13 May 2018
Welcome to the e-newsletter for members, supporters and friends of Witham & Braintree Green Party
If there is an event or news you would like us to include, please get in touch
This month - encouraging election results nationally and locally
Local elections held on 3rd May
Following the local elections on 3rd May, the Green Party is now the official opposition on five councils in England.
In total, there are now Greens sitting on 68 councils, with a total of 173 principal authority councillors - that is the highest number ever (number does not include parish and town councillors). The number of Green councillors elected in 2018 was 39 as this year is a fairly limited set of elections compared to 2019 when many more seats will be contested.
Whilst we did lose some seats, notably in Oxford and Norwich, we made 8 net gains overall and took seats from both the Tories and Labour. Greens were elected on to 6 councils for the first time, including Birmingham.
And how times have changed for UKIP ! Depending on which word you wish to choose from the BBC's coverage, UKIP "imploded", "evaporated" or "collapsed". One BBC reporter said they had been "nuked", but as an anti-nuclear party, we would of course never use such a term ! UKIP took just 3 seats, with a massive net loss of 123. As Caroline Lucas said following the results, the Greens are now moving ahead of UKIP as the 4th party in England, something we could not have said just a few years ago.
In Essex, we stood 35 candidates and held the two seats we were defending on Epping Forest and Rochford councils with big majorities.
Congratulations to Steven Neville who held his seat on Epping Forest with a majority over 600 and to Stuart Wilson who took his seat on Rochford with a majority of over 700.
In Colchester it was close – Green candidate Mark Goacher was just 11 votes short from taking Castle ward from the Tories. Serious questions to be answered there by Labour who put out a completely misleading leaflet showing a made-up bar chart pretending the Greens could not win. In reality, as the Greens were saying quite rightly on the doorstep, if voters wanted a change from Tory, then Green was the best choice. Mark is now very well placed to win in 2019.
So overall we remain on 7 seats (6 district and 1 county) on 4 authorities in Essex.
Locally, at the by-election for Braintree District Council in Hatfield Peverel & Terling ward, Green candidate Jonathan Barker moved into 2nd place ahead of Labour.
Full results:
Hatfield Peverel and Terling ward (HP&T) Turnout 32%
CON 965
GREEN Jonathan Barker 293
LAB 234
Bocking North ward (BN) Turnout 31%
LAB 619
CON 540
UKIP 78
GREEN Dawn Holmes 44
Green Drinks
We are getting steady numbers coming to Green Drinks but it would be great to see more attend. Its very informal – just a chance to meet and chat with fellow Greens in the area and come up occasionally with some good ideas!
The next Green Drinks will be on Thursday 17th May at 7.30pm at Fowlers Farm (just off the A120 at Galley's Corner roundabout Braintree).
We meet every 3rd Thursday of the month.
Contact Karin for more information at
karin@evansaboveus
Litter Pick 22nd April
A small but dedicated group of 4 turned up on Sunday 22nd April for about an hour and a half to carry out a litter pick south of the A12 underpass in Henry Dixon Road, Rivenhall End. The banks either side of the road are public highway land and needed a good clean up. It was a hot day and litter was not all we found ! The picture below says more than words can about just how irresponsible some people are who think that they can litter and dump waste on public land. We found all the usual littering of plastic and bottles, etc plus sections of carpet, car parts, a rusting abandoned road sign and a few items that very much needed gloves!
Thanks to all who helped and to Braintree District Council who came out soon after and took away the waste.
Important meetings/dates coming up
Essex County Council Full Council 15th May 10am County Hall Chelmsford - There are 4 motions for debate, including 2 on the problems with the Highways contract, potholes, etc.
Essex County Council Development and Regulation Committee 25th May 10.30am County Hall Chelmsford – At the time of writing it is expected that the Rivenhall Waste site applications will be up for decision at this meeting. Local campaign group PAIN plan to be there in numbers outside County Hall before the meeting.
Public meeting on local policing and crime 31st May 6.30pm Public Hall Witham – Priti Patel MP expected to be there. Questions about loss of much of the community policing that used to exist, closure of police stations, etc and how to deal with recent patterns of crime including armed robberies at shops.
A120 preferred route announcement (to be made by ECC) 8th June.
NEXT NEWSLETTER: June 2018
Printed and published by Local Party Contact Cllr. James Abbott
1 Waterfall Cottages Rivenhall Witham Essex CM8 3PR
Tel 01376 584576, e-mail james.abbott@greenparty.org.uk
Local Party Agent Cllr. Phil Hughes Tel 01376 515518, e-mail cllrphughes@care4free.net
For national news and campaigns visit www.greenparty.org.uk
follow Essex Green Party on facebook for regular updates on meetings, campaigns, election results, reports from County Hall
and advance notice of Green councillors being on radio and TV:
https://www.facebook.com/Essex-Green-Party-350740061707505/
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