This year, Norwich Green Party made three gains, taking us to 13 seats - just two behind Labour. Last year we missed out on becoming the second party on the City Council by one vote in one ward. This year every member and supporter knew that their help could make the difference - and we turned a defeat by one vote in Thorpe Hamlet ward last year to a 501 vote majority this time.
It is just eight years since Norwich Green Party (with just a few activists) first started seriously targeting to win in one ward, and just six years since we made the first breakthrough. We have grown more quickly than we expected to since then, making gains at each election and winning in five wards this time. The main reasons for our success are:
Grassroots campaigning: over two hundred members and supporters helped our election campaign this year, with leafleting, canvassing, paperwork and donations. Building this team has been key to our continued success. Each time we have made a breakthrough we have been able to get more people involved.
Positive and clear policies: we produced a more thorough manifesto than any other party and we communicated it in our leaflets and media coverage alongside the issues we were working on in specific wards. We have a positive relationship with a range of local campaign groups and we consult them on our policy development.
Since the election we have formed a full Shadow Executive on the City Council to hold the Labour administration to account on its rhetoric and promises and to put forward Green policies for all council departments. We have been concentrating on three areas of council policy:
The Highways Agency Committee has agreed a proposal from Green Councillor Rupert Read for 20mph speed limits to be introduced on residential roads across the city, for the benefit of road safety, air quality and encouraging more people to walk and cycle.
I have been working with local trade union representatives on our policy to bring the many council services privatised by the Labour Council in 2000 back in house. Norwich Green Party has a long-held commitment to this and, with the contract coming up for renewal in 2010, we have a great opportunity to do this if we can gain enough support for it in the council. We are working with the trade unions on communicating the many strong arguments, which are based around workers' rights and job satisfaction, accountability and localising service provision within the city.
Challenging the Government's plans for large-scale growth of the city, to make Norwich the size of Nottingham over the next 20 years. We have seen these plans as unsustainable from the outset but our campaign is gathering support because of the lack of Government funding for social and public transport infrastructure that would be necessary to support this level of growth.
Across the Norwich South Westminster constituency we obtained 33% of the vote and were three thousand votes ahead of Labour. Norwich South is one of three national party target constituencies for the General Election (alongside Brighton Pavilion and Lewisham Deptford) so this is an encouraging position to be in as we mount a challenge for the seat. We now have the task of communicating to residents why it is essential that we have Greens in Parliament as well as on the local council.
www.norwichgreenparty.org
