Author: Graham Wroe

Letters to the press

Biodiversity on the agenda

30th April 2024

A letter to the Sheffield Star

The Covid pandemic showed us that nature-rich green spaces are fundamental to healthy and happy lives, improving our mental health and wellbeing. They also reduce the risk of flooding through carbon capture. Sadly, Sheffield and the UK are in a nature and biodiversity crisis, as was demonstrated in your article on Monday (Wildlife ‘red flag’ as data shows insects dropping like flies, 29/04/24).

Recently Gleadless Valley Green Party councillor Marieanne Elliot chaired a cross-party working group on biodiversity.  The group included stakeholders such as Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, Green Spaces Forum/Green Estate and the Eastern Moors partnership. The resulting report recommended Parks and Countryside Service continues to prioritise natural flood management, carbon capture and nature recovery in all its policies. 

The report notes that high quality, biodiverse green spaces are not evenly distributed across the city. As a result, some of our most deprived communities have poorer access to nature and to cool woodland spaces in hot weather. Sheffield Greens will press the City Council to invest in our most nature-deprived areas and reach the report’s target of 30% of our land given to nature by 2030.

On the working group I proposed a Biodiversity Award Scheme for individuals, businesses and community organisations. These awards will aim to recognise and promote the great work already being done in our city, whilst further encouraging others to take action. It could be a family putting in a window box with insect friendly flowers, a housing development with wildlife friendly spaces, or a community garden.  Such action by Sheffield Greens aims to reinforce Sheffield’s growing reputation as one of the greenest cities in the UK.

Cllr Brian Holmshaw, Broomhill and Sharrow Vale, Green Party

 

Letters to the press

Let’s beat poverty together

22nd April 2024

Poverty figures published in March by the Department for Work and Pensions show that last year one in six British children lived in families with food insecurity. One in 40 children lived in a family that had used a food bank in the last 30 days, double the number of the previous year.

S6 Foodbank in Sheffield does a great job helping people survive the cost of living crisis. Along with more than 20 other food banks throughout Sheffield, they provide food and other essentials at a time when poverty is forcing many people to skip meals.

S6 was founded by local churches and community groups, with support from corporate sponsorship and the public. The food bank has 11 locations across the city, supporting 1200 people a week with emergency food.

Sheffield Green Party has been organising a Sheffield S6 Foodbank collection at Endcliffe Park for two years. Our next collection will be on Saturday 27 April at the main Hunters Bar entrance between 9.30 am and 1 pm. Hope to see you there.

If you can make a donation then that would be great, especially if you can give items the food bank is short of breakfast cereal, soup, pasta, baked beans, tinned meat or vegetables, UHT milk, tea, coffee or hygiene products. You can also donate money directly to S6 on their website: https://sheffields6.foodbank.org.uk/

Food banks are not in themselves a solution to food insecurity, but a symptom of poverty that should not exist in a country with great wealth. The problem is that successive governments have failed to introduce fair taxes on the wealthiest to guarantee liveable incomes for the people they serve.

Peter Gilbert (Green Party candidate, Ecclesall ward) and Councillor Brian Holmshaw (Green Party candidate, Broomhill & Sharrow Vale).

Sheffield Greens support Safe Streets Now campaign

22nd April 2024

Sheffield councillors Brian Holmshaw and Ruth Mersereau joined with residents in the Park Hill and Norfolk Park area of the city to protest at the Bernard Street/Duke Street/Talbot Street junction on Saturday 20 April. It was organised by the Safe Streets Now and included placards, banners, and a visit from a resident dressed as a zebra, to show the need for safe crossings.

Green Party Councillor for Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Brian Holmshaw, who lives nearby said:

“ Sheffield has the highest child pedestrian killed and seriously injured rate of all core UK cities by a significant margin. It is one of the most dangerous places in the country to be a child pedestrian.

I live locally and see young people and families crossing here all the time – going to the nursery at Park Hill, heading up to Manor Lodge Primary and the nursery there, to the bus stop to go elsewhere or being dropped off while a parent goes to work. They are taking their lives into their own hands.

We urgently need a controlled crossing, with pedestrian lights, both here, and at several other junctions in the city. I shall ask the council questions why this has not been put in place.”

