Tuesday 26 February 2008

Grassroots

Excellent article from the Economist about how local government is leading the way in dealing with Climate change.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Green Light for Lambeth Recycling

But more needs to be done

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Lambeth exceeded its recycling targets this year with nearly a quarter of all household waste being recycled or composted. In 2008, energy-saving lightbulbs will join the long list of items that Lambeth residents can get recycled.

Becca Thackray, green party councillor for the Herne Hill war said: ‘It’s great news that we passed our targets for 2006/7, but more needs to be done. A proper recycling regime keeps our Borough beautiful, reduces waste and saves money. Bexley managed to recycle 40% of their waste last year, and that’s the kind of level we should be looking to achieve.”

We've created a rather fine map of Lambeth's recycling facilities to help you with your own personal targets, which you can see above.

Defoliating Lambeth


A failure of joined-up government


Herne Hill resident Nicolas Baker has noticed a worrying tendency for Lambeth council to fell trees without replacing them. There are now 14 tree bowls on Fawnbrake Avenue alone that have been filled in with concrete.

In a typical piece of bad governance, the council has the funds to chop down trees that might damage a building’s foundations, but no budget available for replacing them. Defoliating an area lowers property values and increases the risk of flooding, quite aside from its effect on Lambeth’s carbon footprint.

A Sad Loss for Brockwell Park

But a step in the right direction for Herne Hill's pedestrians


The final plans for the Herne Hill junction are being submitted for approval now. They will involve a loss of around 30m x 30m from Brockwell Park. On the plus side, there’ll be a large landscaped island, one end of Railton Road will be pedestrianised, we’ll have extra bus and cycle lanes, and a notorious accident blackspot will no longer claim its victims.

Herne Hill Councillor Becca Thackray said:

"This consultation has been the most difficult thing I’ve had to do as a councillor: many of my friends in the Green Party believe we should not tolerate any loss of park. Having seen the plans – and seen umpteen children nearly being hit by cars every summer – I genuinely believe that this is the best possible solution."


You can find out more from the Herne Hill Society

If you're opposed to the scheme, then you should get in touch with the Brockwell Park Society

New Youth Mayor for Lambeth




Congratulations to Lambeth’s new Youth Mayor Satya Panigrahi, who won a landslide victory with 750 votes.

More details here

Lambeth Green Party Launch New Website

And We Need Your Help

The new Lambeth Green Party website is live, and it includes this blog. We want to make it the most useful tool possible for anyone who lives in the Borough.

Please get in touch if there's anything you think we should have on there.

In the long run, we want dedicated areas of the site for Brixton, Clapham, Kennington, Waterloo, Herne Hill, West Norwood, Crystal Palace and Streatham. Drop us a line if there's a great organic greengrocers, a useful recycling service, or an important community organisation you'd like us to link to.

Monday 11 February 2008

Taser Fear for Lambeth Bobbies

Electric shocks for the Bobby on the beat


Tazers – American handheld weapon that deliver a massive electric shock – are to be trialled by the Metropolitain’s rapid response teams in the next few weeks… without being made available to the ordinary police on the front line

Danger

Community Police Consultative Group and Green Party member Shane Collins said:

‘We appreciate the value of these weapons for a rapid response team. The ability to incapacitate without doing long-term damage is clearly very useful.

'However every new weapon given to the police encourages more criminals to go armed and to use their weapons earlier. Giving this equipment to some police but not others may place Lambeth’s local police in danger.'

Available

Tazers are available to buy over the counter in America, and it may be difficult to stop criminal gangs from acquiring them once they have been introduced to the UK.