Whichever of these factors motivated his comment, it is one that women should stand together to challenge. Ms Rayner has withstood an ill-founded allegation about her former property. Now she is to be accused of insubordination to a leader she has staunchly supported. Her rather more left wing sympathies than his have been accepted, no doubt, within the “tight ship” he is proud to run Ms Rayner is an outspoken politician who sets a bar for women in politics which we need to applaud.

I am proud to represent a party that stands for equality of opportunity for persons of diverse backgrounds and genders which is able to support and nurture its candidates and offer an election option to voters across the UK. If the major parties find decades of misogyny difficult to slough off, the Green Party offers a rational and well-managed solution.

Rosey Palmer 1st June 2024

The post Letters From the Frontline – Angela Rayner appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

The objective of its message is to ensure that voters acknowledge gender as a priority when marking their ballot paper.

The Green Party is unique in its leadership’s gender balance. Carla Denyer is a co-leader. Caroline Lucas is widely know as a brave lone voice in Parliament safeguarding rights and values held by many. She is followed by Sian Berry in this election for Brighton and Hove. In Nottingham two women stand alongside two men, all offering their services to the city for the first time.

One of these candidates, Rosemary Palmer, has a history of residence in Jamaica, where Portia Simpson became Prime Minister and female heads of families have traditionally provided for and guided their youngsters in the absence of male counterparts.

Rosemary, with Diane, asserts the importance of acknowledging women’s potential in government. She underlines the need for gender equality, challenging the disproportionate impact of extreme economic need. 

• Rosey Palmer 30th May 2024

The post Letters from the Frontline – Diane Abbott appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

Rushcliffe – Richard Mallender
Email Richard at rushcliffe@votegreen.uk

Nottingham South – Cath Sutherland
Email Cath at nottingham.south@votegreen.uk

Nottingham North & Kimberley – Sam Harvey
Email Sam at nottingham.north.kimberley@votegreen.uk

Nottingham East – Rosemary Palmer
Email Rosemary at contact@nottingham.greenparty.org.uk

Gedling – Dominic Berry
Email Dominic at gedling@votegreen.uk

Find out more about our candidates here.

If you’d like to help our campaign, you can:

• Make a donation
• Sign up as a volunteer
• Join the Green Party

If you would like more information please use the contact link at the bottom of the page or email contact@nottingham.greenparty.org.uk.

The post Nottingham Green Party Welcomes General Election with Full Slate of Candidates appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

My contribution was published in part, with the rest of my statement as follows:

“What I see as a huge problem with s106 money is the length of time between when the sums are calculated, and when they are eventually spent. This is especially problematic as we’ve just gone through a period of high inflation. 

For example £500,000 pounds for a community hub in 2014 that is delivered in 2024 would only now be worth the equivalent of £375,000 in today’s money. Which would be bad enough, but you also need to factor in the uplift in property values. The same £500,000 community hub from 2014 would now cost you £766,000 to construct. Because of a ten year delay the community will now have to make do with something that is half as good as they were promised. Ten years isn’t unusual, or even particularly long in planning terms. After twenty years what has grandly been called a community centre might well be delivered as barely more than a scout hut.

In the same period these same factors work the other way in favour for the developers who are building and selling houses that are worth more and more for each year they delay.

It seems in law that planners can link sums payable to inflation, but this isn’t something that we see regularly, and it’s communities who are missing out.”

If you have any comments or want to discuss subjects such as s106 you can contact me on chair@nottingham.greenparty.org.uk

The post Councils yet to spend £93 million in S106 housing developer contributions appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

Nottingham Green Party Chair Ben Gray says:

“The Green Party have detailed plans to tackle the realities of climate change, including simple things such as properly funding emergency responses and stopping new building on flood plains.”

“Even more importantly, the Greens are the only party committed to tackling the causes of flooding. We need to end the system that keeps hurting our environment and build a better alternative.”

So, what next? Record-breaking summer heatwave?

If you have any comments or questions on this story please email or telephone John Burgess on 07990013534.

The post Flooding in Nottinghamshire requires robust response appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

A section 114 notice means that the council will be restricted in its spending and cuts are inevitable. The rich won’t suffer much, but others will.

Council Leader, David Mellen, blames the Tory government, and up to a point he is right. Over the last 13 years the Conservatives have cut £100 million from Nottingham’s annual budget, at a time when the cost of meeting responsibilities is rising. The council is legally responsible for the social care of adults and children. The number of people needing such care has risen significantly. So has the cost of providing it, and yet the Tory government continues to pile on cuts to local councils. 

The government cuts are so deep and so widespread that one in five councils in England think they will be in a similar situation to Nottingham within the next year.

Times are tough and are going to get tougher. We are short of money. When you are strapped for cash, you need to be careful. You need to be careful what you spend your money on, and you need to be careful to keep good accounts.

Our Labour council has not been careful as to what it has spent its money on, (even David Mellen acknowledges there have been mistakes) and they have not kept good accounts.

Robin Hood energy failed, costing the City millions. The Broadmarsh is partially demolished, with no funding to replace it, and the closure of the Castle happened on the Labour Watch.

When it was discovered that over £40 million had been transferred illegally within the council, Ernst and Young were commissioned to review the Council’s books. Despite calls from all sides for transparency, the council said that it would only provide a summary as “it might impact on further activity”. Such as what? You might ask.

Even the summary is damning. The financial management of the Council was found to be “not fit for purpose”. Ernst and Young uncovered a “work culture that was not properly following accounting rules”. They were also concerned about the council’s inability to find documents.

