Both candidates along with their strong teams out and about..

We have had a huge demand for our Vote Green boards around both Eastgate, Colden Common and Twyford.

The post gaining momentum in Winchester Eastgate and colden common / twyford by-elections appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

Please have your say now!

The Devolution White Paper has significant implications for formation of a new Mayor led Strategic Combined Authority for Hampshire and the Solent. This will lead to the biggest changes in 50 years as to how our District and County will be ‘governed’!

When answering the Consultation questions please consider strong comments about the missing statutory Nature and Climate duties for the new Authority.

Some thoughts on what you might wish to say about the missing climate and nature duties in the Devolution Bill – can be found here https://seclimatealliance.uk/making-devolution-work-for…/

SEE THE PDF HERE

The post Last chance to comment on Government’s White Paper on devolution appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

hampshire county council by-election for winchester eastgate – lorraine estelle

Lorraine has been a Green Party member for a number of years. Living in the St. Bartholomew area makes her central to see all the issues which arise in Winchester.

Just recently, upon reading the breaking news that Southampton University had pulled out of redeveloping the River Park Leisure Centre, within 24 hours she arranged for a stall to be displayed outside the Centre inviting local residents to voice their views on what the next steps should be. This proved most successful (read the results here).

Her many involvements in the city include being a volunteer tour guide at the Cathedral and leads historical walks through the city and surrounding area.

Lorraine say’s..’I hear concerns about our throw away culture and that they are keen to see local initiatives to reduce waste and encourage reuse. They want to see greater action to enable
walking, cycling and viable public transport and the use of more affordable renewable energy. By listening to local people and working through our political system the Green Party can contribute
to real change on these vital and urgent issues’.

winchester city council by-election for colden common & twyford – liam bailey-morgan

Liam is a long-standing member of the Green Party and strong advocate for thinking global acting local.

Liam has worked in the humanitarian and international development sectors for over 16 years, and it was seeing first-hand the disastrous consequences of UK foreign policy, climate change and an unfair international economic system that led him to join the Green Party.

Living in Twyford, Liam is passionate about local politics and the issues that members of his community are concerned about in Twyford and Colden Common, particularly those that overlap with the Green Party’s values such as improved public transport, reducing the speed limit, and improved cycling provision.

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Would you like to help Lorraine and Liam by having a ‘Vote Green’ election board in your front garden, or a poster for your window? If so, please email: contact@winchester.greenparty.org.uk Thank you

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The post Our candidates for two by-elections on 1st.May 2025 appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

it’s your views which matter !

Upon hearing the breaking news story in the Hampshire Chronicle referring to the LibDem Council led deal with Southampton University to redevelop the River Park Leisure Centre falling through, within 24 hours, led by Lorraine Estelle, we arranged a Stall outside the Leisure Centre informing residents about the news and for their views on alternative uses for the site.

The hours spent there were most beneficial. Here’s a list of  Here’s a list of all comments made on our post-it note ‘Have your Say’ board…

our ‘yes – no – don’t know’ board

Click image to view full size

Again, this shows just how much our residents care about the future of our beautiful city, also a good panoramic view from all ages.

We’d like to thank all those who took participated and rest assured all these points will be raised with the relevant committees of our City Council.

IT’S YOUR VIEWS THAT COUNT !

See also the Hampshire Chronicle ”Winchester Greens on the
River Park Leisure Centre’ article here >>

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‘keeping you informed all year round’

social media

We like to keep residents of the Winchester District informed ALL YEAR ROUND and not just sudden surges in the weeks leading up to an election.

Here is the full list of our social media platforms where you will find regular local news and activities…

Following the results of the USA elections, a huge number of people left twitter and moved to Bluesky. The UK now has 2.8 million users. We started our page on 28th.November ’24 and numbers are gradually growing.
Link: https://bsky.app/profile/wingreenparty.bsky.social

Winchester Greens
This is our general facebook page which covers the whole of the Winchester City Council district.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/winchestergreenparty/

Central Meon Valley Councillors
Run by Green Councillor’s Suzanne White, Malcolm Wallace and Danny Lee this features their news and activities within the Ward and beyond.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/meonvalleycouncillors/

Meon Valley County Green Councillor Malcolm Wallace
Run by Malcolm. The county electoral boundary varies to the rest of our domain, although some villages in the Central Meon Valley do overlap.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/meonvalleygreenparty/

Our Instagram page was started late 2022 and with followers up by 80% in the last six month’s it is proving to be more and more popular.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/winchestergreenparty

For now, are continuing with this platform and watching the trends carefully.
Link: https://x.com/wingreenparty/

Run by Alex Ellis, this is a new social media platform to Winchester Greens and already proving to be popular. Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@winchester_green_party

Finally of course, there’s our website. If it’s the first time you’ve visited, please go to the top of the page where you will find useful information links about us and some forthcoming events which may be of some interest.

