West Sussex Votes 2021: Greens call for more transparency and responsibility
We've been speaking to the party's local leaders ahead of Thursday's elections
With West Sussex County Council elections just days away, the leaders of the main political parties have made their pitches for your votes.
The candidates were quizzed on their track record, main campaign policies and what their focus would be on if elected next month.
Polling day is Thursday (May 6th) with all 70 seats up for election.
The Green Party are not currently represented on the County Council and are looking to make an electoral breakthrough this time out.
As the party does not have a centralised leader in West Sussex, we've been speaking to the leaders of each of the local Green parties about their proposals for the next four years:
GREEN PARTY CHICHESTER AND ARUN
The Green Party wants to ensure communities are listened to and West Sussex County Council is more responsive and transparent in its decision making as well as defending services for the most vulnerable.
Sarah Sharp (pictured above), a district councillor and county council candidate for Chichester South, outlined her party’s vision for people centred places, a circular economy, inclusive and just prosperity for all and biodiversity net gain.
They want to see new green jobs and re-skilling such as expanding the workforce, retrofitting old housing stock and more local jobs to repair and reuse products rather than throwing things away after a couple of years.
Although a trial of food waste collections is due to take place in Arun, the Greens want to see this rolled out to households across West Sussex much quicker.
When it comes to rubbish tips, Ms Sharp raised concerns that a booking system trial at a number of sites means households are limited to one visit a week maximum and felt this would be unhelpful to someone carrying out major garden or home projects.
In order to reduce carbon emissions, the Greens want to see measures to reduce reliance on car travel, from a better public transport network to ramping up plans to create safer walking and cycling links.
Ms Sharp believes nowhere near enough new cycling lanes are being planned and described how they were opposed to new roadbuilding, citing the Arundel bypass and Stockbridge link road as two examples.
She said: “This is quite a dangerous policy to go down. Building more roads induces more traffic and encourages more people to stay in their cars.”
Her party is opposed to extraction of oil and gas with the need for solar panels and wind turbines to replace fossil fuels.
The Greens are also against the proposed incinerator at Ford as burning waste does not fit in with the reduce, reuse and recycle strategy.
Given the likely impact of climate change on the coast and level of housebuilding required in West Sussex, Ms Sharp questioned why there were no proper policies for the shoreline to make sure new houses being built are safe from future flooding.
As it has been more than a year since the first lockdown, Ms Sharp said people, especially the vulnerable, needed more places to meet and socialise and suggested libraries could be expanded to fit this purpose.
And with people’s mental health suffering during the pandemic, she believes they had to do everything they can to improve the level of normal social interactions.
She also referenced possible cuts to day services for adults with learning disabilities and the proposed closure of the majority of children and family centres.
She explained: “We have just had a year of many people stuck in their houses. It does not seem to me to be a sensible approach.”
She also suggested if places become more vibrant and people have more things to do in their own communities they do not rely on travelling as much in cars.
While other areas had made huge advances in encouraging more cycling and walking during the pandemic, she felt in West Sussex this had been ‘badly handled’ leading to a backlash from motorists.
The Greens are also pressing for measures to increase young people’s participation in democracy and greater engagement overall so people ‘feel it’s worthwhile to get involved’.
Another focus is on listening more to what the public has to say, with Ms Sharp highlighting the successful campaigns overturning several proposed small school closures.
She added: “We want to make sure that the community is listened to and our county council is more responsive and more transparent in its decision making.”
GREEN PARTY ADUR AND WORTHING
West Sussex County Council needs ‘green voices’ on it to help influence decision making.
Those are the words of Ian Davey, campaign coordinator for the Worthing Green Party, who is standing as a borough council candidate in Heene and for Worthing Pier at county level.
He described how the county council is seen by some as ‘too remote and not very interested in what they have to say’.
He referenced the ‘debacle’ of cycle lanes being put in and taken out ‘with no explanation as to what they were for’ as well as the campaign trying to force the West Sussex pension fund to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.
