Andrew Cooper | Sheffield Green Party

Greens on Sheffield City Council have welcomed the introduction of a more democratic Committee system on Sheffield City Council where all 84 Councillors are directly involved in decision making.

The proposals mean an end of the Cabinet model where only the 10 members on it are able to vote on issues that affect people’s everyday lives. The decisions by the then Labour Cabinet leading to the felling of thousands of street trees and trying to jail protestors played a large part in the positive vote for a committee system in the referendum held last May.

Green Councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Brian Holmshaw paid tribute to the independent ‘It’s our City’ campaign who successfully campaigned for a referendum on reintroducing the Committee system, They spoke to well over 26,000 local people.

“The “It’s our City” campaign which I was proud to be an active supporter of, has resulted in new modern looking committees for the 21st century. The people of Sheffield saw that the council democratic structures were lacking, over centralised, top down, ill-considered, and as a result, wrong for the people of Sheffield. They dragged the then council kicking and screaming to long overdue change.”

Green Councillors Christine Gilligan-Kubo, Kaltum Rivers and Peter Garbutt were involved in the

detailed work that steered the necessary changes to the City Council’s Constitution to today’s meeting,

Councillor Gilligan-Kubo said,

“There are of course the necessary changes needed to ensure we have a Committee System but we must see the changes to the culture of the Council that should come with those technical changes. All Councillors will be involved in making policy. It means that simply opposing policies because they come from another party, or they weren’t your idea should no longer be an option. If we have a more cooperative, collaborative way of working then that will be good for the Council and is more likely to respect the wishes of the people of Sheffield.”

Councillor Peter Garbutt said,

“As well as working in a more positive cross party way the committee system must engage local people much more effectively in decision making. We can ensure we take evidence from local people to inform decisions, have informed local people as co optees on committees and ensure all sections of the community are involved in the things that affect them.”

Councillor Douglas Johnson who is the Green Party Executive Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport on the Cooperative Executive that the Green Party share with Labour said,

“The introduction of a Committee system is a really positive step in the right direction; however it is easy to amend constitutions but you cannot amend attitudes. We still have a long way to go in Sheffield and one thing that has been clear over the last year is that whatever the political system, we get better decisions when politicians from different parties have to work together. A Council with a dominant Labour or Lib Dem majority will not deliver that.”

Cllr Christine Gilligan-Kubo outside Hillsborough Primary School

Hillsborough Green Party Councillor Christine Gilligan-Kubo is pursuing a proposal to improve road safety for pupils at Hillsborough Primary School. At the start and end of the school day many parents park their cars illegally outside the school on the busy Catch Bar Lane.

“Children often run across the road going to and from school and despite warnings from the Head Teacher some parents continue to park directly outside the school. We have improved the signage outside the school to make it more difficult for anyone to ignore but still people persist in parking dangerously and it makes the likelihood of a tragic accident much more likely”.

Councillor Gilligan- Kubo is suggesting a proposal to encourage parents to use the car park at Hillsborough Park at School opening and closing times.

“It is a short walk from the car park to the school of just a few minutes and I am proposing that the Council waive the 70p charge for parents at the end of the school day and encourage them to use the free parking in the morning. In reality the car park has plenty of space at these times anyway so the Council will not be losing any revenue. The school could offer parents short term passes to park in the car park to encourage more responsible parking and prevent the possibility of a child being hit be a vehicle. If necessary, we could make a small contribution to cover the loss of parking revenue from the Local Area Committee Budget though I would anticipate that this cost would be negligible. In the meantime I will continue to push for better enforcement of parking conditions.”

Councillor Gilligan will raise the proposal with Sheffield Council’s Car Parks Department, Hillsborough Primary School and the Local Area Committee.

On Sunday March 13th Councillor Martin Phipps gave this speech to the Sheffield World Health Organisation 2022 Conference.

Thank you for having me today to talk about the climate and linked nature emergency we are in. It’s great to see so many people here passionate about addressing it and acting now.