The post Winchester Greens on the Web appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

Malcolm stated “The Council must seize the opportunity provided by the development of more efficient, cost effective technologies as well as by the innovative solutions and business models offered by local companies that are tailored to the needs of councils’ housing….

As we have heard in the debate, these schemes are not without risks and challenges, in terms of upfront costs and ensuring equity of benefit across the tenant base for example. However, a feasibility study of the current market models will investigate what viable, practical options are available for Councils and is therefore worth exploring.
It is noted that the council’s retrofit programme will now include the possible options of solar PV and battery storage to be considered alongside the fabric improvements to the building to raise the energy performance ratings. Here is an opportunity to investigate how the council could scale up and crucially speed up this process of
decarbonisation of housing. By outsourcing to one of the local companies who are now running these schemes, there is very little extra staffing resource required. It could also have the added benefit of stimulating green business in our local economy.

Read the Public Document pack HERE

In supporting this motion, we are showing leadership in making a very strong commitment to further reducing carbon and providing housing fit for the future. In the face of this uncertainty surrounding future local
government arrangements, we will send a clear message to council staff, residents and neighbouring authorities about our ambition to achieve the best possible housing for our tenants within any future combined unitary
authority.And so what about the tenants? From attending Housing committee meetings, it is notable how the council’s housing department put theneeds of our tenants at the heart of their decisions.

This motion gives usan opportunity to explore how solar panels could unlock further benefits for tenants- lower energy bills in the face of yet more price increases, more comfortable, healthy housing fit for the future, energy resilience in increasingly turbulent times.
I am grateful to Cllr Wallace for his work over many months researching these schemes and to the officers and the housing portfolio holder who
gave up their time to discuss and help shape the motion you are presented with. A truly collaborative effort which I hope you feel you can support.
Thank you.

The post Green motion commits Council to explore solar for council housing. appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

On the 26th.February the trustees of Denmead Community Centre welcomed visitors from other community buildings around the district. 

Winchester Green Party was represented by Councillor Suzanne White

They shared their experience of raising funds and arranging the installation of solar panels on their building.

Stu Mills, Project Manager for WinACC also gave a presentation about the community solar support scheme.

It’s fantastic to see so many communities embracing solar panels for their buildings. We’ve been blown away (and very busy) by the interest shown.

The post winchester action on the climate crisis – denmead community centre appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

Delivering new year cards

Our non relenting team of volunteers managed to deliver 12,000 new Year cards. This covered the Meon Valley County ward for which Malcolm Wallace is Councillor and incorporates Whiteley, Curbridge, Shedfield, Waltham Chase, Swanmore, Meonstoke, Warnford and Hambledon to name just a few places.

In the Winchester District Wards a huge number were also distributed.

Delivering so many by hand in the rain, wind and cold of January was no mean task, but as always,our Team was up to the challenge and a good time was had by all.

Are you able to help with delivering newsletters and leaflets to people’s homes? Any help, no matter how much time you can give us, would be greatly appreciated. Go to our ‘Get Involved page for more details.

Coiuncillor Surgery in Droxford

Once again St.Wilfred’s Cafe kindly gave us permission to use their premises and as always it was well attended by local residents keen to speak about their issues, concerns or just to ask more for more details of the goings on in Winchester District and County Councils.

Please keep your eyes on our facebook, bluesky, instagram and X-Twitter pages for times and places in other areas.

our annual general meeting 8th.january

Joint Co-ordinator Max Priesemann gave a presentation of our progress and achievements in 2024.

There are some changes to our Team. New appointments as follows….

Communications Officer; Virginia Ainscough
Membership Secretary; Liam Bailey-Morgan
Database and Protection Officer; Luke Ainscough

You can see the full team on our People page here.

It was also announced that our other Joint Co-ordinator Kate Needham has been selected as Elections Co-ordinator for our regional South East Green Party. This is as well as her role for Winchester Greens.

our first ‘green chat’ of 2025

Once again we met at Projects Kitchen and Store in Winchester. With another three popping in and out to say hello, we were sixteen in total, a great sign of how these mornings are growing to be a very popular event amongst green minded people and of course, just having a chat in general.

