Those are not my words but those of Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, who was in Cheltenham last week. Caroline made the point that some 20 years ago, Brighton was a two-party battleground between the Conservatives and Labour.
It has since elected an MP in four consecutive general elections and twice made the Greens the
largest party on the council. The town is a healthy three-way fight, which is something Cheltenham should and could aspire to have.
Cheltenham doesn’t have to continue in a two-party system it is time for change.
Inadequate Investment in Flood Defences
With expected shifts in the British climate to more intense rainfall and greater frequency of flash
floods, government investment plans for flood defences contain no guarantee that the country will
be more resilient to flooding.
The warning comes as a report from the National Audit Office highlights that the Environment
Agency (EA) has reduced the predicted number of properties it will be able protect by 2027 from
336,000 to 200,000.
Due to cuts from central government, the Environment Agency has had to remove 500 of the 2,000
new flood defence projects that were originally included.
As the thousands who have been flooded will testify, prevention is better than cure. The
Government should allow those in vulnerable areas to apply for small grants to protect their
businesses and households before a flood hits, rather than afterwards.
There also needs to be a greater emphasis on creating natural flood defences through practices such
as planting trees and hedges that absorb water and restoring bends in rivers. And rather than
bulldozing planning laws, as Labour proposes, we need to reassess regulations which
unbelievably still allow for building on flood plains.
A statement of failure
Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement was notably missing any significant green policy or investment –
with the Chancellor even bragging about new oil and gas licences granted by the Conservatives.
Last week’s statement contained only short-term fixes. The £960m investment by 2030 for a new
“green industries growth accelerator” programme is not, as BusinessGreen’s James Murray puts it,
“going to move the dial”.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer rightly dismissed the statement as “another failed opportunity
to end the cost-of-living crisis, tackle the climate crisis and restore crumbling public services on
which we all rely.”
Only the Green Party has the political will to deliver a fairer and greener Britain
If you have any questions about this article or want to raise any issues with me as your Green Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham, you can contact me at directly at daniel.wilson@cheltenham.greenparty.org.uk
