ean Lambert, London’s Green Party MEP, will join local Greens for a walkabout in Kingston next weekend on Saturday 2nd May. Jean will be meeting residents and discussing the key issues for the borough.
Education is one area of concern. Kingston’s schools are hugely oversubscribed, and in March the council admitted that it faced a multi-million pound bill to tackle the shortfall in primary school places. Efforts to address this have meant that money has been diverted from improvements to existing school buildings, and many local schools are now dependent on temporary classrooms.
While plans for a major Tesco store next to Tolworth station have this week been cancelled, the process of redeveloping the town centre has proved controversial. There has also been anger over the council’s handling of its new waste collection system.
Jean Lambert MEP said:
"There’s been a lot of anger locally about priorities. People have felt they are not being listened to. These local issues will be familiar to many Londoners, but I’m looking forward to hearing what effect they have had on daily life in Kingston, and how people would like to see things change.
"I’m also looking forward to discussing the Green New Deal with local party members. A report recently found that the recession will hit London harder than the rest of the UK [1], and as fears about the economy continue to grow, now is the time for us to be considering the sort of practical measures that will help us not only to recover from the downturn but to put better, more stable systems in place. Greens think locally – as individuals struggle with the impact of a global recession on their own lives this grassroots approach is more important than ever."
Chris Walker, the Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Kingston & Surbiton said:
"It’s great that Jean is taking time to visit Kingston as we experience many of the issues she’s campaigning for in the European Parliament, like improved public services, human rights, better housing conditions and new green employment opportunities."
John Johnson, Employment Spokesperson for Kingston Green Party, welcomed the opportunity to discuss local Green solutions to the recession with Jean. He
said:
"Green Party policy would create thousands of local green jobs in saving energy, reducing waste, repairing and reusing products and services for good local value for money."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
[1] A report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research published 17 April predicted that London’s GDP would shrink by 5.7 per cent this year, compared with about 3.5 per cent nationally. For further details, see
www.thisislondon.co.uk