Stroud District Green Party has welcomed Stroud District Council’s budget proposals (published on Wednesday 3 Feb), which strengthen the council’s capacity to deliver on its commitment to make the district carbon neutral by 2030.

Nailsworth Green Councillor and Horsley Climate Action Network member Norman Kay said: “Achieving carbon neutrality will need an enormous effort by every resident and every business in the district. This is not something the council can do alone, though it will be a key enabler – we need more resources, and this budget is an important step towards putting our plans into practice”.

The budget also includes support for local communities and businesses to help them through the Covid crisis – and funding to make cold and draughty houses warmer and cheaper to heat. Cllr Catherine Braun, deputy leader of the Greens on Stroud District Council, said: “Covid has highlighted the inequalities in our society, with some communities being much worse affected than others. It is important that the council is planning how to build back better out of the crisis.”

Green councillor Jonathan Edmunds, vice-chair of the Community Services and Licensing Committee, said: “It is really important that these budget proposals have come out of Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats working together in a cooperative alliance while also enabling Tory and independent councillors to contribute ideas through the committee system. Greens recognise that working together, although difficult at times, produces better results in the long run. We owe this to the council-tax payers. Sadly, our electoral system does not encourage this type of collaboration.”

The District Council budget proposals can be seen here. The budget will be decided at the full council meeting on February 25.

The post Greens welcome District Council’s budget proposals on climate change & Covid appeared first on Stroud District Green Party.

Encouraging active travel and getting more people to cycle to work and for leisure is to be applauded. This is good cheer indeed for walkers and cyclists, as exercise is so important to physical and mental health in these challenging times.

Lucas Schoemaker

Stroud Trinity Town councillor

Original story here.

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The letter asked people not to attend the anti-lockdown rally that took place in Stratford Park at the weekend, and urged the organisers to withdraw invitations to two speakers – who peddle racism, deny the Holocaust, and promote baseless conspiracy theories.

Click here to view the letter.

Or read below:

Community – not conspiracy

By James Beecher, Jeremy Green, and Laura Rowan

Living through the Covid-19 pandemic under the measures and restrictions introduced to manage the spread of the coronavirus is not easy. The new national lockdown announced on Halloween will have many effects beyond hopefully slowing the spread of the virus and reducing the number of people who die or suffer severe consequences. But pretending the virus does not exist and rejecting any and all guidance and advice about how to limit it spreading is no help to anyone. People who peddle racism, deny the Holocaust, and promote baseless conspiracy theories should not be invited to speak in our town.

Organisers of a rally planned for next Saturday 7th November in Stroud seem determined to go ahead despite the fact that Stroud District Council has refused permission to hold [the rally] due to the current Covid restrictions. It is not a surprise that organisers plan to ignore measures. Though the event is to be held outdoors where the chances of infections being passed on are lower, it still represents an unacceptably complacent attitude towards the people in our community who are at higher risk from Covid-19.

Our problem with the event is not only that it will be in breach of guidelines and potentially worsen the local Covid-19 situation; organisers have invited two speakers who promote anti-scientific nonsense and a range of conspiracy theories. As well as sharing misinformation about Covid-19 and claiming it is a ‘hoax’, Piers Corbyn notoriously denies scientific evidence on climate change. This event will not be the first where he has spoken alongside a Holocaust denier. Sandi Adams, the other invited speaker, has several examples of clearly anti-Semitic material on her personal website.

In a post dated July 2020 (subsequently deleted but available through the Way Back internet archive) and entitled “The truth IS anti-Semitic”, Adams points to the long discredited anti-Semitic hoax document “the Protocols of Zion” and claims that Jewish groups are part of a “powerful and insidious” effort to exert global control and to stop people from questioning the Holocaust. These are claims that have long been used to persecute the Jewish community and immensely harmful. Though she has now deleted this specific post, other content on her website is barely different. She endorses and hosts on her website a 12-hour neo-Nazi propaganda documentary that contains Holocaust denial and very clear anti-Semitism, for example. Someone who promotes such damaging ideas should not be given a platform in Stroud. It would not be good enough for the organisers to claim they did not know about the background of their speakers, but they have been presented with them. It is utterly inexcusable for them to continue now they have been made aware of these details.

How we deal with Covid-19 can and should be debated. The government’s guidance and laws are often confusing. How well they apply advice from experts in public health can be reasonably discussed. Even the less severe measures – like wearing masks, and keeping our distance from each other – feel uncomfortable and onerous. National lockdowns are extremely restrictive, and the World Health Organisation only recommends them as a last resort. The impacts in terms of unemployment, poverty, and on local businesses – here and globally – cannot be ignored. Neither can loneliness and the strain on people’s emotional and mental health. There needs to be much more attention, investment and action on these issues. It’s essential that our community can discuss these problems, support each other, and come up with solutions together. Claiming the virus itself is not real or is being exaggerated as part of a ‘new world order’ conspiracy doesn’t help.

We could consider the organisers of the planned rally as ridiculous cranks. But Covid-19, climate change, poverty, and racism are all serious. They affect every person in our community to varying degrees.

Though we will respect new national lockdown restrictions and therefore not hold a gathering to counter the event, we wish to make our opposition clear. We ask people considering attending to please think about who you will be empowering, and the ideas you will be bolstering, by doing so. We call on the organisers to withdraw these invitations.

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The below letter was sent to Siobhan Baillie and Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown by our Coordinators Lynn Haanen and Cllr Martin Whiteside.

Dear Siobhan,

We are writing to express our acute concern about the government’s stubborn refusal to request an extension to the transition period to allow enough time for a successful trade negotiation with the EU. Given that we have been facing the most severe public health crisis this century – and that several of the key negotiators were themselves out of action while suffering from Covid-19 – it is irresponsible in the extreme to insist on the original timetable.

This puts us in a position similar to the one we were in last year, with the risk of achieving no future trade deal with our main trading partner as a very real possibility. Such an outcome would be disastrous for businesses in Stroud District and across the country, and would also be likely to cause disruptions to our supply chains that are already under pressure due to the pandemic.

By choosing to decline the option of not extending the transition period after December 2020, the government will be responsible for further hardship to the local economy in the coming months.

The government’s strategy of taking the negotiation to the wire in the hope that Barnier will blink is not a responsible way to deal with a matter of such importance. Even if successful, it will leave businesses with no time to put plans in place to prepare for what they will be facing from next January. It is the future of our national economy, the survival of many local businesses and the employment prospects of thousands of our residents that are at stake.

The Green Party continues in its view that the best possible future for the UK is to remain with as close as possible trade links with the EU, continuing our membership of the single market and customs union. We know this is a view you once shared and we ask that you  use your influence, alongside others, to persuade the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Cabinet Office to take this reasoned approach to best protect our economic, social, and national security interests.

Sincerely,

Martin Whiteside

Lynn Haanen

On behalf of the Stroud District Green Party

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