Barnet Green Party's Andrew Newby checks the solar panel at his former home in Nicosia

Here’s Barnet GreenParty’s proposal: Abandon the dogma about ‘cuts’ and about ‘privatisation’, which might end up costing more money rather than creating savings. If they want genuine buzz words we suggest ‘sustainability’ and ‘solar panels’.

Birmingham Council has agreed a 100 million pounds scheme to create jobs and sharply reduce the city’s carbon emissions. The project will start by giving an energy efficiency upgrade to 10,000 existing homes and energy savings in the retrofitted homes will generate funding for similar work on thousands more homes in the city. Solar panels are already being fitted to homes in four areas of the city. (http://birminghamnewsroom.com/?p=12704)

Birmingham is a Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration so why can’t Barnet’s Tories come up with a similar plan that would create jobs, improve the lives of occupants of the improved homes and lead to a sharp reduction in energy costs and carbon emissions?

Before anyone asks where Barnet would get the initial funding, can we point out that Birmingham Council itself is only putting up 25 million pounds, ie roughly the amount that Barnet Council handed over to Icelandic banks.

Banks (British not Icelandic ones please!) would be eager to lend Barnet Council the money for an equivalent energy savings scheme and there might be ways of reducing the council’s proportion to an even smaller percentage of costs.

The feed-in-tariffs which energy companies pay for power from sustainable sources mean, for instance, that photovoltaic panels can generate surplus electricity every year worth up to 10 percent of the cost of their installation. After ten years the panels are paid for and the electricity is pure profit.

Companies and syndicates are starting to spring up to develop rooftop “sun harvesting” operations and Barnet Council’s thousands of homes, schools and other buildings would be an extremely attractive resource.

That’s the kind of project that Future Shape should be looking at: dynamic, exciting, forward-looking, job-creating, sustainable and potentially highly profitable after an initial investment.

Barnet Green Party chairman Noel Lynch asks 'Where's the sense in Future Shape?' Green MEP Jean Lambert's insulation block at least HAS a shape.

Barnet Green Party calls on Barnet Council’s Conservative administration to cancel its notorious Future Shape strategy after auditors Grant Thornton criticised the policy as lacking direction.

The damning report to the council’s audit committee by a team of expert professionals highlights that council leader Lynne Hillan and her cronies don’t have the faintest idea how much money Future Shape might save, nor do they have a serious programme for implementing the scheme.

“Grant Thornton’s report shows that Future Shape, better known as easyCouncil, is a complete mess,” says Andrew Newby, who was Barnet Green Party’s candidate for Hendon in this year’s general election.

“Barnet Conservatives’ concept seems simply to be: ‘Let’s privatise as much as we can and hope it saves money’,” Newby said.

“I call on Barnet Council to cancel Future Shape and go back to the idea that local authorities exist to provide accountable, democratically-controlled services, assessed according to the needs of local residents rather than treated as a trial ground for baseless political dogmas.”

Grant Thornton’s report spells out clearly that the easyCouncil idea is all talk and no substance. The experts wrote: “The council needs to develop and agree a more fundamental mandate for the programme by developing a programme level business case that sets out the planned costs, benefits, time scales, risks and outcomes of the programme.”

Councillor Brian Coleman this week launched a typically childish tirade of insults against the organisers of the Barnet Alliance for Public Services but his outburst was no more than a desperate bid to distract attention from the fact that Future Shape is a shambles.

Newby said: “Grant Thornton’s report provides proof if any were needed that Future Shape is merely an attention-grabbing attempt to implement political dogma without a scrap of evidence that it could achieve real savings and efficiencies. Future Shape? It is definitely Shapeless and let us hope it has no Future.”

Even Coleman might be taken aback if he had any real idea of what happened at Thursday’s launch of the Alliance at the North London Business Park. Not only was the meeting well organised with a panel of prestigious speakers including film director Ken Loach, but more than 200 local people crowded the Emerald Suite to express their anger at the current threats to local schools, hospitals, social services and libraries. Hardly the “lone voices” imagined by Coleman.

Everyone went away fired up to campaign to save our vital local services and facilities.

“It became clear to me that though Tory councillors are eager to slash jobs and cut budgets, what really motivates them is privatising as many of the council’s services as possible. Council workers told the meeting of how they had asked fruitlessly for details of how outsourcing their particular operation would save money – it was obvious that there were no details,” Newby said.

Unfortunately, outsourcing privatisation often leads to greatly increased costs rather than savings, as Private Eye magazine spells out in case studies in almost every issue.

“It is far from proven that Barnet Council needs to make the humungous spending cuts that a being talked about but even if savings are necessary the first priorities should be to save jobs and avoid any hardship to people who use council services. Those are definitely not uppermost in the minds of Barnet’s Conservatives, who simply want to make a name for themselves with massive privatisations,” Newby said.

Barnet Green Party is prioritising job creation in its pledges for both the national and local elections. Here are our pledges for the Barnet Council election on May.

