were less satisfying than meeting people in person, and again was administrative, but we did ascertain that the climate strategies from the four legacy councils were being looked at to amalgamate into one climate strategy for Cumberland. We were reminded that our job was simply to make recommendations to the Executive. Compare and contrast our progress with that of Westmorland and Furness who declared a climate emergency in September 2022, have adopted part one of their Climate Action Plan in June and the second and final part will be adopted in December. Part 2 will be a detailed plan which will outline actions in six categories:

The Way we Live,

The Way we Work,

The Way we Travel,

The Way we use things,

The Way we Produce Energy and

The Way we Protect and Enhance Nature.

I only attended two parish council meetings in June (out of a theoretically possible three, two of which are held on the same night) but am making up for it in July with a technically possible full 13. It’s great to meet new councillors who have joined Parish Councils in May, and to see the experienced ones again. Everyone is, of course, very exercised by the bin strike and I note with interest that the unions have won their case in the courts, that using agency, strike-breaking workers is illegal. The Government says it will appeal. Allerdale Waste Services says it will abide by the law. But that brief outbreak of hope initiated by the new set of talks on the following Monday, soon dissipated as they break down again!

With my large band of helpers, we’ve been delivering the summer newsletter to the villages of Bothel and Wharrels. It’s always good to walk round the place you represent, chat to a few people, see what’s going on and stick a leaflet through doors. It takes a while but it’s worth it. All the major villages are done now, and even a few outliers.

A couple of weekends ago Cathy and I went on a super trip to Allonby and Crosscanonby to enjoy the Solway Coast Discovery Day organised by the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to celebrate King Charles III England Coast Path in Cumbria. The display of 500 silk flags designed by artists from comments and photos from ordinary people who each adopted a mile of coastline in the east of England was absolutely amazing. We can’t wait for 2025 to come round so it’s our turn to take part in the “Beach of Dreams” project run by Kinetika. We walked from Allonby to Milefortlet 21 and met the Roman re-enactors who gave us a fascinating insight into the lives of Roman soldiers living and working in the area.

July has been amazingly busy, and the final week looks no different. August is really going to be a quieter month!!!!!!

Cllr. Jill Perry

The post Cumberland Climate Advisory Group appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was an adult and everywhere from my house was uphill so it is a delight to now find I can travel around 50 miles on one inexpensive battery charge and effortlessly tackle the slopes that previously were so daunting. All in all, especially in this recent warm weather, my recent rediscovery of cycling has been a great pleasure and has increased my fitness and health.

However, I am not enjoying the speed and size of vehicles on rural roads. I am disappointed that many of our single-track roads locally still retain a speed limit of 60 mph. It explains why I see so few children or young people on bikes. Even adults are deterred from cycling or walking on rural roads because of the safety aspect.

The RAC report that, of the 1,558 road deaths in Britain in 2021, 981 (63%) of them were listed as occurring on rural roads, that is, outside of a town or city. With such statistics it’s hardly surprising that parents are reluctant to allow their children the freedom to travel independently. Whatever the age, there are well-established health benefits associated with walking and cycling.

So, as an elected Councillor for the new Cumberland Council I am delighted that the Council’s priorities are improving health and wellbeing and addressing inequalities which must include travel and giving all of us the opportunity to move about sustainably and healthily. Hopefully, like Surrey County Council, we can work towards 30 mph being brought in our rural roads and, like Scotland, minor roads will be designated shared spaces for the use of walkers, cyclists and motorists with appropriate speed limits.

Cllr. Jill Perry

Published in Local Newspapers

The post Love your bike appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

• The cool white colour temperatures of many of the cheaper LED lights, mimicking daylight throughout the night, is highly harmful to wildlife. It stops animals, like songbirds sleeping properly overnight, prevents sensitive species like Frogs and Toads from breeding, stops larger Bats (like the Brown Long-Eared) from coming out of their roosts to feed. Wildlife has evolved with the daily day-night cycle over hundreds of thousands of years; darkness is essential to their health and well-being.
• Because of the way LED lights work, when badly fitted, any light directed across the horizontal is throwing 50% of it up into the sky. This contributes to ‘sky glow’ stopping many of us seeing more stars, whether the Milky Way or Northern lights. Really this is wasteful casting light upward into the sky – its the road, pavement or path surface people drive, walk or cycle on, where light is needed. Recent research shows that across the Earth we are brightening our night skies with artificial lighting by around 10% each year.(1) Not great when you consider that the light from distant stars takes millions of years to reach us, only to be snuffed out in the dying seconds!

Lighting the night sky (above left), with poorly fitting LED lights (above right).

• With the low cost of many readily available LED lights, often you see them being installed where they don’t fulfil a real need, install far too many onto buildings and outside spaces, or leave them on all night. Again a wasteful use of electricity. Its thought that globally about 16% of all electricity consumption goes on lighting, and this is rising as population grows and more and more lighting is being installed. So ironically LEDs are more efficient, but we’re not reducing energy use overall! With last year’s energy price rises, a survey of England’s County Councils, showed their streetlight electricity bills had risen by £60 million.