Green Party candidate Ruth Flagg-Abbey, who is standing in the Manor Castle ward where the Bernard Street/Talbot Street junction is located said:

“It is great that we’re getting such good support from car drivers coming past today. They drive past, see our signs and show their support. They recognise that it’s not a them and us situation, this is us together, making roads safer for all.

We need more traffic cameras at junctions like this one, to catch the dangerous and unsafe drivers who risk their and other people’s lives when they run red lights.

We need more “School Streets” that restrict access near our schools at important times of the day. This will allow pupils and families to walk and cycle safely each day to and from school.

We need better monitoring of bad parking where vehicles just screech to a halt next to pedestrians or pull in and block junctions. I support an increase in parking enforcement officers to improve our quality of living.”

Green Party members also supported a second protest in Walkley where Upperthorpe resident Cllr Bernard Little spoke on the theme of road safety.

Sheffield Greens launch election campaign

17th April 2024

Sheffield Green Party are standing in all 28 wards in the local elections on 2nd May, on the 20th anniversary of the first Green councillor being elected in Sheffield in 2004. 

Nationally, The Green Party is going into these local elections with around 760 councillors on nearly 170 Councils.

Here in Sheffield, Greens are now part of the Council administration with Labour and LibDem Parties.

Group leader Douglas Johnson said, “More and more people are recognising that voting Green is a viable option and makes a difference. Not only in Sheffield but in 35 Councils all over the country, Greens are taking leading roles in local government.”

Douglas is one of five Green Sheffield Councillors defending their seat this May. Other Green Councillors up for re-election are Maroof Raouf in Nether Edge & Sharrow, Alexi Dimond in Gleadless Valley, Brian Holmshaw in Broomhill & Sharrow Vale and Christine Gilligan Kubo in Hillsborough.

Cllr Maroof Raouf said, 

“I hope people in Nether Edge & Sharrow will re-elect me so I can continue to represent the community. So many voters are talking about the devastating situation in Gaza and the Greens have consistently and publicly called for a ceasefire, for example, in our motion to Council in November and multiple public speeches. Labour isn’t very clear on this and people, understandably, feel let down by them since the decision to fly the Israeli flag over the Town Hall. Greens are clear and consistent and not afraid to speak out on things that people in Sheffield are concerned about.”

Cllr Christine Gilligan Kubo said, 

“The climate and nature emergencies are key concerns for Greens. We want to make sure that we keep that at the top of the local agenda. Whilst also helping to deal with the effects of the high costs of living. Creating good green jobs in sustainable industries like renewable energy and home insulation. Greens are the only party putting forward ideas like a renewable energy motion and solar panels on buildings such as leisure centres and car parks. Greens in the room, make a difference.”

Cllr Alexi Dimond said,

“Greens are consistently pushing for more ambitious plans and funding for public transport (and active travel) to make it affordable, reliable and accessible – so that everyone can get around. We are very pleased that our campaign to get the number 10 bus back was successful and that the city centre Connect bus is free to use and electric – as proposed in our 2019 Green budget.”

The Green 2024 manifesto sets out a vision  for;

A healthier, caring city

Jobs in a local economy 

Decent homes and neighbourhoods

Better public transport and safer streets 

Real action on the climate and nature emergencies 

Cllr Brian Holmshaw said, 

“When you vote Green on 2nd May, you get hard working councillors committed to doing the best for local people and putting forward solutions to help create fairer, greener communities.”

South Yorkshire Mayor

Douglas Johnson

Local Election Candidates 2024 Here is a full list of the local election candidates for May 2nd 2024.