Jobs: We will press Barnet Council to do more to help prepare local 16-24 year old people for the world of work and to help them find jobs.

Nationally, the Greens want to create a million new jobs through the Green New Deal.

Homes: We will work to ensure that Barnet Council takes serious steps to encourage the building of affordable homes to buy or for rent.

Barnet’s performance in meeting local housing needs is among the worst of all the London boroughs.

Insulation: The Greens’ national ambition is for free insulation in all homes. We plan to submit proposals to Barnet Council for improved policies on insulation for public and private homes.

20 mph Speed Limit: Barnet Green Party is proposing a 20 mph speed limit on all residential and shopping streets in the borough.

Lower limits lead to a sharp reduction in accidents and also reduce people’s sense of fear and danger. People walk and cycle more and feel safer about letting their children walk or cycle to school.

Public Transport: Greens will continue to campaign for better local bus services and will fight any threat to Tube services or ticket office staffing at stations in the borough.

Green Party councillors in Barnet will also:

• Support community services such as libraries and post offices.
• Fight any new plans for major supermarkets in the area.
• Protect local parks, green spaces and allotments.
• Propose measures to help local businesses continue providing vital services to local people.
• Encourage a high visibility by local police and support officers to deter crime and make people feel safer.
• Spur Barnet Council to adopt a more sustainable approach

For further information contact: Andrew Newby

Caroline Lucas delivers her keynote speech at The Arts Depot in North Finchley

A photo slideshow of the Green Party Conference including Caroline Lucas’ rousing keynote speech at the Arts Depot in North Finchley can be viewed here.


Caroline Lucas’ speech can be viewed here

BBC News report of the Conference here

Here are links to reports in the local press, The Hendon, Finchley, Barnet, Potters Bar, Edgware, Mill Hill Times
Keynote speech by Caroline Lucas in North Finchley promises Green Party action on inequality

Green Party conference held in Finchley

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas with Alex Philips, newly elected Green councillor for Hove

The Green Party Conference is coming to Finchley. The Arts Depot in North Finchley will host the 2010 Spring conference from this Thursday, February 18th, to Sunday 21st. It’s a fabulous opportunity for local people to find out more about the policies and values of the party in what will be council and general election year.

The Arts Depot opened in October 2004 offering a wide variety of events including theatre, music, dance, comedy and the visual arts and has become a respected part of the local and wider community. Having recently celebrated it’s 5th birthday the arts centre has been involved in many community activities like its education and outreach programmes.

Barnet Greens are excited by the prospect of welcoming the national party into our neck-of-the-woods. We’re also looking forward to engaging with the issues and spreading the word about what Greens have got to offer as a party.

Green Party Spring Conference 2010 will be held from the 18th to 21st February at The Arts Depot, North Finchley, London, N12 0GA.

More information can be found here

Zain Sardar

Barnet Green Party is urging young people in the borough to shun the government’s new offer to sign them up to the national identity card scheme.

The Home Office this month invited 16- to 24-year-olds in London to apply for identity cards at a cost of £30.  For any young person who does apply, up to 50 categories of personal and biometric details about him or her will be added to the National Identity Register. These will include finger prints, National Insurance number, current and past addresses and full history of the card’s use.

There is little or no practical benefit for young people in having the card over other current forms of ID, as shops, bars and other premises don’t have biometric scanners. However, even more worrying than wasting the upfront £30, is that while getting a card will be voluntary, once on the National Identity Register, young people will not be able to get off it, will have to keep the register up to date with their personal details for life and not doing so could lead to a fine of up to £1000.

Also, the life-time cost to the card holder of updating the register and obtaining replacement cards is completely unknown.

Barnet Green Party Youth Officer and Council candidate for Colindale, Zain Sardar says, ‘With the current economic climate, and the pernicious effect this had had on youth and graduate unemployment the last thing we need is for the government to be wasting money when it could easily have been used to help universities fund extra places for students that are currently out of work.

“The London School of Economics estimated the costs of the scheme will be between £10 billion and £20 billion but there is no evidence that this scheme will reduce terrorism or benefit fraud. Thus is a smack in the face for students and young people, who really need the government to invest in their future right now.”

Arts Depot in North Finchley

The Green Party Conference is coming to Finchley. The Arts Depot in North Finchley will host the 2010 Spring conference from this Thursday, February 18th, to Sunday 21st. It’s a fabulous opportunity for local people to find out more about the policies and values of the party in what will be council and general election year.

The Arts Depot opened in October 2004 offering a wide variety of events including theatre, music, dance, comedy and the visual arts and has become a respected part of the local and wider community. Having recently celebrated it’s 5th birthday the arts centre has been involved in many community activities like its education and outreach programmes.

Barnet Greens are excited by the prospect of welcoming the national party into our neck-of-the-woods. We’re also looking forward to engaging with the issues and spreading the word about what Greens have got to offer as a party.

Green Party Spring Conference 2010 will be held from the 18th to 21st February at The Arts Depot, North Finchley, London, N12 0GA.

More information can be found here: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/conference.html