Championing public transport, building strong communities and taking action on climate change are key pledges in the Green Party's manifesto for next month's county council elections.
The party launched its local election campaign on Bishop's Bridge in Norwich yesterday, and it also announced some of its candidates for the general election in June. Richard Bearman is the Green's Norwich South candidate for the general election, Adrian Holmes for Norwich North, Andrew Boswell for Broadland, and Catherine Rowett for South Norfolk.
Green Party deputy leader Amelia Womack attended the launch before joining local party members canvassing in the city. She said: 'Specifically here in Norwich people know what they get when they have Greens elected. They know they will have people that will stand up against government cuts, they know that they will have people who will try to reduce air pollution and people who will stand up for the future of people in their community as well as the environment.'
Among the local election campaign pledges are a commitment to oppose the proposal for a new four-lane road through the Wensum river valley west of Norwich and instead spend the money on improving public transport. The manifesto also pledges action on air pollution, including working with public transport operators to bring in low-emission buses.
Councillor Martin Schmierer, leader of Norwich City Council's Green group and who is the candidate for the Mancroft Ward in the local elections, said: 'We are offering a vision for a fairer, more sustainable Norfolk where we put local communities right at the centre of that, making sure that we listen to what residents would like to see and most importantly that we act upon it.'
Norwich South prospective parliamentary candidate Mr Bearman, currently leader of the Green Party County Councillors. said: 'We want to keep a strong representation on Norfolk County Council, but also we want to up that game and get the Green voices heard at parliament as well. Caroline Lucas has been doing fantastic work on saving the NHS, the Renationalisation of Railways Bill and bringing those sort of issues to the forefront of parliamentary question time. I would be delighted to be working with Caroline on these sort of issues at Westminster if successful.'
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