Today Manchester Green Party has condemned the coalition government's decision to axe funding for the playbuilder scheme. The scheme was set up to fund projects that would enable children and young people to enjoy imaginative, challenging and stimulating play. Coalition cuts have meant that plans to update facilities in Hulme's Barracks Park are now in real danger of being shelved.

Hulme Green activist, Gayle O'Donovan in an interview with BBC Radio Manchester, condemned the cuts: " playbuilder schemes are being cancelled all over the country. Many were designed by local children and parents, often working with the voluntary sector. This decision doesn't say much for the government's big society agenda."

Christine Shelmerdine, Hulme local activist and member of Friends of Hulme Parks, also added "Local children are devastated about these plans to axe their playbuilder scheme. If we agree and support the U.N.'s International Convention on The Rights of the Child, then we must pay heed to Article 31 which states children have the right to relax, play and join in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities. This money needs to be re-instated so that we can fulfil our promises to the children of Hulme".

Christine Shelmerdene, Hulme Local Resident and Activist

 Local resident, Cal Harvey also spoke out against the cuts "As chair of the Friends of Hulme Parks I am devastated that the government has seen fit to suspend the money for Playbuilder. The Friends, especially Christine Shelmerdine, have worked very hard with St Georges and Shawgreen's young people and parents creating a successful bid. The Friends will continue to lobby the government to release the funding for this much needed and wanted play area for local children".

Hulme Greens' Gayle O'Donovan called upon the council to provide alternative funding to ensure the Barrack's Park scheme goes ahead.

"Our Labour leadership in Manchester City Council recently voted down a chance to reclaim £421,000 overpaid to a PR firm, this at a time when local services are being cut and community projects, such as improving Barracks Park, are really struggling to find funding - We feel this decision is unfair."

"If the government chased people for tax evasion and tax avoidance, they'd be raising billions extra per year and wouldn't have to resort to massive cuts in public spending which have a bigger impact on places like Hulme."

Barrack Park, Hulme.

On the 16th August 1819 60,000 peaceful pro-democracy and anti-poverty protesters gathered around the area that is now St.Peter's Square. At the time, fewer than 2% of the population had the vote, and hunger was rife with the disastrous corn laws making bread unaffordable. 600 Hussars, several hundred infantrymen; an artillery unit with two six-pounder guns, 400 men of the Cheshire cavalry and 400 special constables charged at the crowd, armed with knives. An estimated 18 people, including a woman and a child, died from sabre cuts and trampling. Over 700 men, women and children received serious injuries.

Fast forward to the 21st century, what's changed? The Crown Prosecution Service fail to charge any police officer over the death of Ian Tomlinson, who was attacked by police at a peaceful G20 protest. Since 1969 over 1,000 people have died in police custody in Britain , yet not a single police officer has been charged with manslaughter or murder during this time.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005) bans all unauthorised protests for about a half a mile around Parliament. This threatened to prevent Brian Haw's continuous peace protest, opposite the Houses of Parliament, against the suffering caused by this government's foreign policy towards Iraq - economic sanctions, invasion and occupation - that he has staged since June 2001.

Anti-terrorism laws are used against Iceland to seize assets in a dispute over a failed bank; plane spotters are harrassed because they take photographs of an aircraft of which the MoD publishes zillions of photos; local authorities spy on residents' bins; mothers reading out the names of killed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Cenotaph are arrested for unlawful protest within a square mile of Parliament.

Laura Bannister, Co Chair of Manchester Green Party, said "It is more important than ever that we defend our right to free and peaceful protest. Peterloo is a reminder to us all of how important it is".

"Manchester Green Party is fundamentally opposed to the current round of public spending cuts being devised by the new government. We believe it is a disgrace that the poor are being made to pay for the current crisis and that they will lead to increased poverty and inequality, as people suffer the consequences of reduced benefits and pensions. Manchester Green Party believes that our strategy to get out of the recession should be to invest in green jobs for all - from installing insulation in houses to research and development."

The Convention of the Left which was formed in parallel to the 2008 Labour Party conference in Manchester, and will hold a Convention in the City on 24-26 September, coinciding with the Labour Party conference again here in Manchester.  

