Salute for one of our great human rights heroes

The Green Party is celebrating an Honorary Doctorate being conferred on Peter Tatchell for his services to human rights.

On Friday, 23 July 2010, Peter Tatchell received an Hon D.Litt (Sussex) from University Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Green Party Leader and Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas commented:  "We are incredibly proud of the work which Peter continues to bring in human rights and that he is a member of the Green Party.

"Whether it is his advocacy on behalf of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) asylum seekers or his ongoing campaign for gay marriage; we are thrilled that the staff and students of the University of Sussex have decided to thank him in this way.

"Peter is truly one of our greatest heroes."

Brighton Green Councillor Amy Kennedy, Alumna of Sussex University and a serving Green Party councillor in Brighton said, "Peter brings invaluable work to often overlooked areas of human rights: the citizens of our city, our country and our world are indebted to him for his work.

"We celebrate with him for an award which I am proud to say has come from my alma mater."

Phelim Mac Cafferty, National Chair of LGBT Greens said: "This Honorary Doctorate recognises Peter's ongoing, tireless work of over four decades.

"It is apt in the same year in which we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Gay Liberation Front that Peter receives this award - whether its his staunch defence of the rights of LGBT people abroad or his ongoing investigative work to deliver fairness on our own shores - his work continues to inspire all of us to fight for a better world."

Commenting on his Honorary Doctorate, Mr Tatchell said: "I was hesitant about accepting this honour.

After all, my contribution to human rights is very modest.

"I am a long way from being a brave and effective campaigner. Many others are much more deserving than me.

"I would never agree to a royal honour but this award is different.

"My decision to accept was partly because the initiative for this honorary doctorate was a grassroots one, from the staff and students. I am honoured by their recognition of my human rights work.

"I accept this award in solidarity with the many heroic, inspirational activists who I support in countries like Uganda, Somaliland, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Baluchistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Western Sahara, Iraq, Palestine and West Papua.

"The message I will deliver in my acceptance speech is this: Be sceptical, question authority, be a rebel.

"All human progress is the result of far-sighted people challenging orthodoxy, tradition and powerful, vested interests.

"Don't accept the world as it is. Dream about what the world could be - then help make it happen.

"In whatever field of endeavour you work, be a change-maker for the upliftment of humanity.

"I do my bit for social justice, but so do many others.

"Together, through our collective efforts, we are helping make a better world - a world more just and free.

"My key political inspirations are Mohandas Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and, to some extent, Malcolm X.

"I've adapted many of their ideas and methods to the contemporary struggle for human rights - and invented a few of my own.

"I began campaigning in my home town of Melbourne , Australia , in 1967, aged 15.

"My first campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam .

"In 1969, on realising that I was gay, the struggle for queer freedom became an increasing focus of my activism.

"After moving to London in 1971, I became an activist in the Gay Liberation Front, organising sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve 'poofs', and protests against police harassment and the medical classification of homosexuality as an illness.

"I was roughed up and evicted when I disrupted Professor Hans Eysenck's 1972 lecture which advocated electric shock aversion therapy to 'cure' homosexuality.

"The following year, in East Berlin, I was arrested and interrogated by the secret police - the Stasi - after staging the first gay rights protest in a communist country," said Peter Tatchell.

Notes

For more information please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

"The coalition government has cut the funding earmarked for new council building," said Cllr Randall, Convenor of the Green Group of councillors. "A total of £450 million has been slashed off the house-building budget since the election.

Funding for 2011/2014 is likely to be cut to the bone.

"Some council house schemes submitted by other councils who were quick off the mark will get under the wire, but these do not include plans for any new homes in Brighton and Hove. No further schemes will be accepted. The news will dash the hopes of homeless and poorly-housed people in the city who believed new council homes could offer them a housing lifeline.

"Tenant groups who championed a new building programme will be deeply disappointed.

"Funding to help housing associations complete housing schemes stalled by the recession has also been cut, and a meltdown in housing association programmes over the next three years is likely as the cuts bite deeper. The shortage of good quality and affordable homes in the city is likely to be with us for a long time and jobs will be lost in the building industry.

"The implications for homelessness apart, the shortage will also damage the city's economic prospects."