One Health isn’t a term I’d actually come across before, but I think it perfectly encapsulates the approach that is needed to address the climate crisis. Much like we have seen in the spread of covid during the pandemic, we are all interlinked. Climate change does not have borders.

In Sheffield we can expect: wetter winters and more intense rainfall, meaning higher flood risks and, due to more surface water, higher and more severe flash flood risk, warmer and drier summers that may affect our food and water supply, as well as damaging buildings and infrastructure, ecosystems and biodiversity to be hugely impacted due to the changing climate and price increases of energy, unless we successfully switch to renewables.

Nationally and regionally we can also expect rising sea levels, with reports suggesting that Doncaster could be on the seaside in 30 years, with significant parts of it underwater, as well as more extreme storms.

Internationally we can expect more drought and famine, with rising sea levels set not to just flood settlements, but whole countries. I’m sure many of you will remember the passionate press conference the Foreign Minister of the pacific island Tuvalu, Simon Kofe, gave to COP 26, standing at a podium in the sea to highlight rising sea levels. We can expect huge numbers of climate refugees, people leaving their homes which have been made no longer habitable.

Between 2030 and 2050 climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, diarrhoea and heat stress. The direct damage costs to health is estimated to be between 2 – 4 billion dollars a year by 2030.

Inequality has fueled climate change, in 2019 it was revealed in a report that 20 companies were behind a third of all climate emissions. We know the richest companies and individuals in the world are disproportionately the largest contributors to the climate crisis, with Oxfam estimating that the richest 1% caused double the CO2 emissions of the poorest half of the world from 1990 to 2015. We also know that it is the global south and the poorest countries that are going to be hit the worst by climate change, those with less money and less money in health systems will be the least able to respond to its impacts, as well as geographically being the most impacted by rising temperatures and sea levels.

We cannot address the climate crisis without addressing the inequity that fuels it and is being fueled by it. Countries that are bearing the brunt and expected to face the worst of the climate crisis must be supported by the wealthier countries that have been the largest contributors to the crisis, both in supporting adaptation and mitigation as well as in reducing their emissions.

As a wealthy city and country we must be leading the way in decarbonising, and in raising people up in doing so. Climate justice is social justice. This is why we brought a motion in 2019 to Sheffield council declaring a climate emergency and that we must act to be net zero carbon by 2030.

Insulating houses and fitting solar panels and heat pumps will not only reduce household emissions, it will save people money. Improve public and active transport will reduce car dependency and enable those on the lowest incomes who are unable to afford a car to get around better, as well as the health benefits from walking and cycling.

We know the role all of these play in health, with air pollution in Sheffield contributing to the early death of 500 people a year. The driving causes of climate change are driving causes of health inequality. To address one we must address another.

A concept that we’ve been pushing as a group and I’ve personally been pushing in my role as a health committee member in the council is of a well-being economy. This is a way of looking at our economy not just in terms of GDP, but in terms of health and well-being outcomes, judging a successful economy by these and making decisions to improve health and well-being.

New Zealand, Scotland and Wales are just 3 countries that have adopted this model, and addressing the climate crisis has been Central to this health

Going back to the One Health approach and our interconnectedness, I was recently messaging someone I know who works in the NHS about the NHS Green plan. The council cannot address climate change on it’s own, and neither can our health organisations, we need a One health approach desperately to do this. We have seen how humans can adapt and act in the face of crisis over the recent years, it is critical we do this at pace now for the climate crisis in the face of an ever narrowing window of opportunity, as stated by the latest IPCC report. We must act now to stay within a 1.5 C rise from pre industrial levels.

Councillor Douglas Johnson Sheffield City Council today (2 March 2022) voted against setting a lawful budget for the next 12 months. Green councillors voted against the budget after Labour councillors had voted to reject the Green councillors’ amendment.

By contrast, Green councillors had voted for the Labour amendment in order to secure a substantial investment in community renewable energy generation, something the Green Party has long campaigned for.