Speaking on BBC's Radio Manchester Gayle said that there were a number of things consumers could do to reduce water wastage, including low-flow dual flush toilets and harvesting rainwater.  She also said it was important to conserve water on an on-going basis not just at times like these as we are experiencing changing weather patterns and this is likely to become more frequent. 

Gayle later spoke of the need for United Utilities, the North-West's water company, to do much more to tackle water leaks. 

She said "Out of every four gallons which is supposed to come out of our taps, one gallon is lost.  

They lose nearly 500million litres of water a year due to leaks(old pipes, not reacting quickly enough to tackle leaks etc). Unites Utilities is the 3rd worse company for leaks in the country despite bringing in massive profits(500 million pre-tax per yr)."  

PS:  United Utilities have been in the news recently for other matters:  see article here published in 'The Mule'  

In the build up to the elections Tory Councillor Iain Lindley wrote to the MEN to tell us "our local NHS desperately needs a change of government to protect local health services from cuts". So what do we see immediately from the new Conservative-LibDem administration, NHS cuts are starting to bite (Kids' ops rationed as health chiefs bid to save millions MEN, May 28).
The truth is that the NHS is no safer in Con-Lib hands than it was in Labour's. It is precisely because New Labour continued to implement the Tory 'free-market' principles of deregulated unfettered competition in the City that the banks had to be bailed out and the country's deficit is now so great. As a result, public services now face frightening cuts, and public sector workers are losing their jobs through no fault of their own.

No doubt stealth cuts in the NHS will be a major feature of this new government, and when implemented will lead to more chunks of the service being transferred to agencies (whose staff pensions and other working conditions will be no concern of the NHS), who will compete with each other for short-term contracts. This will result in the further break-up of the NHS 'team' loyalty which was such a feature of the service before the idea of compulsory tendering was forced upon it the last time the Conservatives were in power. It was this 'team' approach which enabled the service to work the miracles it did on behalf of us all for the best part of 60 usually underfunded years.

Where could all this money come from to protect the NHS and other public services? The Green Party believes a far better way to balance the books would have been to scrap the Trident Nuclear Weapons programme. That's a saving of £97 billion right there.

James Alden, Manchester

Green Party

Peat bogs are increasingly rare habitats which are really good for a whole variety of wildlife like water voles, dragonflies, moths and butterflies. We should be caring for them and conserving them, not digging them up.

Peat bogs store carbon, thus helping to combat climate change whereas peat extraction releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming. We should not allow activities that are bad for global warming to continue when there are viable alternatives. Peat extraction is unnecessary because there are now excellent alternatives to peat based composts available. We should be promoting these alternatives, not perpetuating the use of peat. Organisations like the National Trust, the Royal Horticultural Society and Kew Gardens all stopped using peat years ago.

The Green Party's 25 candidates in the city polled well over 8000 votes across the city, about 1000 more than in the previous round of local elections in 2008, although the higher turnout reduced the Green vote share.   In many parts of the city the tactical voting effect suffered by the Greens at a Parliamentary level extended to the local council seats.   However, in spite of the pressures for people to vote for the '3 main Parties' the Green Party still beat the Tories in Hulme, Chorlton, Levenshulme and Whalley Range.     

Gayle said 'This result continues the trend of Green vote increases in Hulme over the past four years.   In any other election in the last 10 years in Hulme this would have been a winning vote.  We are seeing an increase in our membership and activist base in Hulme and across the city, and we will continue to build on this growing support.'    

In Withington we were particularly squeezed in the Lib Dem/ Labour battle, the seat being retained narrowly by Lib Dem's John Leech.    

In his speech at the count, Green Candidate Brian Candeland said 'I know from the large number of emails I have received that the voters of Withington care passionately about issues like climate change, world poverty and voting reform.  I know that my vote does not reflect this and that many natural Green voters have voted tactically.  I urge John Leech to remember where many of his votes have come from and ensure that these issues are given the attention they need.'    

Gorton candidate Justine Hall (pictured) said 'We always knew this would be a tough election and the prominance given to the main Parties by the Leaders debates has made it hard for smaller Parties to compete.  In the light of that our victory in Brighton is a remarkable breakthrough, which the Party will build on across the country, including here in Manchester.'     

