Lancaster & District Green Party

John O’Gaunt Green Party councillor Jude Towers is trying to re-roof a Bus shelter on Bowerham Road. The issue was highlighted by residents of Bowerham Road to Cllr Towers who said ‘Those of us regularly using public transport are very familiar with Lancaster’s pretty unique weather, so roofless bus shelters are a real problem. The bus shelter, maintained by the County Council, has been roofless for several weeks, but is now on the County’s list of repair jobs.’

One resident did ponder though whether no roof made the bus shelter smoking ban null and void!

Plans by British Waterways Marinas Ltd (BWML) to redevelop the canal basin at Glasson without putting in any planning application were ruled to be out of order by the Government Office for the North West. Chris Coates,Green County Councillor for Glasson said “…this is what everyone has been calling for from the start. The marina company have been arrogant and somewhat foolish in pushing ahead without taking into account the views of local people.” (more…)

Lancashire Green County Councillor Chris Coates was the guest speaker at the regular meeting of Scottish Greens in Castle Douglas in Galloway last week. Cllr Coates spoke about the success of the Green Party in Lancaster and there was a lively discussion on how that might be repeated in South West Scotland.
Also speaking at the meeting was Cllr Kieran Wild from Glasgow Green Party.

Plans to build a car park at Lancaster Priory have ended up in a legal muddle. Planning permission was granted without the Council being aware that the land was protected by the Open Spaces Act. Local residents who objected to the scheme applied for Town Green status for the area and it was at the hearing that the Open Spaces designation was uncovered. The legal team at the council is now trying to unravel the situation. But, for the time being at least, no work should start on the car park.

Lancashire Care NHS Trust have selected the greenfield Royal Albert Fields site, in Ashton Road, as their number one choice for a multi-million pound mental health unit in North Lancashire.

The trust claim they have given careful consideration to “Site surveys, site conditions, planning advice.” and now intend to move on to applying for planning permission. (more…)

At the annual County Council meeting budget Green County Councillor Chris Coates proposed that a huge saving in costs and carbon emissions could be made by turning off selected street lighting between the hours of midnight and 5am.

Cllr Coates said “My first reaction to this idea was that there were serious implications for road safety and anti-social behaviour, but trials in other parts of the country don’t bear this out.” (more…)

Hornby High School is no longer under imminent threat of closure by the County Council. An innovative proposal to form a ‘small schools’ federation’ between Hornby and Skerton has made the County Council rethink its plans.The campaign to save the school from closure got incredible support from parents and local people. The two schools will keep their own identities and links with their different communities.

The Secretary of State has decided to give planning permission for the Heysham-M6 link road. The news is a blow to campaigners trying to bring some sanity into local transport planning.
“This is a heavy blow for our district and the planet’s climate,” commented Green councillor Emily Heath, “but the campaign is not over yet!” (more…)

Royal Albert Residents Association (RARA) say they will fight plans for a mental health unit which could be built close to their homes. On Tuesday night a meeting was held at Scotforth Parish rooms to discuss the plans and ways of stopping any proposals to build on fields behind their homes. (more…)

It is one year since a joint committee of County and City councillors (Lancashire Locals - Lancaster) supported a proposal from Green councillors to adopt a 20mph speed limit on every residential road in Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham. In that time Lancashire County Council has done precisely – Nothing . Lancaster City councillor John Whitelegg, also an internationally-regarded expert in transport matters Said “The County Council has done nothing to put this idea into practice and nothing to put it out to public consultation. So today I’ve sent a birthday card to County Councillor leader Hazel Harding reminding her that this decision is one year old and that we are still waiting for action”.