The good news here in Cumbria there is a ‘Dark Skies Project’, led by Friends of the Lake District (CPRE, The Countryside Charity for Cumbria), in collaboration with the local authorities and lots of organisations, local and national. The name ‘Dark Skies’ doesn’t mean switching off all our lights! Rather to use the Right Light, in the Right Place and at the Right Time. Good lighting that is well fitted does not compromise on security or make us feel less safe after dark.

Here are a few simple tips to follow to help tackle the potential negative impacts when thinking of whether to install new lighting at home or at your business:

The Dark Skies Cumbria Project is doing lots of good work, please have a look: Dark Skies Blog | Friends of the Lake District

(1). https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/january/increasing-light-pollution-drowning-out-stars.html

Jack Ellerby

Dark Skies Officer

Friends of the Lake District

The post How Green are your Lights? appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

As well as all the usual council meetings, I’ve been dealing with bin issues, as you can no doubt imagine. If you live in a town, it’s difficult but not so difficult to get to a recycling point somewhere. But my ward is very rural and people are really struggling. I’ve asked for temporary bring sites, I’ve asked for an emergency one-off collection, I’ve asked for collections for commercial waste in areas where the roads are too narrow for big vehicles and commercial and domestic waste and recycling are collected together. None of this seems to have come to anything (lack of capacity apparently). There’s no end in sight to the dispute either. The sooner all sides get round the table again, the better for everyone.

I’ve also been supporting the residents of Plumbland Parish who are facing a revitalised application for a quarry very close to the village, with all that that implies for disruption to village life – noise, dust, heavy vehicles on the road, which is completely unsuitable. It takes the form of letter writing and following up things with the council, but sometimes it just means going and eating cake! This is my preferred sort of campaigning. Seriously, though, the village has a huge task to raise funds for a legal challenge to prospective approval, and needs all the help it can get.

Then I was invited to speak at the Speakers Corner event against the coalmine. It was a super day with rousing, empowering speeches to remind us all that it’s not over yet. We had two special and unexpected visits. The first was from the wonderful Nanas Against Fracking to offer their support and encouragement after their victory at Preston New Road. The second was from Chris Packham who was in the area with a Channel 4 team, making a documentary. He exhorted us all to get out of our comfort zones, and take one step further, to push ourselves to do more. Friends of the Earth (FoE)  and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) have got three days in court with their legal challenge 24^th – 26^th October, and after that if they lose, we’ll all be out of our comfort zones, taking direct action training and planning peaceful ways to disrupt activity at the site. Hopefully that won’t be necessary.

On the 24^th May, just before my holiday, I went to a very exciting meeting with HyperfastUK in Maryport and learnt that within 12 months I might have a really fast broadband connection, instead of one that feels more like pigeon post.

And today I heard that Caroline Lucas, our groundbreaking Green MP, is to stand down at the next election. They are big shoes to fill, but hopefully someone can do it. We’re in a good place after the local elections and with a proper electoral system we’d be in an even better one.

I’m up to more things that are at a very early stage, so watch this space in case any of them come to fruition!

Cllr. Jill Perry

The post Speakers Corner appeared first on Allerdale & Copeland Green Party.

Burnout

Tue 30 & Wed 31 May | 7.30pm

Theatre By The Lake Keswick

Tickets: https://www.theatrebythelake.com/event/burnout

“Like the planet I’m trying to save, I am screaming – and you want me to speak of hope?”

Amara meets Bridgette at a protest, one of those, ‘hippy, green, save-the-planet’ things. She’s just popped out to grab some milk and now she’s late – and there’s a flood coming.

Bridgette’s a committed activist. Amara’s about to finish her GCSEs. Their town’s been flooded.

Again.

But how’s getting arrested going to help anything? They can’t afford to do that.

Burnout was created with climate activists across the UK. The show exposes the burnout experienced by activists from marginalised communities alongside the burnout of our planet.

The show is written by Nicole Acquah and devised by the company. It’s a call to action for audiences to think about privilege, activism and climate justice.

ShyBairn create live performance for social change. They collaborate with artists and activists to create live performance alongside campaigns for justice. They are graduates of Central School of Speech and Drama’s MFA Advanced Theatre Practice 2019. They are a BREACH Theatre Associate Company and recipients of Camden People’s Outside The Box Commission 2022.

Post Show Discussion: ‘The Cost of Activism’ – Tue 30 May

– with ShyBairn Theatre and Local Activists, in collaboration with TUC Northern.

In conversation about the personal cost of activism and themes of BURNOUT, plus an opportunity for audiences to ask questions.

The panel will include:

Caitlin Evans, Director of ShyBairn Theatre

Lekhani Chirwa, Performer in BURNOUT

Chloe Wade, Performer in BURNOUT

Janett Walker, CEO Anti-Racist Cumbria

Additional activists to be announced soon.

Duration: 15-20 mins

Free for all ticket bookers.

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