What happened next? Cllr Douglas Johnson explains,

“After Labour failed to get its budget passed, the LibDems offered to change their vote if Labour would drop its amendment. However, Greens fought to keep the amendment with its significant investment in community renewable energy and we then formally abstained on the budget so that this could be secured.

Councillor Douglas Johnson said,

“The Green Group looked at all the amendments. Though there were things in the Labour amendment that we had reservations about, we thought it was important to recognise the good things in Labour’s amendment and not make the mistake of just voting along party lines. That sort of tribal politics should be the politics of the past and is no good for the people of Sheffield.”

The Labour Group and the Lib Dems all voted against the Green Party Amendment, however.

Councillor Johnson said

“I was disappointed that Labour were unable to see beyond party politics on something as important as the City Council’s budget. I firmly believe that the spirit of our Cooperative Administration should be about being open to ideas from outside our own political groups”.

One of the sticking points for Labour in the Green Amendment was support for establishing an Employers Workplace Parking Levy to help pay for improvements. In Nottingham, the levy on large employers raises more than £9 million each year, with the revenue used to fund tram infrastructure, a smart card scheme, electric buses, cycling facilities and grants to businesses. Leicester City Council are also looking at introducing a levy based on Nottingham’s success.

Councillor Johnson said

“We believe that establishing a workplace parking levy to support public transport and active travel is progressive and vital if we are going to have the investment to deliver the public transport system we need to address the climate emergency. Small employers with fewer than 10 parking spaces pay nothing at all. It is the larger employers offering more than 10 parking spaces who pay a fee of £1.17 per day per parking space. There are exemptions for local emergency services, NHS frontline staff and blue badge holders. What is really important to understand is that funding improvements to public transport and facilities for cyclists and pedestrians in this way means we have more flexibility in council budgets to pay for things like Adult Social Care where the demand is huge and finance is limited.”

“It is astonishing that councillors would rather cut social care than put up parking charges.”

“I am aware that for the Labour Party this is a real problem and I have to confess I’m perplexed by that. I would love to say this is a scheme dreamed up by the Green Party but actually both Nottingham and Leicester Councils are led by Labour Administrations. It is an example of best practice that we should follow. I don’t care where good ideas come from, I think we should back them. That is what all forward-thinking, responsible councils should be doing.”

Nottingham tram improvements funded through Employers Workplace Parking Levy

Greens are proposing a multi-million pound investment in public transport, walking and cycling provision across Sheffield as part of their proposals to Sheffield City Council’s 2022 Budget.

Councillor Douglas Johnson (Executive Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport) said,

“This is a budget amendment to reflect the progress that has been made over the last year in setting out plans to decarbonise Sheffield.
“It addresses two of the big sectors of carbon emissions, homes and transport. We note the big step forward to look at large-scale housing retrofit programmes and want to back this up with a new £3 million Carbon Reduction Investment Fund. We also aim to provide genuine support for public transport with an honest approach to the cost of car parking and the real benefits of safe and convenient walking and cycling routes.”

This injection of cash would be funded through an Employers Workplace Parking Levy, where large employers pay a small levy on parking spaces, and this is used to fund alternatives to car travel. In Nottingham this has generated over £9 million income a year, which has doubled their tram network, with safer roads, protected cycle lanes, grants to businesses and a better environment for pedestrians.

Green Councillor for City Ward Ruth Mersereau said

“In the Nottingham scheme, small employers offering fewer than 10 parking spaces pay nothing at all. Larger employers offering more than 10 parking spaces pay a fee of £1.17 per day per parking space. There are exemptions for local emergency services, NHS frontline staff and blue badge holders. This would be the model we would be seeking to follow in Sheffield. Other Councils like Leicester and across Scotland are also looking to introduce Employers’ Workplace Parking Levies, so why not Sheffield, if we actually want to generate more money to invest in public transport?”

In other proposals, Greens are calling for Councillors to set an example by removing their ability to claim parking expenses, unless they are a Blue Badge holder.

