All welcome – Green manifesto for a big city

Liverpool Green Party is opening up another Fringe Meeting to members of the public.  At 12.30 on Monday 27th Feb, Green councillor John Coyne will lead a discussion on policies for “core cities” such as Liverpool.

We will look at the challenge and opportunity created by the direct election of city mayors and we will hear from guest speaker Liam Fogarty on the constitutional issues of having a directly elected mayor.  Liam is a long standing, principled campaigner on that issue and he is a declared candidate for the election here on 3rd May.  (No endorsement is implied in either direction between the Greens and Liam Fogarty.)

The Fringe takes place in the Derby Room at the Adelphi Hotel.  Please use the entrance on Mount Pleasant and refer to this invitation.

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The old website (liverpool.greenparty.org.uk) will still exist for a short while, but we are gradually bringing all the old content across (we have completed 2010/11 news – but we still have several years prior to that to bring across).

On Sunday 20th February, there was an anti-cuts rally in Liverpool City Centre which saw councillors join forces to protest at the £100m savings being forced onto the council by the coalition government. Sarah Jennings addressed the crowd outside St Georges Hall and commented that “all parties taking part are very different, but we are all united on this”.

Lawrence Brown (co-chair of the Green Party) was interviewed by Larry Neild recently on the City Talks Politics show to discuss the concept of a Citizen’s Income and how it would work. You can listen to the radio piece below (note this requires Quicktime):

Below is a map of what your Green Party Councillors have achieved for you in St Michaels Ward

View in a larger map

John Coyne had a letter published in today’s Liverpool Echo:

You may wish to read Ruth Knox’s letter on the Liverpool Echo first (second letter on this page called – Stand up to Cuts).

John’s response, entitled “Act Responsibly” is reprinted below. You can view it at the Echo website here (note, once again, it is the second letter on the page).

RUTH Knox (ECHO letters February 4) puts the case well for a return to the 1980s – the refusal of the city council to set a balanced budget. And, to be fair, maybe the 47 councillors then believed they could prevail over the will and the resources of the Thatcher government.

An article appeared on Inside Housing Letters page on 4th February from Elaine Stewart, Head of Housing Renewal for Liverpool Council, regarding the housing regeneration programme in Liverpool. Amongst the points she makes, she refers to the statistic that only 5 of the 295 properties scheduled for demolition have not been ‘voluntarily’ sold to the council. She states this is in contrast to the “hundreds in opposition” being articulated by William Palin (Secretary of Save Britain’s Heritage) in an article in the same publication.

John Coyne, in the Reader’s Comments section, responds to both articles, and discusses what the definition of ‘voluntarily’ really means here.

Read more…

Liverpool children are being fostered outside the city, because of lack of foster parents. These children often lose contact with friends, family and their school – it would be far better to keep them here in Liverpool.

Fostering outside the city also costs Liverpool £10M per year.

If you consider becoming a foster parent, there is good training on offer and a substantial allowance for new foster families. Foster parents say it is the most satisfying job in the world.

Call us for more information on what’s involved 727 7779. More information here

On Thursday evening a cross-party delegation consisting of council leader Joe Anderson, deputy leader Paul Brant, LibDem leader Warren Bradley and Green Party leader Sarah Jennings addressed the difficulties Liverpool faces as a result of the mega-cuts the city is facing, in a conference call with government minister Andrew Stunell.

The city has to find £141 million of savings between now and 2013 – £91 million in 2011/12 alone.

We are not asking for special favours. We are not asking for special treatment. We are not even asking to be spared from all the cuts.All we are asking is for fairness and for the government to consider phasing the reduction to minimise the impact on services.

The final settlement figure will be confirmed on 10 February.

Liverpool City Council is due to set its budget on 23 February – Read more…..

With the demise of the "Pathfinder" program started by the previous government, the program of demolitions of Liverpool terrace houses seems to be coming to an end. However, part of the council seems determined to demolish more homes, in spite of the lack of money, the protests of the inhabitants, and the alternatives that are available.

The Welsh Street homes have escaped demolition so far, but they are still under threat. Green Party councillor John Coyne has submitted a motion to the Housing Committee to reconsider the plans, and "to address the Council’s moral blind spot on the oppressive use of its powers." 

Read the motion here Jonathan Brown on “the hole over housing policy” in Liverpool