We still do not know what is in the full report, and we join others in calling for its publication.

The council has spent carelessly and been careless in its keeping of accounts.

The Government is principally to blame for the “bankruptcy” of our Council, but the Labour controlled council has made matters worse. 

Remember that this is a council of 55 seats, 51 of which are held by Labour. Before that they held 50. Democracy works best when there is a strong opposition to hold the governing party to account. The Labour Council have not been held to account. They should be. 

The Tory Government should be held to account at the next election.

As a Nottingham Green Party we will be fighting to make sure there is an effective opposition in the Nottingham City Council chamber, this city deserves better

The post Green Party Reaction to the Nottingham City Council Section 114 Notice appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

The residents of Lady Bay voted in the Mallenders with a very healthy two thirds of the vote, with Labour coming in a distant second. Labour chose to stand candidates in Lady Bay despite not being able to find enough candidates for areas where they have more recently had more success, leaving the Tories unopposed by Labour in several wards.

The re-election comes after a tough time for us all as COVID provided a challenge for our communities. Whist being at the forefront of the community efforts in Lady Bay, Sue Mallender was also Mayor of Rushcliffe for a record two terms. Sue was the first (of many we hope) Green Party Mayors of Rushcliffe.

Richard and Sue are once again our only Green councillors across Rushcliffe, Gedling, and the city of Nottingham. Former Borough Councillor Ben Gray, who crossed the floor earlier this year (and is currently writing in the third person), was unsuccessful in his attempt to be re-elected as a Green councillor. He was able to increase the Green vote from 5% to 30% in an intensive short campaign, and is hoping to gain the 100 votes needed to win next time.

As a party we also saw strong results across Rushcliffe, Gedling, and the City of Nottingham, putting us in a strong position for future campaigns. This is with huge thanks to all of our candidates, volunteers, supporters, and voters!

The post Richard & Sue Mallender Re-elected in Lady Bay appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

Nottingham is a cultural and historical treasure of the UK. It needs a socially, economically and environmentally responsible council to let it thrive the way it deserves.

This is why the Green Party of Nottingham are pledging to implement a policy plan that understands the health of a city relies on the health of its communities, economies and environments.

For too long the Labour council have mismanaged the city’s finances, resulting in closures and reduction of essential cultural, social, health and environmental services. We need Green voices on the council to hold Labour to account; to build back the city into a thriving, bustling centre of prosperity and possibility. We will fight for devolved democratic power for citizens. We will fight for strong and compassionate solutions to solve the social housing crisis. We will fight for the integration of environmental policy into every decision the council makes.

We will fight for a happy, healthy Nottingham.

Vote Green on May 4th.

Click here to download a full copy of our manifesto

The post Nottingham local elections 2023 manifesto: Our plan for the city appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

If you have any questions or comments for our candidates or the Nottingham Green Party, please get in touch by emailing contact@nottingham.greenparty.org.uk.

gedling

rushcliffe

City of nottingham

The post 4th May 2023 local elections: candidates announced appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.

As reported in West Bridgford Wire: https://westbridgfordwire.com/west-bridgford-labour-councillor-defects-to-the-green-party/

A Rushcliffe Borough Councillor for West Bridgford has defected from the Labour Party to the Green Party this week, after a spell as an independent.

One-quarter of the council wards in West Bridgford now have Green Party Councillors.

Cllr Benjamin Gray has represented Lutterell Ward, which includes Wilford Hill, for the last four years, and spent two years as the leader of the Labour Group on the council.

Cllr Gray told West Bridgford Wire:

“The Green Party focus on community, and what can actually be done on the Borough Council to make a tangible difference for local residents.

A letter to residents is being delivered to residents explaining the change which reads:

Dear Neighbour,

Since being elected to represent you in Lutterell Ward in 2019, I have always tried to do the right thing for all residents of the ward and West Bridgford. I recently took the decision to leave the Labour Party, having been a member since 2013, and leader of the group on the Borough Council.

I became involved in politics to focus on community, the environment, and making the country a fairer place. In recent years I feel that the Labour Party has focused too much time and energy on internal politics.

My principles have not changed, and I believe that my time, energy, and efforts are better spent where there is a common goal to build our communities, protect the environment, and build a fairer society.

I have been consistently impressed with local Green Party Councillors Richard and Sue Mallender and how they participate in and nurture the community in Lady Bay. I looked to their examples to help form our resident’s association, inform environmental issues in the borough, and even to kick off our first community Safari Sale (which Cllr S Mallender opened as Mayor of Rushcliffe).

As well as being community champions they have skilfully, and tactfully held other parties on the borough council to account, resulting in successful changes and strong actions, rather than just hot air.

After a time of considerable reflection I decided to join the Green Party where I believe I can continue to make a difference in our community and better look out for you as residents.

There are just a few weeks left before the next Borough Council elections, and I hope that with your support I can represent you again. I’ve worked extremely hard over the last four years to make a difference in the ward and bring people together, no matter their background or political leaning.

As a Green Party Councillor I will be better supported to continue to make positive changes and look after the area we live in and look out for the wellbeing of all our neighbours.

I will continue, as always, to be available for residents and encourage you to contact me if you need any help with local issues or just to express your concerns or opinions. I will always put you first and continue to do the right thing for the residents of West Bridgford.

You can get in touch with Ben by tweeting at @cllxben or emailing benbobgray@gmail.com

If you have any comments or questions on this story please email contact@nottingham.greenparty.org.uk.

The post Rushcliffe councillor Ben Gray joins the Green Party appeared first on Nottingham Green Party.