Notes

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Brighton and Hove City Council has 11,500 households on its housing waiting list, 9,000 of them families.

Nearly 5,000 council homes in the city have been sold through the Right to Buy scheme since 1980.

In response to the result of the council consultation on controlled parking zones (CPZs), Hanover & Elm Grove ward Green councillor Bill Randall, said, "There is clearly no majority support in the Hanover and Elm Grove ward for a CPZ."

"However, the 25 per cent of residents who responded to the survey in favour of a CPZ confirmed that it was right to test public opinion on this issue.

"In Elm Grove, Hanover, the neighbourhood between Elm Grove and Hartington Road and the Queen's Park Estate opposition was overwhelming.

"Only three dispersed streets in Hanover and Elm Grove favoured the CPZ, but they would not make a coherent CPZ. Therefore, we cannot support a scheme based on these streets, either collectively or individually.

"Residents in Richmond Heights and Canning Street in the Queen's Park Ward voted for a CPZ and their democratic wish is clear.

"However, if a decision is taken to go ahead with these areas, the council and the police must do everything they can through the use of existing controls to minimise the effects of any dispersal into surrounding neighbourhoods.

"The parking problems will not go away, and we believe the council and the community should look closely at the many good ideas put forward by local residents during the consultation period to deal with parking problems, to improve the environment for pedestrians and cyclists and to expand the car club.

"We believe American Express and other companies, whose employees park in the area, should revisit their travel to work plans and encourage more of their staff to walk or cycle to work or use public transport.

"It is also a good time to look at bus fares in the city. Time and again, residents tell us the fares are too high and are no disincentive to car use."

ENDS

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Greens have called the Coalition Government's proposals to force the NHS through yet another period of disruptive re-organisation as wasteful and expensive and say it will do little for patient care. 

The NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, has warned that the reforms could lead to the health service looking more like the "gas and telecom market" than the NHS, and that the proposed changes will create "a market dynamic." (1)

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and leader of the Green Party, said: "Increasing the role of the market in the NHS will not make it more efficient, nor make the NHS more responsive to patient needs.

"Instead, an increased role for the market will fragment care and increase the costs of provision.

"As any economist will tell you, markets need mechanisms to operate.

"For the NHS, that means increasing the number of managers and accountants, which will result in a cut in front line services, just the opposite of what Andrew Lansley announced he wanted a few weeks ago.

"By expanding the role of the market, handing powers to consortia of GPs, privatising hospitals, and scrapping important targets, Andrew Lansley is creating the perfect conditions for high costs, poor practice, unaccountability and long waiting lists.

"Andrew Lansley's plans will also ensure that there is even less health care to go round with our aging population."

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Notes

1) The Guardian, 9th July; Radio 4 Today, 9th July

"The proposals in this report were fair, balanced and reduced the overall cost of councillor allowances against what had been budgeted for - potentially saving taxpayers over £25,000 this year," says Cllr Jason Kitcat, Green spokesperson for Finance.

"At the meeting of 18th March, council leader Mary Mears promised the report would be brought back to a meeting at the earliest opportunity.

"However it was not on the agenda for the annual council meeting in May nor this month's full council meeting on 15th July.

"During this time councillors have continued to draw the allowances this report's recommendations propose to abolish."

The Independent Remuneration Panel's key recommendations, which followed an 18-month review by the panel after the new cabinet system was introduced to the council, included:

· All group leader additional allowances to be proportional to the number of seats in their group;

· That allowances are no longer paid to deputy chairs of committees;

· That only one (not two) deputy leaders of the opposition receive allowances;

· That a maximum of 25 Special Responsibility Allowances be payable (a reduction on the current 34);

· That allowances are no longer given to the two of the six councillor representatives on the Arts Commission who were in receipt of them;

· That the work of backbench councillors is recognised with a 1% increase in their basic allowance.

"This report from the Independent Remuneration Panel recommended cutting the number of additional allowances from 34 to 25," commented Cllr Kitcat.

"The main beneficiaries of these extra allowances are Tory and Labour councillors.

"So perhaps it's no surprise that they voted together in March to delay this report, and they have done nothing since to bring it back before the council for a proper vote.

"It's insulting to the panel members for their report to be treated in this way.

"It very much looks like Tory and Labour councillors are more than happy to delay this report, and keep taking the allowances, for as long as possible.

