Martin: Voters in Tunbridge Wells go to the polls on Thursday 4^th May. They will be electing one third of the Borough Council. I’m joined by Geoff Mason who is Chair of Tunbridge Wells Green Party. Geoff, the Green Party doesn’t have any councillors in Tunbridge Wells at the moment so how are you approaching this election?

Geoff: Well we’re really excited this year to be standing candidates in all 16 wards. It’s something we’ve not done before and we absolutely want to give everybody who wants to vote Green the chance to vote Green. We look enviously at the 23 Green Councillors across Kent but there are none on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and that’s something we want to change.

Martin: So the Borough Council at the moment is run by a coalition of the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Tunbridge Wells Alliance Party. How do you think they’re doing? They’ve been in power for a year what’s their record been do you think?

Geoff: From a Green Party perspective we look at how they’ve done on the Climate Emergency. This was declared in 2019 but it doesn’t feel very much like an emergency. The original proposal for example was to include citizens assemblies. What happened to this? And if we look at their own figures, the target was to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and the pathway to do this was for around 2,500 tonnes to be produced in 2022. But by their own figures they’re on for 3,700 tonnes.

Martin: So this is just in the borough of Tunbridge Wells?

Geoff: Absolutely. So we think that at the moment they’re going to miss their net zero target by 2030 by some considerable margin.

Martin: And it’s not the emissions of everybody who lives in Tunbridge Wells, it’s just the things that the council has control of.

Geoff: 100% absolutely right.

Martin: One big issue locally is housing and the local plan proposed a new large town of around 3,000 people between Tudeley and Capel. The national housing inspector has thrown doubts on the sustainability of that but the Borough Council coalition seems to be pressing on trying to make that still happen. What do you think of this plan to build a new town between Tudeley and Capel?

Geoff: I think it’s absolutely heart-breaking if you look at the impact on the countryside around Capel, the size and scale of the proposals are far beyond anything that the ward can deal with. A new town, effectively that’s what it will be, will bring so much pollution, a spoiled landscape, loss of wildlife habitat and protected species and it’s completely in the wrong place, I mean there are flooding risks as well. Now Matthew Birkenshaw the inspector was basically giving a steer that this whole proposal should be dropped altogether and so we are absolutely astonished that Tunbridge Wells Borough Council are spending £851,000 of council taxpayers’ money to basically try and justify something that any normal person would say is completely mad.

Martin: So if a Green councillor was elected, would you say that they would vote to end that proposal?

Geoff: Without question.

Martin: But you do then end up having a problem in that are there enough new places for people and for young people to live in the area?

Geoff: We know that there are 4,934 hectares of brownfield sites across the region. And we also know that the calculation for the amount of new housing needed was based on 2014 ONS data which was wrong. So if the correct data were used and brownfield sites were investigated, we are absolutely convinced that the use of greenfield sites could be dropped altogether.

Martin: So finally Geoff how would you sum up why people should vote Green on May 4^th?

Geoff: I think it’s really important for the people of Tunbridge Wells to have a Green councillor elected. It means that that person can challenge the council, hold them to account and make sure that effective services are delivered balancing environmental sustainability. And we say that a Green in the room can make a difference.

Martin: Geoff Mason, Chair of Tunbridge Wells Green Party thank you very much. I’m Martin Webber for West Kent Radio.

The post West Kent Radio Interview with Tunbridge Wells Green Party appeared first on Tunbridge Wells Green Party.

I was elected to Paddock Wood Town Council two years ago, and have seen the struggles people are going through as I walk the streets in my job as a postie. As a former police officer I have a background in dealing with difficult situations where I had to negotiate with groups of people holding different views, and that has stood me in good stead in council meetings, as I’m sure you can imagine!

