London and General Election Results:
Councillor Richard Bennett and the local team would like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted Green in either the London Elections in May or the General Election in July.
In May, we maintained our position as the third largest party in London with three Assembly Members, ahead of the LibDems 2 and Reform’s 1 seat.
In the General Election the Greens made history by winning four seats, thereby quadrupling the number of Green MPs. This was despite our deeply flawed First-Past-the-Post voting system, which encourages people to vote tactically for someone they don’t really want to win, just to keep out the party they like least.
Richard says: “Nationally, the Green share of the vote doubled to 7%. With a fairer voting system, such as the one used for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, Greens would have 46 MPs, not 4.”
READ THIS NEWSLETTER IN PDF
B‘LIME’Y
A motion, proposed by Richard on behalf of the Green Group, that committed Richmond Council to crack down on bad parking and misuse of ebikes was passed at a recent Council meeting.
Richard says: “The bike scheme has been very successful, so we applaud the Council’s commitment to active forms of travel. Unfortunately, poor parking of the bikes obstructs pavements and creates problems for pedestrians, especially those with impaired vision or disabilities and parents pushing prams and buggies. Our original motion [amended by the LibDems] committed the Council to communicating better with residents on its plans to deal with the issues.”
ST. JAMES’ SCHOOL AREA SAFETY PLAN
The council is trialling a School Street on the Stanley Road cul-de-sac in order to improve the safety of both St. James’ pupils and those using the street to get to other local schools or elsewhere.
Richard says: “The large catchment area and consequently the volume of, often large, vehicles arriving at this school is causing safely issues for residents and those not travelling by car. I have pressed for years for this action to be taken.”
RADNOR GARDENS CAFE
The process of once again re-letting the Radnor Gardens cafe has reached the final selection stage. Contractual negotiations are now taking place with the chosen bidder. The date for its re-opening is yet to be agreed. Our Council is obliged to choose the highest bidder from those short-listed.
Richard says: “The worry is always about commercial viability. We must give it our support in achieving that.”
KICKING UP A STINK
The Green Group recently proposed a motion that highlighted the serious ecological problems caused by lack of proper management of our rivers, particularly the River Thames, and suggested that Richmond Council support the Charter for Rivers developed by charity River Action UK and supported by over 70 other organisations.
Councillor Richard Bennett said: “The way that our rivers are being managed is not acceptable and action needs to be taken. Thames Water’s proposed scheme to take more water from the river at Teddington and replace it with treated sewage is another example of this kind of deplorable and unsustainable approach.”