"Greens opposed deferring the report, and we ask that it be brought to this month's council meeting on the 15th July."

ends

For more information, please contact the Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

* The panel's report can be downloaded from page 83 of this agenda http://bit.ly/9xV8Rh

* The minutes of the March council meeting show how, using unusual procedure to vote the panel's report off the meeting's agenda, Conservative and Labour councillors voted en-bloc to defer the report (see page 3) http://bit.ly/bl9BOI

Councillor Kitcat was subject to a standards panel hearing over his use of YouTube, after a complaint was made by Conservative councillor Ted Kemble (a Cabinet member at the time of his complaint) supported by Council Leader Mary Mears and Deputy Leader Brian Oxley.

The complaint centred on Conservative members' unhappiness with how Councillor Kitcat had put clips of council meetings on YouTube.

"These clips are already published for all to see online, but in a less easy-to-access format through the Council's website.

"Many residents don't want to sit through entire three or four hour meetings nor watch the whole thing online; they want to jump to the bits they're interested in.

"When I found I couldn't reliably link to sections of the webcasts, I put them on YouTube for ease of access by residents," commented Cllr Kitcat.

"Most of these clips featured my questions on behalf of residents about communal bins.

"This seems to have caused Conservatives to try to block my actions through a politically-motivated Code of Conduct complaint."

"Rather than celebrating and encouraging openness, transparency and greater resident interest in the workings of our council, the Conservatives seem to prefer that the webcasts of council meetings stay restricted to the less than user-friendly council site.

"Putting clips of these webcasts on sites like YouTube makes them much more accessible and easy to use. As a councillor I am committed to being as open and accessible to my constituents as possible, hence my use of a blog, Twitter and YouTube."

Despite one member admitting to not having even viewed the videos before attending the hearing, the panel decided that Cllr Kitcat had failed to treat Cllr Geoffrey Theobald with respect and had used the council's resources improperly for political purposes.

The panel decided that Cllr Kitcat should be censured for his actions and be suspended for up to six months if he does not write an apology to Cllr Theobald and submit to re-training on the roles and responsibilities of being a councillor.

"The panel completely failed to understand the arguments I made, that putting a video on YouTube does not deprive the council of any resources whilst also making its working more open," says Cllr Kitcat. "Furthermore, the investigating officer and Cllr Theobald felt there was no breach of the code with regard to respect.

Additionally the officer report accepted that there had been no material loss to the council through my actions. Yet the Conservative complainant and the panel chose to pursue this complaint when clearly my actions benefited the people of this city at no detriment to the council."

"I shall be fighting this case at an appeal Tribunal, it has been a complete waste of council officer time and money investigating this matter and I refute the panel's findings," concluded Cllr Kitcat.

"With Conservative-led changes to the council constitution including cutting down speaking times, the number of questions councillors can ask and limiting the number of motions at council meetings - this complaint is a another step in the Tory attempts to close down democratic debate in our city."

Lizzie Deane holds council seat with increased vote share

"I would like to thank the voters for putting their faith in me to represent them as a councillor.

"I look forward to representing the people of St Peter and North Laine.

"This result is a testament to the hard work of 14 years of Green councillor representation.

"Thank you to everyone who voted for me.

"I am honoured to have been elected to succeed Keith Taylor."

Result

For more information please contact the Green Party office on 01273 766670. 

Brighton and Hove Greens

Fairness is worth fighting for...

Go Green today and vote Lizzie Deane in St Peters & North Laine

Polls close at 10 pm tonight - you don't need your polling card but it helps. 

Call the party office on 01273 766 670 if you need help or advice. 

To know more about Lizzie and what she stand for go: here

 Lizzie Deane said, "Please consider voting Green today.

"As a city centre resident, I appreciate the great things Brighton offers.

"But I also understand the challenges and drawbacks:

The cost of living, the problems of anti-social behaviour, lack of secondary schools and the ever present threat of harmful development - most recently, the shadow of Tesco's taking over the site on Lewes Road which had, until last week, provided a desperately needed green oasis to local people.

"Remember the Greens' recent election manifesto was by far the most radical of all the parties, and Caroline Lucas was elected as local MP.

