On Saturday 14 April Jenny Jones, the Green Party member of the House of Lords, came to Colchester to boost the local Green Party campaign to get Mark Goacher elected in Castle ward in the town centre and support all the Green Party candidates in the Colchester Borough Council elections on 3 May. Once again there is a Green candidate up for election in every ward.
Jenny spoke to a public meeting attended by 25 people at Firstsite about her role as the only Green Party member in the House of Lords, where she has been able to put the unique and independent Green point of view and raise points that none of the other politicians usually consider.
Green candidate for Castle ward, Mark Goacher, said, "People can see how effective a Green voice is, whether it is Jenny Jones in the House of Lords or Caroline Lucas MP in the House of Commons. The strong support I am getting on the doorsteps in Castle ward is largely because of the way voters realise what a difference it would make to have a Green voice on the Council."
During the morning and afternoon Jenny joined Mark Goacher and his campaign team to speak to local residents in Castle ward.
Jenny Jones has had many roles, including Deputy Mayor for London - see www.greenparty.org.uk/people/jenny-jones and https://jennyjones.org. When she was the London Mayor’s Green Transport Adviser and Road Safety Ambassador, the number of people killed and seriously injured on London’s roads decreased by over 2,000. She also led on 20 mph zones, the hire bike scheme and London’s cycling superhighways.
Our meetings are free and open to everyone, not just members, and take place on the first Monday of the month (with some exceptions, for example when the first Monday falls on a Bank Holiday). The meetings alternate between events with a speaker on a particular topic (December, February, and so on - but there is no meeting in April) and social events (November, January, March and so on). The speaker events are usually at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester and start time is 7.30pm sharp. Meetings usually end by 9pm. For more details about the topic of the month, sign up for emails (see contact details below) or look on our Facebook page.
www.cleanaircolchester.org is a new website by Eleanor Church of Lark Rise Pictures, a local film maker whose short film "Air" was shown at the Green Party open meeting on air quality on Mon 5 Feb. You can view the film at www.cleanaircolchester.org/is-air-quality-an-issue (scroll down to foot of page).
The website has (or soon will have) the presentation to the open meeting by Dr Paul Byrne, Consultant Rheumatologist at Colchester General Hospital, on the impact of Air Quality on our Borough's residents along with the statistical evidence to make the urgent case for change.
Download our full 2017 manifesto and list of 2017 Local Election candidates here.
Read our response to Colchester Borough Council's 'Local Plan' here.
Download our revised (2016) constitution here.