She continues: "Many Mancunians want a voice on the council that will challenge endless "development" and destruction of green space in Manchester. They need local councillors who will fight for better public services, transport, housing, safer streets, green jobs, small business, community groups, co-ops and more. I also intend to let everyone know just how the council works from the inside. How many people can even name their 3 councillors?"

Local Party Chair Nigel Woodcock concludes: "Everyone's talking about the General Election, but politics starts locally. Manchester Council needs a fresh voice to break the "business as usual" attitude. We have a great chance of doing that in Hulme where we lost out by just 1% last time. The council has a large complacent Labour majority who have big problems with double standards. The LibDem minority don't do enough to expose those double standards and often lack the political will to make the genuine changes that will make our city a happier and more sustainable place to live"

The Manifesto is provided   here   (or click on the 'Policies' tab above)  

Here is a list of Green Party candidates standing in each ward:

Ancoats/Clayton - Peter Birkinshaw

Ardwick - Patrick Sudlow

Baguley - Ethne Quinn

Bradford- Andrew Bullen

Brooklands - Elaine Brown

Burnage - Dan Collinson

Charlestown - Michael Prior

Chorlton - Brian Candeland

Chorlton Park - James Alden

City Centre - Ian Hepworth

Didsbury East - Gerry Gee

Fallowfield - DanielLee

Gorton North - Karl Wardlaw

Harpurhey - Arteth Gray

Hulme - Gayle O'Donovan

Levenshulme - David Mottram

Miles Platting & Newton Heath - Christopher Hyland

Moss Side - Nigel Woodcock

Moston - Mosab Mushabi

Old Moat - Rowan Smith

Rusholme - Justine Hall

Sharston - Luke Smith

Whalley Range - Mary Candeland

Withington - Laura Bannister

Woodhouse Park - May Molteno

So, when you mark the box on your ballot paper, make sure it has one of the above names next to it. 

VOTE GREEN PARTY and send the message that 'Fair is Worth Fighting For'.

The other parties have made a few token gestures to older people, but the Green Party alone is committed to making Britain a better place to age in.

The Green Party's pledge for Older People:

- To end the over complex pension credit system and ensure a decent basic pension for everyone of £170 a week which would be linked to national earnings.

- Free insulation to help fight fuel poverty.

- Free personal and nursing care for all older people.

- Freedom for older people to work.

The figure of £170 per week is calculated as the minimum required to keep the basic state pension above the official poverty line, according to the National Pensioners' Convention, in its Pensioners' Manifesto, which calls for a range of measures to improve conditions for older people

The three Manchester parliamentary candidates:  Gayle O'Donovan, (Central), Justine Hall (Gorton) and Brian Candeland (Withington) support the pledge.  

Gayle O'Donovan said "After a lifetime of hard work and contributing to society, pensioners deserve better than having to scrape by on an inadequate state pension. It's only fair that the basic state pension should be enough to live on."  

Justine Hall said "As a young person I value the experience and wisdom of older people.    We should end the default retirement age, so that people would have the freedom to go on working and contributing to society if they wished to, free from discrimination on the basis of age". 

Brian Candeland added

"The costs of personal and nursing care are something which many people worry about as they approach the later stages of their lives.  Scotland already provides free social care for all who need it, we should have the same provision in England."  

Note: 

The Greens have spelled out how the £170 basic state pension would be funded : 

There are roughly 12 million pensioners living in the UK and a further 1 million living abroad. Paying a single rate of £170 per week, and a couples rate of £300 per week, will cost £110bn per year. The current basic state pension, plus certain other specific pensioner benefits like Pensions Credits paid to those of pension age (which would become redundant if the basic pension rate was raised to the level we propose) costs £70bn. For the remaining £40 billion, the Green Party would abolish tax relief on pension contributions (£20 billion), and the national insurance rebate on employer and employee contributions to private pension schemes (£19 billion). The final £1 billion would come from increased income tax receipts from pensioners.

The Epping Walk Bridge, over Princess Parkway in Hulme, is the location of a series of iconic photographs of Joy Division - including one used on the front of their 'best of' album.

The campaign is the brainchild of Manchester Central candidate Gayle O'Donovan, who is also standing for the City Council in Hulme ward.