"If elected as a councillor I will build on the Greens' tradition of care, dedication and tough defence of the local community."

Thank you

MY EXPERIENCE
For the past few years I have been very active in my local community, particularly the North Laine Community Association, the West Hill Local Action Team and the St Nicholas Green Spaces Association.

I have a professional background in media and spent 10 years working for big London councils, amassing experience of how to get the most out of local government.

I know how it works - how you can get things done and how not to do it!

KEY ISSUES FOR ME IF ELECTED
Key issues for me if elected: I'll work hard to tackle the impact of late licensing hours, fight for more affordable housing, protect our precious green urban spaces reduce traffic and improve air quality, increase the number of primary school places for local children and protect local services from Tory/LibDem cuts.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, is seeking a meeting with supermarket giant Tesco over plans for another store on a site - until this week - used by community gardeners, in her constituency.

Caroline and local Green councillors Pete West and Ian Davey will tell the retail giant that another supermarket would have a devastating impact on smaller shops in the Lewes Road area of the city.

Tesco wants to take a proposed retail unit on the site of a former petrol station which recently served as a community garden.

The MP will use the meeting to try to persuade the company to look elsewhere and to find a way to enable the garden to survive.

She is also lobbying the Coalition Government to bring in a competition test to protect neighbourhoods from supermarket dominance.

Meanwhile the community gardeners have been told to vacate the site this week.

Caroline said, "Local residents don't want or need another chain supermarket in the Lewes Road area.

"There's already a Sainsbury's and a Co-op and plenty of excellent independent shops.

"People are rightly concerned about the threat to the community garden - such a well-loved feature of a neighbourhood that is so short of green space.

"They are also concerned at the impact of another supermarket on the diversity and character of the area.

"The fact is chain supermarkets drive out competition and kill off smaller shops.

"We don't need another supermarket here.

"Tesco will naturally aggressively expand as long as they are permitted to by the Government.

"So the best way to approach this is to talk to them and try to persuade them to look elsewhere, while at the same time lobbying government to change the planning rules.

"So I am also putting pressure on Eric Pickles the Tory Communities and Local Government Secretary to introduce legislation to protect high streets from the impact of the giant chains.

"In particular I want to see urgent reform to the antiquated planning system to ensure that the diversity of the retail landscape becomes a planning consideration, which it isn't at present.

"For example, legislation could make the identity of the proposed retail occupier a consideration for planners.

"The Government could introduce a local economic yield test to assess how much any new development will benefit the local economy and a retail diversity test to ensure that all types of shops are protected.

"It could force planners to assess the contribution to the community of a proposed development, for example whether it would increase accessibility to healthy food for families on low-incomes."

"I hope we can succeed in persuading Tesco but if we fail to persuade them I, with my Green council colleagues, will encourage a community boycott of the store."

-ends-

Notes

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

In a letter to Mr Pickles and Planning Minister Greg Clarke, Caroline said: "The Competition Commission concluded that the dominance of any one retailer in a local area has a negative impact on consumer choice.

"It recommended a competition test to stop supermarkets opening a new store in places where they already control the local market.

"I am disappointed the Government is now delaying implementation of the competition test."

(1) The Community Garden was opened in 2009 by Guerrilla Gardeners on the derelict site of a former ESSO petrol station. It is in constant use as a local meeting place and for community events

(2) Keith Taylor MEP and a former Brighton and Hove Green councillor negotiated a leave of stay for the garden last year when developers locked the site gates. Green councillors have regularly attended meetings and events at the gardens and Caroline Lucas addressed a rally at the garden opposing the supermarket plans.

(3) Greens have launched an online pledge on boycotting the stores should it be built. http://www.brightonhovegreens.org/localsites/bh/campaigns/pledges.html

Brighton Green councillor Jason Kitcat has told supermarkets to take their "clutter off our pavements."

He has written to the manager of Sainsbury's on Western Road, Brighton, and the City Council's Highways Enforcement team, requesting urgent action to address the problem.

"I'm making an example of Sainsbury's, Western Road, who persistently leave trolleys and bins on the narrow pavement," said Jason.

"Not only do I regularly come across their clutter, I also watch huge HGV lorries pulled up on the pavement to deliver to these premises.