Electing Green councillors he felt would increase the range of views at County Hall.
The party wants to see WSCC take a lead with the climate agenda especially considering the coastal communities will be among those most under threat.
He said: “We want to see the county council acting as well as talking.”
Given around a third of the area’s carbon emissions come from transport, Mr Davey queried the county council’s ‘focus’ on building more roads, such as the Arundel bypass and called for clarity on whether a Worthing bypass through the South Downs National Park was off the table.
He felt the current picture was unclear and they needed answers to these questions.
He said: “We need to focus on facilitating active and sustainable travel. We need to work with local communities to put in proper cycling facilities and everybody should have the right to walk and cycle safely, particularly children and young people.”
He also suggested they should explore low emission zones or clean air zones to improve air quality.
Mr Davey pointed towards Brighton and Hove, which had introduced a low emission zone in the centre of the city, with bus companies bringing in cleaner vehicles.
He felt they needed to get to grips with pollution as various reports have now highlighted the health dangers of dirty air.
He said: “Everybody has the right to breathe clean air and we need to be dealing with the causes of that.”
The Greens want to see more ‘liveable neighbourhoods’ where people can enjoy their streets and use outdoor space without high-speed traffic rat-running past them which he described as a ‘blight’ in some areas.
He said: “Let’s create places where people can enjoy the outdoors.”
Mr Davey also spoke in favour of school streets to reduce traffic congestion outside the gates at pick-up and drop-off times.
He explained how many parents were ‘enormously frustrated’ at the environment outside school gates with issues such as dangerous parking meaning they ‘do not feel their children would be safe cycling or walking to school’.
Changes would not only make it safer for children but support them to be more active.
The Greens also want to see more outdoor space for cafes and restaurants and Mr Davey contrasted the ‘real buzz’ of a place such as Worthing’s Warwick Street with that of Rowlands Road and the west end of Montague Street. This would give more businesses an opportunity to thrive especially post-pandemic and also create streets for people to enjoy outdoor activity.
Mr Davey said: “We have to create spaces for businesses to have a chance.”
Another policy is for better links to the South Downs National Park.
He said: “We would like to see cycling and walking routes between the Downs to the sea so it’s much easier for people in the town to get to the Downs without taking a car to get there.”
The Greens are also campaigning for better public transport routes.
Mr Davey added: “People’s travel options are limited. Let’s have better choices.”
GREEN PARTY CRAWLEY
More green jobs could help Crawley bounce back from the huge impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the area’s economy.
Iain Dickson, a prominent member of the Crawley Green Party and standing for a borough council candidate in Ifield and at county level in Langley Green and Ifield East, described how they are promoting a green Covid recovery plan based on the Preston model of community wealth building.
This involves main anchor businesses and large public sector organisations helping out local businesses rather than going to big corporations for their contracts.
He said: “This safeguards local jobs and allows local businesses to employ more people and is also more environmentally friendly.”
The Green Party also wants to see the decarbonisation of the local economy and the start of a shift to a true green economy.
Mr Dickson felt Crawley could be one of the leaders in green technology given its skills base and existing high-tech companies already based here.
With the impacts of climate change looming, he felt they need to start taking action at a local level alongside efforts at a more regional, national and international level.
Mr Dickson also spoke about wanting to encourage people to set up smaller green projects as well as ensuring the wildlife and environment is protected, citing plans for thousands of homes at West of Ifield currently being considered.
He questioned with so many people losing their jobs whether this scale of housebuilding is actually required.
He also asked: “How is it going to benefit the local community?”
His party wants Crawley to be greener and more environmentally friendly overall, with one of their big goals to improve air quality.
He explained: “We want to make it easier for people to get around the town without having to use cars and petrol and diesel vehicles.
“We need cycle paths all around the town to make it easier to get around without having to use cars.”
He added: “We need to think about how are going to plan a safe and joined-up cycle and footpath network that people can use without worrying about going on to the road, or being too close to traffic.”
As well as better cycling and walking routes the Green Party is campaigning for improvements to the public transport network.