“It is important that Councillors walk the talk and not have subsidised private car travel that is not available to the vast majority of people in Sheffield” said Cllr Alison Teal (Executive Member for Sustainable Neighbourhoods, Wellbeing, Parks and Leisures).

Pavement parking and parking enforcement is another area the Greens believe the Council could do much better on. In many areas in the City Centre and in the surrounding districts, there are communities who are suffering from inconsiderate and illegal parking. Partially sighted people, people in wheelchairs and parents with buggies frequently have to navigate blocked pavements causing not just inconvenience but real danger as they are forced to walk or wheel onto the roads.

“Pavements are for pedestrians, not cars and we’re pleased Green proposals to address this in the City Centre are coming into force, but we need more action across the districts where this is a problem. We have identified the need for action on proper access for the growing number of home deliveries, taxis ordered online and take-away food collection” said Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Councillor Angela Argenzio.

Greens backed the provision of a FreeBee bus service to improve access to shops and services for those travelling around the city centre and those people with limited mobility.

Councillor Paul Turpin (Executive Member for Inclusive Economy, Jobs and Skills) said, “Our city centre is changing and we want people to be able to get about and enjoy all that it offers, whatever their mobility needs – the free bus will help make that vision a reality.”

Adult social care is the biggest area of Council spending and there are real concerns about the limited funding for helping vulnerable people with their basic needs, poor pay for care workers and the whole idea of companies making profits out of something which is about human dignity. Greens have proposed support to help develop Community Based Care Cooperatives where staff will have a stake in the organisation they work for and the emphasis is on care not the profit motive.

City Ward Councillor Martin Phipps said,

“We will support the development of Care Cooperatives that will operate on the basis of reinvesting surpluses in improving and extending the services they offer to provide a wide range of care services”.
“These cooperatives will provide all staff with at least the living wage, a training programme which supports development and progression. This model of care provision will also play a role in raising standards in the wider care sector”.

The Greens also proposed a Carbon Reduction Investment Fund to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, support the development of renewable energy projects and to support a wide range of initiatives to address greenhouse gases at the earliest possible date to support our aim of being zero-carbon by 2030.

The Workplace Parking Levy has funded improvements to public transport in Nottingham

Greens on Sheffield City Council have proposed a new scheme to give a much needed boost to tram and bus services across the city

Cllr Ruth Mersereau, who represents the City Ward for the Green Party, said:

“It’s never been more important to take decisive action to tackle climate change – and transport is the sector that makes the biggest single contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.”

“I’m proposing a Workplace Parking Levy to offer a funded solution to get us on the road to bus franchising, so that we can crack on and deliver better buses (as well as better trams and better, safer active travel.”

Cllr Mersereau explained how the Workplace Parking Levy operated in Nottingham,

“Employers offering fewer than 10 parking spaces pay nothing at all. Employers offering more than 10 parking spaces pay a fee of £1.17 per day per parking space. There are exemptions for local emergency services, NHS frontline staff and blue badge holders”.

In Nottingham, the Workplace Parking Levy on employers has raised more than £9 million each year, with the revenue used to fund tram infrastructure, a smart card scheme, electric buses and cycling facilities.

“Nottingham has had great success with their scheme. Leicester is looking to follow suit. Legislation in Scotland could see similar schemes across the whole country. So let’s start to transform our city into a quieter, safer, less polluted, less congested one”

Green Councillor Martin Phipps, who also represents the City Ward, said:

“How often do we hear requests for the tram to be extended? Thanks to the workplace parking levy attracting matched funding, Nottingham was able to double its tram network! Adopting a workplace parking levy is a real way to help achieve this in Sheffield.”

The Green Party has taken the next step towards a major plan to make Sheffield’s homes warmer and tackle climate change.

At the Sheffield Full Council meeting on Wednesday 2nd February, Green Councillors will propose a motion “Net Zero Homes for Sheffield”. The motion follows on from detailed research by the Green Party into best practice on retrofitting homes to stop wasting energy.