She said she hoped it would recognise the role Hulme played in Manchester's music scene.

The Russell Club, on Royce Road, was home to Tony Wilson's Factory night - which helped launch the career of Joy Division.

Gayle said: "We believe if this campaign succeeded, we'd be putting Hulme back on the map, restoring some local pride, creating another reason for people to visit our city and saluting a local legend.

"Renaming the bridge gives Joy Division fans their own part of Manchester."

Campaigners say renaming the bridge will be a suitable way of commemorating the 30th anniversary of Curtis's death in May this year.

Ex-bandmates Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris have backed the campaign.

A Facebook Group for the campaign has already gained over 1000 members.

For further information see report in the Manchester Evening News

Manchester Central Green PPC Gayle O'Donovan has launched a competition for people to come up with ways in which that £421,000 could be spent to benefit their community.     

"Tell us, what could you do in your community with 421k? A Quality Play area for children? A Community bakery? An Unemployment Centre? The mother of all Sustainability Festivals?"


Answers to Gayle at gayle@manchestergreenparty.org.uk    by 30th March.  Prize for the best 2 entries - a bottle of Lanson champagne (donated to the competition)!.  

- The Tesco is huge even by their standards and will sit close to sports grounds where there are already massive traffic problems on match days.

- it goes against Trafford Council's own strategy to support local shops

- even the planners admit it would have an adverse impact "on the vitality and viability of Stretford Town Centre"

The Campaign group 'No Mega Tesco' are calling for people to write to the Government Office of the North West, urging the Government to 'call-in' the application; see here for a sample call-in letter.

The link with the Old Trafford cricket ground improvement has clearly had an effect, but the views of local residents should have a far higher value than the sports fans miles away who have been canvassed with a biased view by the Cricket Club. Local petitions against the development have about 1000 signatures against around 340 in favour.

Green Party candidate for Withington constituency, and Chorlton ward, Brian Candeland (pictured discussing the matter with a local resident), said:

"This is a disgrace. It appears local residents have not been sent copies of the committee report despite requests and the submission from the 'No Mega Tesco' campaign group seems to have been ignored completely.

Along with other campaigners I am not against improving the Cricket Ground - indeed I attended the last Ashes test to be held there. But improvements need not, and should not, be done on the back of a project that will damage local shops for miles around. There are other cricket ground improvements taking place around the country, but none are being done on the back of this sort of development. Given the general support for a test ground in the North-West I am sure an alternative route could have been found, had the will been there."

The Financial Transaction Tax would impose a very low tax on financial products such as stocks, bonds and derivatives but raise around £250 billion for investment in international development and climate change.

Gayle (pictured at conference with Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas) said: "This simple tax would have enormous global benefits and I was proud to be one of the proposers of a motion to the Green Party's Spring Conference that the Greens should support the campaign.

"We have all watched as the banks suddenly get profitable again and start to award themselves huge bonuses, yet the rest of the world remains in financial turmoil. Aside from the urgent need to curb the bankers' bonuses, there is a real opportunity to benefit those in most need around the world."

Brian Candeland, Green Party candidate for Manchester Withington, who was also at the Party's spring conference, added "The Green Party has been a long-time supporter of a tax of this nature; it's good to see its growing support as more and more people realise the massive gap between the financial elite and the rest of us"

The motion was passed unanimously by the conference.      

Gayle O'Donovan is Secretary of Manchester Green Party. As an active campaigner on community and green issues, she was involved in the set-up of a number of campaigning groups including 'Call to real Action' and 'Stop Expansion of Manchester Airport'. She is also a member of the Green Party's national campaigns committee.

Currently a geography student at Manchester University, Gayle is concerned about traffic congestion, the lack of quality green spaces and the low level crime currently blighting our community.

Brian Candeland has been an active member of the Green Party for 28 years, and has lived within the Withington constituency for 23 of those years, first in West Didsbury, and now in Chorlton. He was Chair of Manchester Green Party for four years up until January of this year.

Married with two sons, Brian works in information technology, has stood for the Party in elections at all levels and has been involved in numerous green campaigns both locally and beyond.