Mr Dickson said: “Covid has allowed us to see what it’s like walking around and seeing nature without traffic and aircraft.”
He added: “Do we need to use the car all the time? Why not have a better bus system and better cycle and footpaths around the town so people can get to areas easily and try and get people to not use their vehicles as much as they are at the moment?”
Rewilding is another area they would like to see more focus on, to encourage wildlife and insects as well as making the town ‘more pleasant for people to live in’.
Mr Dickson said: “Covid has opened people’s eyes up to how important nature and the environment is.”
On refuse collection, he felt they were still producing a ‘phenomenal amount’ of waste and wanted to see action to reduce what was being sent to landfill.
He explained there were lots of good initiatives happening in different parts of West Sussex that they would want to see expanded.
He cited a local energy company in Balcombe as one example and also floated the idea of local municipal banks in each area to help business and people who have green ideas put them into action.
Mr Dickson said: “We are offering new green ideas, for the workforce, the economy and local people for a better place to live and a cleaner and healthier place to live.”
GREEN PARTY HORSHAM
West Sussex County Council has started to take action on climate change but is ‘not going fast enough’, according to the Green Party.
Mike Croker, district councillor for Bramber, Upper Beeding and Woodmancote, is also standing this time as a county council election candidate in Bramber Castle.
He described how they want to see more done to improve public transport, which primarily means buses in this part of West Sussex alongside more to increase cycling and walking.
He is involved with Greener Steyning and its work to promote the use of e-bikes as a new local transport solution.
Mr Croker said: “It’s a case of the technology being there and it’s becoming more affordable.”
But the roadblock is establishing quiet routes to link places with many not wanting to cycle alongside busy and fast-moving traffic.
Last year the government published its vision for cycling and walking while a number of local cycling and walking infrastructure plans (LCWIPs) have been produced.
However he thought these LCWIPs were a ‘quite a mixed bag’ ranging from Adur & Worthing’s which was ‘relatively good’ and Horsham’s which he felt did not link up enough.
He described Horsham as a ‘complete nightmare’ for cyclists as the route across town was ‘convoluted’ and ‘not the sort of thing that is going to encourage people to get on their bikes’.
Meanwhile the recent temporary cycle lanes had resulted in ‘a lot of money being spent and a lot of people being annoyed for not very good results’.
One of the key issues was he felt cycle routes were seen by the county council as primarily for leisure once you get out of the towns.
He highlighted the Downs Link and the problems users experienced with it during the winter months.
To drastically increase the number of people cycling he said routes had to be perceived as safe enough to ride.
He also mentioned potholes on the roads which can make it uncomfortable and often dangerous for cyclists.
He said: “My focus would be on not building more roads, but making sure the roads we have got are more fit for purpose.”
He suggested West Sussex County Council focuses too much of effort on motorists with the car still seen as the only real method of getting around the county. When drawing up any improvements ‘non-motorised users need to be considered at the start rather than at the end’.
Mr Croker described how increasing cycling was a ‘no-brainer’ bringing with it range of benefits with it such as improved health, while a wholesale switch to electric vehicles ‘is only part of the solution’.
One of the other ways to combat climate change is the retrofitting of housing, which he thought was an area where central government ‘has completely failed’.
He pointed to David Cameron’s scrapping of the code for sustainable homes with new developments still being built that are ‘just unfit for this century’.
While ‘basic designs not good enough’, councils can only go so far without national policy on green standards to back them up.
He added: “We are creating that massive problem and that problem needs to be resolved if we are going to meet our carbon targets.”
Although he appreciated this was a difficult situation it was one the government ‘needs to get its head around’.
While the county council has a limited role in this sphere, he still felt they could promote low carbon improvements for housing more and make sure its own properties also meet these energy standards.
Mr Croker added: “It’s more about getting low carbon into the culture of the organisation.”
Although not taking credit for any specific actions, he felt he and fellow Green councillor Bob Platt had started to nudge HDC towards thinking more about Green initiatives.