"Supermarkets have to understand they cannot operate like at an out-of-town site in the city centre.

"With their 'mini' and 'local' formats they have rushed in to colonise our centre without thought to the logistics and how they affect residents."

Jason represents Regency ward which has been struggling with pavement obstructions from A-boards, commercial bins on pavements and double parking.

"I welcome the findings of the excellent recent street access scrutiny report chaired by my Green ward colleague Sven Rufus," commented Jason.

"With such narrow pavements in many areas of the centre, we cannot afford to let supermarkets use them as yards for their daily operations."

ends

For more information please contact the Green Party Office on 01273 766 670.

Green Party Convenor, Bill Randall, said: "We have become increasingly concerned about the proposed commissioning structure as more details have emerged.

"We accept Chief Executive John Barradell's good intentions in wishing to reorganise the way the council works. However, we believe the proposals would provide a platform for service cuts and the privatisation of services at a time when a Conservative government is cutting budgets and services with relish and beyond necessity.

"Furthermore, we fear the outsourcing of services would remove them far from the democratic control of elected councillors, result in poorer public services and lead to reduced working conditions and pay for employees. We recognise that the structure might offer opportunities for third sector providers.

"In most cases, however, we fear they would find it difficult to compete with large private sector organisations.

"Brighton and Hove is, of course, a four-star authority.

"We believe we should build on what we've got. A new structure is not needed to strengthen the senior management team, if that is felt necessary.

"Two of the six director posts in the current structure are vacant.

"Filling them offers the opportunity to bring in new faces, although we do not believe the directors' salaries should be increased to the levels proposed for the new structure.

"We will, of course, work and co-operate fully with any officers appointed, but by taking part in the selection process we feel we would be validating proposals for reorganisation we do not support."

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Cllr Duncan said: "I'm delighted about the adoption of this new policy detailing a firmer stance from the police on wildlife crime.

"Now the five hunts that operate in Sussex will be investigated, and the now 70 trained officers will be able to more successfully monitor and stop any illegal hunts."

"It shows that after my raising it on the Sussex Neighbourhood Policing Scrutiny Committee, the SPA is taking the enforcement of the ban on this bloodsport seriously.

"I look forward to continuing to work with them on this issue."

"This is a particular success given the recent appointment of Sussex MP Nick Herbert - ironically a former director at the British Field Sports society - to the position of Minister for Policing by the new Conservative government.

"Labour and the Tories have argued over and over about whether to uphold the hunting ban.

"But the truth is it just hasn't been effectively enforced."

"I hope this Green challenge to the way the police view hunting will mean Sussex sets an example by stamping out fox-hunting once and for all."

Notes

For more information  please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Ben highlighted the poor prosecution rates for illegal hunting last year in his role as Brighton and Hove City Council's representative on, and vice-chairman of, the Sussex Neighbourhood Policing Scrutiny Committee.

The debate can be viewed by webcast debate here (1hr 27mins in) here at Sussex Police Authority and the report here.

"The effects of today's announcement will have a massive impact on local government and communities, as we warned a few weeks ago.

"The enforced freeze on council tax is a crude attempt by central government to shift the blame for soon-to-be disappearing public services onto local government.

"Not only is the Government desperate to avoid criticism for their own ruthless economic policy, but they're limiting the flexibility for local councils such as Brighton & Hove to be able to manage fairly the cuts the Government is demanding.

"The public sector pay freeze which will affect many at the city council, which on the face of it may seem reasonable to some, will in fact amount to a pay-cut to some of those on lower incomes once inflation is taken into account."1

Notes

1) For example, the £250 year-on-year increase for an individual on £16,000 per annum actually only amounts to a 1.5% pay increase whilst inflation is expected to be between1.6-2%.

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670. 

Created from a derelict site by local people in 2009, the garden has become a focal point for a densely populated neighbourhood with very little green space.

The eviction of the community gardeners will be sought in the courts on Monday 21 June. Residents have vowed to fight the eviction and raise money to buy the site.

"Local people don't want or need a TESCO," said local councillor Pete West , "and I am deeply opposed to plans for yet another supermarket in a road that already has a Co-op supermarket, a Sainsbury's, a Spar and a very good Turkish mini-market.