Justine Hall is now a final year PhD student at the University of Manchester, where her research is looking at the distribution of trees in urban areas. She has run the Young Greens group at the University of Manchester, and wants to see improved liaison between students and the wider community.

Justine has been part of a number of successful campaigns both locally and nationally, ranging from saving parks and open spaces to defending the rights of refugees

Gayle, Brian and Justine join over 250 other candidates around the country; this will be the highest number yet by the Party. They will be standing on a platform of 'Fair is Worth Fighting For' , with policies to create a million green jobs in response to the threat of climate change and protect public services.

The proposal, to build football pitches across the Hardy Farm part of the Meadows, including floodlighting, and an all-weather pitch, had been vigorously opposed by local residents and environmental campaigners in the area. See here for earlier post.

The meeting was witnessed by about 80 members of the Save Chorlton Meadows campaign. As the topic was discussed the councillors on the committee voiced a range of objections to the scheme, and unanimously asked the planning officers to overturn their earlier consideration to approve, and provide reasons for rejection. Before the final decision, which would clearly have been rejection, the developers withdrew their plans and stated that they would not take it to appeal.

Green Party Candidate for Chorlton, Brian Candeland, (pictured at the Meadows) was present at the meeting, and said:

'This is a great victory for people power, and a huge tribute to the enthusiasm and hard work of the Save Chorlton Meadows campaign. Of the very many responses raised in the planning process 87% were opposed to the plans, and the Facebook Group for the campaign achieved over 6000 members. As a result a beautiful local amenity has been preserved for all the community. The cross-Party support in the Chorlton area has also been a great help.

This isn't necessarily the end of the matter however; the developers can always return with revised plans. We support the establishment of a village green on the meadows, to provide future protection.'

Dear Sir Richard,

At the full Council meeting on the 2nd December, you dismissed objections to the decision to expand Manchester Airport, and you down-played the future impact aviation emissions will have on our climate. You erroneously claimed that aviation only accounts for 2% of the UK’s CO2 output and re-confirmed your enthusiastic support for the continued expansion of Manchester Airport. Intentionally or not, you have allied yourself with climate change deniers and the Aviation industry, whilst your opponents are scientists, public opinion and your own government – this is not where you should be.

In 2006, the Centre for Air Transport and the Environment at MMU published a report commissioned by DEFRA which calculated that aviation emissions would contribute between 86% and 128% of the country’s total CO2 budget by 2050, if allowed to expand in line with the 2003 Air Transport white paper. In other words, aviation alone would take up most, if not exceed, our total carbon budget by 2050 if allowed to fully expand.

Last week the world was dismayed when our leaders failed to reach a legally binding agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Change summit. Although you travelled to Copenhagen and presented Manchester City Council’s Climate Change plan, we regard it as flawed as it does not recognise the dangers of expanding Manchester Airport. What’s the point in Manchester City Council attending the summit, only to tell everyone that whilst we are expanding our biggest polluter, the rest of the world should cut back?

You are in a unique position as leader of Manchester City Council and chair of Manchester Airport’s Shareholders Committee to reduce Manchester’s contribution to aviation emissions by halting any further expansion. We urge you to announce a moratorium on any future expansion at Manchester Airport, and cancel the recently approved plan to double air freight capacity.

Yours sincerely,

Peter and Holly Johnson – Threatened residents of Hasty Lane
Jon Harcourt – Threatened resident of Hasty Lane
Anthony Lowe – Rose Cottage, Hasty Lane
John Stewart – Chair, Airport Watch
Liz Snook – Plane Stupid
Robbie Gillett – Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport group
Gayle O’Donovan – Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Manchester Central
Dr Mary Di Mauro – Chair, Wythenshawe and Sale East Liberal Democrats
Cllr Martin Eakins – Lib-Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Wythenshawe and Sale East

James Alden,

Manchester Green Party

Welcome to the new format Manchester Green Party website!. This is now in a similar format to the National and North-West Green Party sites.

At this point special thanks are due to:

• Rachel Wilson, who built and maintained the previous site, which served the Party well over three years.

• Arteth Gray, who migrated the historical content across on to the new site, so all previous news items are available here (under 'News).

The site is likely to see further enhancements and refinements over the coming months, particularly as we head up to the next round of local elections and the general election.