Greens aim to punch above weight on city council
PARTY WON THREE SEATS IN THE MAY 4 ELECTIONS
GREENS will push for more investment in neighbourhoods, climate action and social justice over the next four years.
The party had a clean sweep in Castle Ward at the local elections this month, giving it three seats on Leicester City Council.
Among the elected councillors is Patrick Kitterick who sat as a Labour member from 2003 until his defection to the Green Party this year.
He had been suspended from Labour along with three other councillors for his part in a motion that was put to the council calling for the end of the mayor’s office.
Coun Kitterick, pictured, said the party had three overarching principles that would guide them over the next four years: combating climate change; championing social justice; and investing in communities.
The party also has not given up on its aims to give the people of Leicester a referendum on the future of the mayor’s role.
“There are only three of us but that will be a foothold and the main aim is to have an impact disproportionate to our numbers,” he said.
“I believe the term is punching above our weight.
“There are some immediate priorities. The council is the biggest player in the city and we need to see how it can be developed to help make the climate transition.
“The divestment of pension funds from fossil fuels is part of that.
“We’re talking about billions of pounds.
“For both the planet and the financial benefit of the funds, we need to get out of fossil fuels.
“But it’s also about fitting out houses with insulation. The council can be a huge force in this.
“Social justice goes hand in hand with climate change.
“Without social justice, action on the environment tends to just be people wagging their fingers and asking people to be better. We need to assist people.
“District heating is a good example. Putting meters in those properties allows tenants to control their own energy use and reduce heat consumption.
“It benefits them (through reduced bills) and it benefits the environment. But they can’t do it themselves.”
The council came under fire this year when it proposed to increase heating costs for tenants on the council’s District Heating Network from an average of £733 a year to £3,135.
The council backtracked at February’s budget meeting, putting prices up to an average of £1,611 instead.
The authority also promised to install meters in homes on the network to give residents greater control over what they are spending.
Coun Kitterick said there has also been too much investment in the city centre, to the detriment of the outer wards.
Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby has repeatedly denied this accusation, saying there has been as much, if not more, investment in communities at the edge of the city.
“We need to be distributing money more equally and I think that’s a big lesson that the Labour Party needs to learn from that election,” Coun Kitterick said.
“The party has lost the community feel it had and far too much time and attention has been spent on a handful of streets in the city centre. A lot of work needs to be done in the neighbourhoods.”
In Castle ward, the Greens have commitments to refurbish Clarendon Park Road playground and reopen the bandstand in Victoria Park.
These might seem like small projects, Coun Kitterick said, but they matter to the people living in those areas.
Asked if the party will work with the Conservative opposition, Coun Kitterick said: “It will be on a case by case basis.
“There’s no reason why oppositions have to work together, but we’ll look at each issue as it comes and we’ll decide where we agree with each other and where we don’t agree with each other.
“It’s about the results for the people of Leicester.”
With scrutiny roles due to be decided yesterday, the Greens called on Labour to respect and reflect the new, more diverse layout of the council.
The party said it was eyeing up roles as chairman of the economic development, transport and climate emergency scrutiny commission, as well as housing and neighbourhoods as key roles for its members.
“When there were only one or two members of the opposition, it was fairly reasonable that Labour members took all the chairs,” Coun Kitterick said.
“But now there’s more of an opposition, we would hope there would be a more equitable sharing out.
“We can’t go around demanding it because ultimately it’s a vote of the full council and the ball is really in Labour’s court. We hope they would reflect the fact that the people did vote for different parties.
“We’ll try to spread ourselves as far as possible.
“We’re a small party and our resources aren’t as much as Labour or the Conservatives, but people voted Green and our message is we hope to outperform our relatively small numbers and deliver on those key wishes.”