Cllr Douglas Johnson said,

“With energy bills rising fast and the growing threat of the climate crisis, we need to take effective action to radically reduce emissions and ensure homes are affordable to heat.”

“Green Party councillors are proposing a scheme that has been trialled in Nottingham, Exeter and a number of London Boroughs. Under this radical approach, whole new insulated wall sections, complete with energy efficient windows, and insulated roof sections, complete with solar panels, are constructed in modern factory units. They are then installed much more quickly. This means far less disruption for tenants to get to warmer homes that look good too. than having insulation, windows and heating fitted separately.”

“The system is called Energiesprong after it was pioneered successfully in the Netherlands.

“As well as being a good technical solution to tackling cold homes, it also makes sense financially for both tenants and the Council as a Landlord. Instead of paying high fuel bills, tenants pay a “comfort charge” with a guarantee they will pay no more than what their bills would have cost without improvements.”

Figures from Energiesprong who have already helped a number of Councils with this type of scheme say that the typical energy bill after installation is around £500/year with a comfort charge of a similar amount. So roughly a guaranteed total cost per household of around £1000/yr.

Councillor Johnson pointed out some of the other economic benefits of the proposal.

“Another key benefit of the scheme is the very real possibility of establishing a modern manufacturing facility in Sheffield to construct the roof and wall modules which will be tailor made for each property. This would provide new skilled, worthwhile jobs in the green economy.”

Councillor Douglas Johnson inspecting homes built to the Energiesprong Standard in Nottingham.

At Wednesday’s Cooperative Executive, the Green Party Executive Member with responsibility for Climate Change, Councillor Douglas Johnson, proposed that Sheffield Council pursues a new radical programme to improve the energy efficiency of thousands of council homes at a time of rapidly rising energy prices. Councillor Johnson said,

“Just putting a bit of insulation in the roof or walls is not going to deliver the sort of savings we need to take tenants out of fuel poverty permanently. We need a whole house approach which can be delivered quickly with significant and substantial reductions in energy demand while delivering warm homes that are cheap to heat”.

The Green Group of Councillors on Sheffield City Council has been researching cutting edge, best practice from around the country and propose to use the Energiesprong method (developed in Holland) where whole wall and roof components complete with solar panels are produced, made to measure, in factories and installed in little more than a day. This approach is being developed by a consortium of councils including Nottingham, Exeter and a number of London boroughs who are all part of the Retrofit Accelerator Homes Innovation Partnership.

“Not only will this benefit tenants in terms of reduced bills but also presents the prospect of establishing a new manufacturing facility, with new skilled green jobs, in Sheffield, for assembly of the components, if we can generate enough work to justify the investment.” Said Councillor Johnson.

The finance model for Energiesprong produces savings for the council in maintenance, replacement and servicing costs of council homes. In addition, tenants will have to pay a comfort charge which is guaranteed to be less than the cost of the energy that the householder saves off their fuel bills.

Councillor Johnson said,

“Not only does this approach stack up financially for the householder and the Council it also makes often tired and outdated housing look new and up to date. It is effectively a new home for the tenants who live there”

Councillor Douglas Johnson went down to Nottingham earlier this week to look at both completed work on some of the improved homes and work in progress.

“It was impressive seeing how different the houses looked and we heard how satisfied tenants were with the work carried out. If we can develop this approach to dealing with the problems of council homes and build the capacity and capability to deliver this work at scale then we have the very real prospect of being able to offer this approach to help improve the homes of owner occupiers and private rented dwellings in Sheffield.”

At the Cooperative Executive meeting Councillor Johnson said,

“At the next Full Council meeting I will be submitting an amendment to the Housing Revenue Account detailing this proposal to allow all members to see the detail of what is involved and the real benefits of this scheme.”