The post A busy start to the year for winchester greens appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

Ellie Chowns MP

Ellie, as our lead MP on foreign affairs, responded to the ceasefire in Gaza, urging that the UK keeps pushing on legal recognition of the State of Palestine, ending the occupation and for accountability of all who have committed war crimes. You can read the Foreign Secretary’s response here.

Ellie also asked the Government about their failure to meet key environmental targets, and spoke in a debate about the importance of better palliative care.

Sian Berry MP

Siân tabled a cross-party motion in Parliament calling on the Government to follow in the footsteps of over 100 local authorities and ban the use of pesticides in public places. This follows on from Sian’s Bill seeking to do the same thing and is part of a campaign with Pesticide Action Network.

She’s also been speaking out against the expansion of Heathrow, urging Ministers to follow the science and advice from their independent climate advisers: the Climate Change Committee.

Adrian Ramsay MP

Adrian has been standing up for his constituents on a wide range of topics this month, including setting out for the Minister the impact that the loss of dentists has on rural areas, highlighting how villages in Waveney Valley are struggling with poor broadband speeds, and speaking during a debate about flood preparedness. His contribution to the latter focused on nature based solutions in particular and can be read in full here.

Baroness Jenny Jones

Jenny recently had hip replacement surgery, which has slowed her down this month, but she still found the energy to question the government’s failure to release IPP prisoners.

We have huge levels of prison over-crowding; delayed justice for victims whose cases have been put on hold and the early release of many convicted of serious offences. Despite this, the government is refusing to fast track the cases of IPP prisoners who have been locked up indefinitely for minor offences, such as stealing a plant pot, or a mobile phone. This scandal has led to many suicides and Jenny has met the Minister to try to help get it resolved. 

Baroness Natalie Bennet

Natalie has spent a lot of the past month hosting events in parliament, which gives scientists, NGOs and campaigners the crucial access to MPs, Peers, officials, and journalists. In the past month Natalie has hosted:

• The Green Economics Institute, celebrating 20 years of work to create a global network of intelligent and caring voices for social, environmental and economics justice and creating a multidisciplinary academic narrative of green economics! Speakers included Miriam Kennet, Anjikwi Mshelbwalla, Bianca Madison-Vuleta, and Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield.
  
• A roundtable on Accelerating Human-Specific Technologies on behalf of Animal Free Research UK brought together leading experts in human-specific technologies and was attended by several MPs. The event included a call for Herbie’s Law to enable the phase out of animal testing in medical research.
  
• A meeting of experts on Bovine TB Policy acknowledging that the science behind the badger cull is deeply and fatally flawed and has been a very costly distraction to the primary control effort needed – biosecurity to control this cattle disease.

Natalie has also secured a debate in the Lords about Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates.

The post January updates from our Greens in Parliament appeared first on Winchester Green Party.

• Local decision-making: Ensure decisions are made at the closest possible level to the people affected.
• Community trust: Empower local communities to shape their own futures.
• Fair investment: Provide councils with adequate funding to drive meaningful change.
• Proportional representation: Implement fair voting in local elections.
Green Party MP Ellie Chowns voiced her concerns during a parliamentary debate, stating, “I welcome the elements of this White Paper that are about devolution, but we have to recognize that some elements are about concentration.” She warned that replacing local tiers with mayoral authorities risks creating a “democratic deficit”, especially given the low voter turnout (30% on average) in mayoral elections.
Chowns pressed the government to address this risk and urged for the introduction of proportional voting systems in local elections. The Green Party’s overarching message is clear: devolution must genuinely empower local communities, not distance them from decision-making processes. They pledge to continue advocating for local councils to retain and expand their role in leading green transformation across the country.

Local Response from Central Meon Valley Councillors…

Central Meon Valley Councillors Danny Lee, Malcolm Wallace, and Suzanne White have committed to minimising the impact of the proposed changes on local decision-making and democratic accountability. They emphasized the need for local input on key priorities, including housing, environmental protection, local economy and infrastructure improvements.
“As plans develop, we will work hard to ensure the impact on local decision-making and democratic accountability is minimised,” the councillors stated. “This includes ensuring local inputs into prioritisation of the right homes in the right places, supporting nature, climate, local economy, and transport improvements.”

Cllr Danny Lee added, “The timelines for the reorganisation of Winchester and the Meon Valley are still being worked on, but the Government has committed to collaborating with local councils to develop and implement transition plans. Specific timelines for the dissolution of existing councils and the establishment of new unitary authorities will be determined during this phase. So, for now it is business as usual”

For more information on the White Paper and the Local Government Association’s https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/devolution-white-paper-day-factual-briefing

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