Category: Council elections

I’m Elisabeth, the Green Party candidate for the Forest Gate North by election.

Here’s my manifesto for Forest Gate.

Council loans

I will push the council to take the banks to court to get £millions back for Newham residents.

Newham council was mis-sold bank loans amounting to over £500m, and the pay-back terms on these loans are so high that 80% of our council tax is now going to pay them off. That’s £51m a year – just over the amount the council is suffering in budget cuts from central government. If elected, I’d make it a priority to encourage Newham council to take the banks to court to get our money back. With this money coming back to the council rather than to the banks, we’ll be able to invest in better waste collection, council housing, sure start centres, cycle routes and community centres across Newham.

Please sign my petition asking Newham council to take the banks to court.

Flytipping & recycling

I will seek to improve the current recycling contract and challenge the £20 bulky waste fee.

Rubbish on the streets is a major problem in Newham. Despite this, the council have decided  to charge residents £20 for each bulky waste collection. This will just make things worse. If elected I would challenge the council to take this charge away and set up new pilot schemes to tackle flytipping in Forest Gate.

Not only that, Newham has one of the worst recycling schemes in the country. If elected, I’d seek to end the current recycling contract and get a new one in place that can collect food waste, more plastic items, tetra paks and glass.

Affordable homes

I will fight for more social housing and oppose estate demolition if residents want to stay.

Somewhere good to live is a basic human right and a world leading city like London can afford to offer that to our citizens. However, Newham’s housing is in crisis. Local people are being priced out of the area and rogue landlords are charging rip-off rents while allowing tenants to live in damp, crowded conditions. Social housing tenants are being forced out of their homes, making the problem worse.

If elected, I’d oppose the demolition of council housing schemes that residents love, such as the Carpenters Estate, and work with local residents to resist evictions. I’d push to make sure that any new development offers a majority of social and genuinely affordable housing as standard.

 

Traffic and cleaner air

I will work to reduce pollution and increase investment in safe cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.

Newham has some of the worst air quality in the capital, and schemes such as the proposed Silvertown tunnel will only attract more cars into our borough. That’s the last thing we need!

I’d oppose this unnecessary development and encourage the council to invest in better cycling and walking  facilities instead (such as the London Cycling Campaign’s plan for Upton Lane and Woodgrange Road). This would give us cleaner air to breathe and we’d have fewer traffic jams. I’d also push to get bike hangars for Forest Gate’s residential areas, which provide parking spaces for 6 bikes in half a regular parking space.