"The last thing the Lewes Road needs is another supermarket that nobody has asked for. I am asking residents to show TESCO that a new store would be a failure, by pledging to boycott it."

Local MP Caroline Lucas has urged Communities Secretary Eric Pickles to do all he can to stop the building of yet another supermarket on Lewes Road and has called for a competition test to halt the unchecked growth of super-markets and the devastating impact it has on local businesses, local communities and consumer choice.

In a letter to Mr Pickles and Planning Minister Greg Clarke she said:

"The Competition Commission concluded that the dominance of any one retailer in a local area has a negative impact on consumer choice.

"It recommended a competition test to stop supermarkets opening a new store in places where they already control the local market.

"I am disappointed the Government is now delaying implementation of the competition test."

Notes:
(1) The Community Garden was opened in 2009 by Guerrilla Gardeners on the derelict site of a former ESSO petrol station. It is in constant use as a local meeting place and for community events

(2) Keith Taylor MEP and a former Brighton and Hove Green councillor negotiated a leave of stay for the garden last year when developers locked the site gates. Green councillors have regularly attended meetings and events at the gardens and Caroline Lucas addressed a rally at the garden opposing the supermarket plans.

(3) The pledge to boycott TESCO can be signed from 1800h 20 June.

http://www.brightonhovegreens.org/localsites/bh/campaigns/pledges.html

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

The Cabinet, led by Councillor Mary Mears, rejected such an approach and refused to provide a date when a detailed report on proposed cuts would be made available.

"As there's no party in overall control of this Council it's totally inappropriate for the Tories to abuse the Cabinet system to ram through cuts as they see fit," commented Cllr Kitcat after the meeting.

"Councillor Mears wasn't even willing to commit to bringing a report to the next full council meeting.

"Councillors from all parties need to be involved in this process so that we can get as much agreement as possible on how to avoid the worst of these outrageous cuts imposed from on high."

At the Cabinet meeting Cllr Kitcat had criticised the Coalition government's cuts, arguing they were unnecessary and unfair, especially as no additional powers or tools for raising funds had been granted to local councils at the same time.

He also spoke against the planned senior officer posts with excessive salaries of £125k each and the focus on 'intelligent commissioning' when experience from the NHS showed that such approaches did not necessarily deliver improved services or value for money.

* The Cabinet meeting was held on 17th June.

The full agenda can be viewed at:

http://present.brighton-hove.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=120&MId=1998&Ver=4

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion constituency and Leader of the Green Party, has called on the new Coalition Government to ‘think again' on plans to speed up the introduction of school ‘City Academies'.

Legislation is expected before the summer holidays.

Policies for City Academies effectively take the schools out of local education authority control, leaving parents and staff with little say over how they are run.

Speaking at a meeting last night (Wednesday 16 June) organised to highlight concerns about proposals for another Academy in the city of Brighton and Hove, at Portslade Community College, Caroline made the case that the decision over Portslade would affect education provision across the city.

She appealed to the new Government to ‘think again' before allowing schools to apply for Academy status without consulting parents, staff or students.

She said, "New Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove is planning to introduce legislation before the summer holidays that may well result in significant numbers of our schools becoming academies.

"Under the Government's proposals, schools could become Academies without any real consultation with pupils, parents, school staff or the local authority.

"A board of governors will be able to decide if a school should become an Academy and then they could just announce it.

"All those people with an active and very real interest in the future of the school can be by passed and their concerns just overlooked."

She urged a rethink before any more schools in the city become Academies and said that there was no evidence that academies by themselves improve performance. .

"The priority has got to be the best possible local education for our children," she said, "but the evidence suggests, time and again, that academies are at best a distraction, and at worst, they undermine that aim"

"Yes, the national curriculum is not perfect. Yes, teachers need greater flexibility and teaching should be focussed on genuine learning and achievement rather that jumping through hoops and ticking boxes.

"But giving away control of the curriculum to a private business which may have absolutely no educational expertise at all - Is that really the best way to raise standards?

"I think that properly funded state schools can best help meet their and all our young people's educational needs, not schools where the balance sheet takes precedence over a balanced curriculum."

For more information please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

"Eric Pickles celebrated Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month by slashing the budget for gypsy and traveller sites by £30 million, which could put the future of an official site in Brighton and Hove in jeopardy"

"For good measure he is planning to revive police powers to arrest gypsies and travellers or forcibly move them on."

