Put Town Centres First, Vote Green

Jonathan Hornett

Our town centres are dying, because of the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour.  All of these parties support out of town retail parks including Rushden Lakes, and all do not support small businesses, including shops, cafes and pubs, in our town centres.  I simply do not understand why we are letting our town centres turn into ghost town centres and why are local elected politicians letting our local shops die?

In Wellingborough and Rushden today we have scores of empty units and with more closing every week, how long will it be before we have lost every independent or small chain store from our town centres?  The latest victim is workwear and camping shop George Alan who are set to close both of their Rushden and Wellingborough shops by the end of June.  In Silver Street, Wellingborough, half of the units are empty and more are closing!

The Green Party…

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Clean Air Everywhere Week of Action

Jonathan Hornett

We are joining Friends of the Earth in calling for a national week of action for clean air from 24 June to 2 July 2017.  After weeks of delay and speculation, the government finally published its draft Air Quality Plan on 5 May.  This should have been a Plan that effectively dealt with the shocking air pollution crisis that blights the lives of so many.  This should have been a Plan for clean air that put the health of the nation first.  This should have been a Plan that helped people out of dirty diesels in to clean vehicles and cheaper, better, public transport.  Unfortunately for us all – it wasn’t. Far from it.

Why are we forced to breathe polluted air?

Vulnerable children and older people who are forced to breathe illegal levels of pollution deserve better.  We all deserve better.  So for the sake of the nation’s health, we’re…

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Thank you to each and everyone who voted for me, I will continue to campaign for you, we will be back…

Jonathan Hornett

The General Election saw increases in vote share for the Conservatives and Labour at the expense of all the smaller parties.  The Green Party was definitely affected across Northamptonshire, where we saw our vote share come in at between 1.5% and 2.4%.  Green votes were significantly lower in constituencies where Labour genuinely a threat to the Conservatives.  Unfortunately a lot of people who would have wanted to vote Green felt that it was more important to vote against the party they didn’t want to get in than to vote for who they actually wanted.  I had lots of conversations with people after they voted and many said the Green Party had the best policies but they voted tactically.

This vote was polarised by the popularity of two very different party leaders, it was not an accurate reflection on how popular the Green Party are locally.  Our campaign in the Wellingborough…

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Put Protecting Trees First, Wellingborough

Jonathan Hornett

The Borough Council of Wellingborough, as a tree owner; has a direct responsibility to protect trees in Wellingborough.  The council have released a draft tree policy to ensure that its trees do not pose a danger to the public or property; but I think that this has missed an opportunity to ensure that trees are maintained properly and not destroyed locally.  The council is responsible for managing a significant number of trees within the borough of Wellingborough. The overall tree population is an estimated 76,000.

All decisions taken should bear in mind that trees are essential for people and our local environment.  Here are some examples, taken from the tree policy, of the aesthetic, social, economic and health benefits of trees:

• Trees play a vital role in urban and rural ecosystems by helping to support a great variety of wildlife.
• Studies of patients in hospital found that they recovered more…

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