I am pleased to say that together with a fellow councillor and the estates manager, we have developed a plan that will see several hundred trees planted in the area, starting next year; it will be a legacy for the future. But I have been very unhappy with the Town Council’s lack of influence on the amount of new housing planned around the town, and also with the LibDem-led Borough Partnership allocating another £850,000 of Council Tax-payers’ money to try and make the flawed Local Plan acceptable to the Government Inspector, apparently without fundamental changes to the excessive use of Green Belt land.

I want to represent Paddock Wood West and ask the important questions of the Town Council. Why does the Town Hall have such a high staff turnover rate? Why is so much money being spent on external consultants? Why aren’t councillors delivering on the climate emergency declaration they voted for?

Having been a member of the Green Party for many years I have seen us grow, and also seen other parties react to our growth.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I was pleased to see that a year after the Green Party adopted “for fairer, greener communities” as its slogan for the 2022 local elections, Hugo Pound (Times, 5th April) was promising the same for Tunbridge Wells from Labour.

And indeed, here in Paddock Wood West I’m hearing lots of people on their doorsteps saying they are willing to put past loyalties to one side, and lend me their vote to make sure they get a strong voice on the council. The Greens have always been well received in Paddock Wood, and it’s sad to see yet another LibDem bar chart come through the door which could give the innocent reader the impression that only they can save the ward from the Conservatives – the  truth is the LibDems were last in five of the last six elections here, and only got 50 votes last year.

I’m running a straight and honest campaign in my quest to make the transfer from Town to Borough Councillor at this election, and I urge anyone who shares my concern about the loss of our green spaces to support me.’

The post Making Paddock Wood Fairer and Greener appeared first on Tunbridge Wells Green Party.

Water played a big part in shaping a year that most people would like to put behind them, with lack of it causing wildfires in the hottest summer since 1976, followed by winter weeks of pouring rain, and then snow – but the snow didn’t stop our campaigning in December (see picture)!

Meanwhile, TWBC produced a couple of chestnuts just before Christmas.

Firstly, a Council meeting saw the LibDems lead rejection of the opportunity to change to “all-out” elections every four years, ignoring the public consultation’s 2:1 vote in favour – what happened to “listening”? This shut out the possibility of the Boundary Commission’s current review allowing some 1- and 2-seat Wards to be retained. As a result, illogical Ward splits are likely to be made in Southborough and around Goudhurst , Rusthall will be absorbed into Speldhurst, an arbitrary slice of Paddock Wood will go into Pembury, and large rural Wards will be cobbled together in the east.

Then, a couple of weeks after Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Michael Gove announced new laws that make housing targets “an advisory and non-mandatory starting point” for planning, and not using the Green Belt, TWBC published its Initial Reaction to the Planning Inspector’s initial rejection of the concepts for Tudeley and Paddock Wood with a proposal for months of work to polish the flawed Local Plan, which puts 50% of new houses in the Green Belt – a recipe for more waste, and ultimate disappointment.

Whilst many people will be glad to put 2022 behind them, there are reasons to be cheerful; for a start, neither Boris Johnson nor Liz Truss is Prime Minister any more, and the next General Election is coming closer.

But perhaps the most significant occurrence last year was the growing public awareness that things are not as they should be; there is a sense that our country is falling apart.

Brexit, far from being the promised nirvana, has shrunk incomes and opportunities, and polls show majorities around 56% to 32% in favour of rejoining the EU. After twelve years of the “smaller-state” approach, starting with Con-Dem austerity, we see failures of privatisation in the NHS, the railways and throughout the water system – when the supply fails due to leaks, or when we have to choose carefully which beach to take the children to, in order to avoid sewage outfalls.

The Green Party has long believed that we need a fairer society and economy, as well as solutions for the climate and nature, if we are to thrive as a country, and the social and climatic events of 2022 have made that case even stronger.

There will be an opportunity for people to vote for change in May, when the local elections take place across sixteen Tunbridge Wells Wards.

Meanwhile we send our Best Wishes to everyone for a fairer and Greener year in 2023.

The post A fairer and Greener New Year appeared first on Tunbridge Wells Green Party.