"His Dark Ages approach will do nothing to help the gypsy and traveller communities who will be pushed from pillar to post. Nor will it help the settled communities that are sometimes disrupted by their arrival."

"A national network of sites is needed that will bring an end to illegal camping and improve the life, health and education chances of gypsies and travellers and their families. "

"Mr Pickles' punitive approach to this issue is more evidence that the coalition has little concern for vulnerable communities, and I find it staggering that the Lib Dems are able to support him."

Fore more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Caroline Lucas MP for Brighton Pavilion was named 'Ethical Politician of the Year' by the Observer newspaper last night.

Caroline beat David Cameron, and former climate secretary Ed Milliband, in picking up the award for the third time.

Her previous two wins were in 2009 and 2007.

Caroline said: "I am delighted to have been chosen by readers of the Observer a third time

"It means a great deal to be recognised by such a prestigious award.

"I am proud to represent a party in parliament which is committed to putting people and our planet first. I'd like to thank Observer readers who voted for me.

"At a time of economic upheaval and environmental challenge, the Greens' positive vision for the future has never been more needed."

www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/10/2010-observer-ethical-living-awards

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Brighton Pavilion constituency's Green MP Caroline Lucas, who is also Green Party leader, has tabled an amendment to the Queen's Speech which would put the future of the UK's nuclear arsenal in the balance by forcing the government to reconsider the issue of Britain's WMD.

The Greens have always passionately opposed the holding of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

Caroline Lucas has tabled the amendment jointly with MPs from Plaid Cymru and the Scottish Nationalist Party.

And the three parties have called on Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs to support the amendment, under which the £100 billion Trident renewal would be included in the forthcoming strategic defence and security review. Current government plans are to exclude the Trident renewal from the review - as a done deal.

The parties hope to gain further support from the ranks of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives before pushing the amendment to a vote this evening (Monday 7 June).

In the coalition agreement for government the Liberal Democrats claimed that they "will continue to make the case for alternatives" to Trident.

All three parties have issued public statements made by Caroline plus the Westminster leaders of the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, Angus Robertson MP and Elfyn Llywd MP.

Caroline said: "As we begin a new parliament with a new government, the time has come to rise above party politics and fundamentally challenge the decision to renew Trident.

"We cannot continue to lecture countries such as Iran on the implications of their nuclear programme whilst proceeding blindly with our own - a move which would be both hypocritical and dangerous.

"Moreover, nuclear weapons remain a costly distraction from the real security threats we face, like climate change.

"The billions being spent on Trident replacement could be much better spent on investing in developing the infrastructure we need for a zero carbon economy, as well as in protecting public services.

"To use the money on a project that will make Britain and the world a far more dangerous place is politically irresponsible, morally bankrupt, and economically obscene."

Notes

1. The amendment, which will appear on Monday morning's order paper, reads:

As an Amendment to the Address, at end add-

"but respectfully request that the Government include as part of its Strategic Defence and Security Review a full examination of the Trident nuclear missile system, and any possible replacement."

2. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Programme for Government document states, at page 15:

"We will maintain Britain's nuclear deterrent, and have agreed that the renewal of Trident should be scrutinised to ensure value for money.

Liberal Democrats will continue to make the case for alternatives."

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

"We heard last week the council is planning to raise additional income from new advertising hoardings across the city.

"Turning down the Community Base application would smack of double standards, particularly as advertising has brightened the north wall of the building without objection for five years," said Cllr West, who represents St Peter's and North Laine.

"For reasons best know to themselves, planners now claim the advertisement detracts from the setting of two conservation areas and are opposing the application.

"However, the council itself has advertising in the adjacent West Hill Conservation Area.

"We urge Tory councillors, who voted against retaining the banner earlier this year [2], to join councillors from other parties in throwing out the planners' recommendations.

"Community Base needs the income from the advertising to help keep down the rents for the 26 charitable and not-for-profit organisations based in the building.

"The organisations provide vital advice and support services to vulnerable people and those on low incomes.

"As the recession deepens the demand for their services is increasing but, in many cases, their funding is being squeezed.

"Higher rents could mean a loss of their services at this critical time for so many people in the city."