(Picture of Councillor Douglas Johnson visiting properties improved to the Energiesprong standard in Nottingham)

The defeated Charles Street proposal (Artists impression)

“Residents in the City Centre deserve just as much access to light as other Sheffield householders” says Green Councillor Brian Holmshaw

Councillor Holmshaw was speaking on the Planning Application by ID Planning to build a 7 storey office block adjacent to low rise flat dwellers next to the proposed building on Charles Street in the City Centre. The proposal was to remove the existing 3 storey blocks and build a much higher building in its place. Following representations by Green Councillors in the City Ward the proposal reduced the number of storeys from 10 to 7.

Councillor Martin Phipps who represents the Greens in City Ward said,

“It is not just people’s light that needs to be considered but their privacy as well. The windows of officer workers will be directly opposite the living rooms of people living in Berona House and St Paul’s Chambers. That is simply not acceptable. Residents have made a strong case to the Council regarding their right to direct sunlight and privacy and I wholeheartedly support them.”

Green Cllr Peter Garbutt said,

“Even at 7 storeys the building is still oppressive and overbearing to its neighbours. Imagine if someone built a tower block in front of your kitchen window. It simply wouldn’t be allowed but somehow because it is in ‘The Heart of The City’ it is deemed acceptable. It is not fair to existing residents. City dwellers deserve just as much consideration as the rest of us. It’s their homes and their well being we are talking about after all.”

The Application was lost. 7 voted against the application and 6 for. So Councillors rejected the proposal by officers to accept the application.

Cllr Martin Phipps said,

“I am really pleased that the majority of the Committee understood and appreciated the strong case put forward by residents and supported by local Green City Ward Councillors.”

Green Councillors on Sheffield’s Planning Committee have opposed a new multi storey car park as part of the West Bar Development as it offers limited charging for electric vehicles and only 5 spaces for cycles.

Green Party Cllr Brian Holmshaw who is on the Planning Committee said

“It’s just an old style 20th century car park, where what we should have is a modern transport hub, with all bays having charging for electric vehicles and secure cycle storage for hundreds of bikes. This is completely inappropriate for a city the size of Sheffield, one that has been named the Greenest City in the country and a City that has declared a climate emergency where we are aiming to be Zero Carbon by 2030. 80% reduction in emissions by 2050 just isn’t credible. The developer needs to do more. What we definitely didn’t need was just another car park. We know that even at peak times car parks are well below capacity. Surveys in 2019 pre-pandemic found that peak short stay car parking was 60-65% of capacity and peak was 70% to 80%. Evidence that we don’t need yet another car park.”

Cllr Brian Holmshaw asked the Developer to withdraw the application and come back with one that would take into account the climate emergency target set by the Council. This was rejected by the applicant and the motion passed, with the support of Labour and the Lib Dems.

“I’m disappointed that this short sighted planning application was passed. The Government has said it is going to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030. This car park proposal simply does not take that into account. It makes poor business sense. They could be getting an additional revenue stream from electric car charging. Instead they are clinging onto the past and not taking the opportunity that the switch to more electric vehicles will bring. The private car park providers are completely missing a trick with regards to bike parking. Secure storage for bikes and e-bikes is severely lacking in Sheffield and there is huge demand for this. For a relatively small fee, I think many would pay to store their bikes. There’s potentially more money to be made from bike storage, because of the volume/numbers of bikes stored in a single car parking space.”

Author: Andrew Cooper

“Great day for Democracy and Sheffield” say Greens as Council adopts the Committee system

Green Councillor proposes action to address dangerous school parking

Councillor Martin Phipps speech on Climate Change and Health to Sheffield World Health Organisation 2022 Conference

Sheffield council fails to set lawful budget – until Greens come to the rescue

SHEFFIELD COUNCIL BUDGET 2022 – Greens propose multi-million pound investment in public transport in Council Budget.

Greens propose new scheme to fund improvements to Public Transport

Green plan to warm up homes moves a step closer

Greens propose new scheme to tackle fuel poverty and reduce emissions

Greens say “Let there be light for City Centre residents”

“We don’t need another car park” say Greens