Beauchief & Greenhill Gill Black
Beighton Stewart Kemp Stewart Kemp
Birley Alan Yearsley Alan Yearsley
Broomhill & Sharrow Vale Brian Holmshaw
Burngreave Mustafa Ahmed Mustafa Ahmed
City Douglas Johnson Councillor Douglas Johnson
Crookes and Crosspool Oscar Idle Oscar Idle
Darnall Joydu Al-Mahfuz
Dore & Totley Bex Winter Bex Whyman
East Ecclesfield Rosie Trevillion Rosie Trevillion
Ecclesall Peter Gilbert Peter Gilbert at the Porter Brook Clean Up
Firth Park (two candidates) Eamonn Ward
Firth Park (two candidates) Colin McCulloch
Fulwood Judith Rutnam
Gleadless Valley Alexi Dimond This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is AlexiDimondcropped-150x150.jpg
Graves Park Thomas Atkin-Withers
Hillsborough Christine Gilligan Kubo This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Tina-52A-150x150.jpg
Manor Castle Ruth Flagg Abbey
Mosborough Julie White
Nether Edge & Sharrow Maroof Raouf
Park & Arbourthorne Billie Turner
Richmond Luke Hunt Luke Hunt
Shiregreen and Brightside Joel Gilbert Joel Gilbert
Southey Andrew Hards Andrew Hards
Stannington Chris Bragg Chris Bragg
Stocksbridge & Upper Don David Willington David Willington
Walkley Dylan Lewis Creser
West Ecclesfield Kathy Aston
Woodhouse Hannah Nicklin
Letters to the press

Make Sheffield a safer, greener and more inclusive city for all.

15th April 2024

A letter to the Sheffield Star.

A government-commissioned report has recently been published showing that Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are more popular than not. For the residents living inside them, active travel increases, congestion decreases, and air quality improves, all of which help contribute to a greater quality of life.  Furthermore, two of the criticisms often levelled at LTNs, that they impact emergency service response times and increase traffic on surrounding roads, were not backed up by the evidence.  The reason you may not have seen this report?  The government commissioned it to try and prove the opposite was true. They then buried it under 10 other press releases and documents hoping no one would notice its existence.

In Sheffield, Labour too have failed to show any leadership or principles when they caved in to pressure from a minority of vocal opponents and removed the modal filter in Nether Edge at Archer Lane. This is despite it being popular with local residents, effective at managing traffic flow and allowing road users to try out alternative modes of transport.  This decision was especially upsetting for parents and teachers of children at the four local primary and secondary schools who had felt the benefits of their children being able to walk and wheel safely to and from school every day whilst the filter was in place (as reported here in the Star, 17/10/23).

In contrast, the Sheffield Green Party are proud to stand up for people’s right to breathe good quality air, to be able to move around safely, and with an increased choice on how we travel.  We recognise that it’s not LTNs that are slowing down emergency response times, but congested roads. We will continue to make the case that driving should be prioritised for those who need to do so the most so that everyone can benefit.  Yes, mistakes have been made in the past and improvements can be made to how such schemes are consulted on and implemented.  However, it is only the Greens who have the courage to take difficult decisions to try and make Sheffield a safer, cleaner, greener and more inclusive city for all.

Cllr Maroof Raouf, Nether Edge and Sharrow

Maroof is currently standing for re-election. See his campaign page here.

Letters to the press

Let’s celebrate historic Sheffielders

13th April 2024

A letter to the Sheffield Star.

Let’s celebrate historic Sheffielders

It is great that the designer of Sheffield Botanical Gardens in my Broomhill and Sharrow Vale ward is to be publicly commemorated.

Scotsman Robert Marnock was a sought-after landscape gardener in the nineteenth century. Now his legacy will have a permanent place, with a blue plaque at the main entrance.

Blue plaques celebrate people throughout history who have made significant and positive contributions to human welfare and happiness. Historic England, the scheme organiser, will be looking for nominations from mid-May to July.

But anyone can put up a plaque marking a historic site. You need permission from the owner of the building and, if it is listed, you must get consent.

Local historian Martin Naylor has raised money for a plaque on the building on the site of the Marples Hotel in Fitzalan Square. The hotel was destroyed during the blitz with the loss of 70 lives. The plaque will be unveiled on April 6th.

Martin raised funds through a series of talks on local history. If you feel someone deserves to be commemorated, you could try crowd-funding. Or perhaps a dedicated City Council Fund could be set up to raise funds in support of historical figures deserving recognition?

In recent times public recognition has been awarded to a more diverse range of people. Who would you nominate?

Brian Holmshaw, Councillor, Broomhill and Sharrow Vale Ward, Green Party

Brian is currently campaigning to be re-elected in Broomhill and Sharrowvale Ward. More details here.