Cllr West continued: "We have heard a great deal from David Cameron and other Tories about the ‘Big Society' project.

"Community Base provides the secure foundations for many groups who have been engaged in supporting local people for years- among them Mencap, Cruse Bereavement Care and the NHS Support Federation.

"I challenge local Tory councillors to demonstrate that the ‘Big Society' idea is more than an election gimmick by supporting the planning application."

Lizzie Deane, Green Party candidate for the St Peter's and North Laine by-election and a founder member and Vice-Chair of the St Nicholas Green Spaces Association: 01273 702597

Notes

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

[1] Further information about Community Base:

· Community Base is home to 26 charitable and community organisations, including Mencap, Cruse Bereavement Care, and the NHS Support Federation.

· More than 170,000 people were offered help or support by charities and community groups at Community Base in 2009. 14,000 people came into Community Base to get help, including 1,100 to find out about local volunteering opportunities.

· Community Base's website had 80,000 visits in 2009 - an increase of 39% on 2008 - mainly from people using our search services to find local volunteering opportunities, community services or venues for hire

· The loss of advertising revenue is valued at £18,500 per year, equivalent to a 5% rent rise

· Permission for the advertising banner was originally granted for five years in 2004, no complaints have been received. The previous planning application attracted 24 letters of support

[2] The vote by Tory members of the Planning Committee to refuse permission for the advert at Community Base was the subject of a formal complaint by Cllr West (text below):

Complaint made by Cllr West to Brighton and Hove City Council Standards Committee

Dr Mike Wilkinson

Chair, Standards Committee

c/o Standards & Complaints team

Brighton & Hove City Council

FREEPOST SEA2560

Brighton

19th January 2010

Code of Conduct Complaint regarding conduct of Conservative Party councillors at Planning Applications Committee Meeting, 3rd February 2010

Dear Dr Wilkinson,

I wish to register an official complaint about the conduct of Conservative Councillors Caulfield, Cobb, Hyde, Smart, Theobald & Wells at the Planning Applications Committee meeting on 3rd February.

I attended the meeting as a ward councillor to speak in support of the application submitted by Community Base for the renewal of their permission to have a large advertisement on the end wall of their building in Queen's Road.

While the application was being considered I witnessed a number the conservative members repeatedly asking about the appropriateness of the use of advertising space for party political advertising. Since the only party political advert every displayed on the site was commissioned by the Green Party, and Councillor Steedman who is an employee of the Green Party had earlier declared an interest and withdrawn from the meeting, I believe the conservative councillors were referring to that Green Party advert.

The Solicitor to the Committee was moved to point out to the conservative councillors that the nature of the content of adverts displayed isn't a planning consideration. However, I recall some conservative councillors persisted in raising the same point, complaining about the use of the space for political advertising.

Unfortunately the web-cam coverage appears to be unavailable to support my memory of events, but the draft minutes do state that Cllrs Smart and Theobald "enquired whether it would be possible to add a condition to any permission granted, controlling the type of advertisement displayed". I do recall Cllr Cobb also raised the point about political adverting.

When subsequently the vote was taken to decide the application all the conservative councillors, including the chair, voted against the application.

I certainly got the impression that the conservative councillors may have organised themselves in advance, and possibly predetermined their decision. Their decision to refuse permission for the Community Base's planning application seems to have been politically-motivated.

I am greatly concerned that many community and voluntary groups which rely on Community Base for a wide range of services will now be faced with financial hardship, in a fiscal climate which has already seen swingeing cuts to funding for the sector.

I am concerned that in perhaps allowing petty party politics to cloud an important decision, that will have wide ranging impacts for vulnerable people in the city, these conservative councillors may have shown scant regard for the responsibilities of their office and may be bringing the council into disrepute. If that were to be the case then it would be a scandal.

I have also recently learned that all members of the Planning Applications Committee are now to receive training in Good Practice and Procedures - is this any coincidence!

I would appreciate it if you would consider my complaint in accordance with the code of conduct for councillors. I believe the relevant passages refer to: "...you must not bring your office or the authority into disrepute while acting in your official capacity..."

Many thanks

Cllr Pete West

St Peter's & North Laine Ward

Brighton & Hove City Council