Lewisham – A Green success story

There are six Green Party councillors on Lewisham Council, out of a total of 54 councillor.  They have achieved their 2006 election pledges and done incredible work in the local community

We at Tower Hamlets Green Party will base much of our local policies on emulating their successes.

Some of their successes include;

Defending Public Services

–Saving Ladywell Pool. At the 2006 local elections Greens promised that they would seek to reverse the decision to close down the leisure centre if Labour lost overall control on the Council. Following a motion tabled in June 2006 by Green councillor, Darren Johnson, the Mayor reviewed his decision. See here for more details.

–Overturning proposed cuts to social care for the elderly and disabled adults. Greens have campaigned hard to highlight and oppose any attempts to cut services to vulnerable people within the borough. In 2007, we managed to get £1.8m of cuts reversed and persudaded the Mayor to reject the same proposals in 2008.

Opposing cuts to services at Lewisham Hospital: We submitted a detailed response to the ‘A Picture of Health’ consultation and joined residents in a march to oppose the proposals to cut services at Lewisham Hospital.

Action on climate change

At every opportunity Green councillors have pushed for decisive action in tackling climate change and put forward practical solutions to help Lewisham residents play their part. Green councillors won a series of concessions in the Council budget-setting, including:

-more money for sustainable transport officers to promote cycling and walking and do cycle training in schools.
-cash for a bid to be the first London borough to run a street-by-street energy reduction scheme.
–smart meters on loan through libraries
-an additional £30,000 for renewable energy in more schools.

Waste and Recycling

Green councillors secured funding for a garden waste collection scheme, free composting bins and a real nappies scheme. Lewisham still has a long way to go to meet recycling targets but Green councillors continue to work hard to help residents reduce, recycle and compost their waste.

20’s plenty!

Green councillor Sue Luxton, as chair of the Sustainable Development committee, led an investigation into alternatives to car use which won a public commitment from the Mayor to a default 20mph speed limit across the borough. The slowdown was one of a raft of measures called for by the Sustainable Development select committee – following a 3-month investigation – to encourage people to ditch their cars and use healthier, safer and cleaner transport such as cycling, walking, car clubs and public transport. Unfortunately, the new Mayor of London is proving to be less supportive of this initiative than his predecessor.

A Living Wage for all Council employees and contractors.

Following a motion proposed by Greens, Lewisham Council has committed to ensuring that all its employees and contractors earn at least the London Living Wage. Greens will be monitoring progress on this closely, particularly with regards to contracts with external providers.

Supporting local shops

• Following a Green budget proposal, thousands of‘ Shop Local’ bags were produced and distributed across Lewisham.
• In Ladywell ward councillors held a competition to choose the winning design and worked closely with local businesses to get them in the shops. We’ve also been active in supporting community action groups set up to support and improve local shopping parades as well as following up on enforcement action to deal with problematic, long-termempty commercial properties that canput a blight on neighbouring businesses.
• We’ve pushed for recycling for businesses to be cheaper and easier and as a result a number of local pilots are underway to make it easier for small businesses in particular to recycle.
• We continue to push for planning policies that recognise the value of and support small shopping parades as well as the bigger town centres

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON LEWISHAM