Craven is changing rapidly
Craven is changing rapidly. Sometimes for the better and sometimes less so. All too often decisions that impact on the lives of people living in the local community are being taken by people who don’t have to live with the consequences of those decisions. We need to devolve a lot more power over Housing, Health, Education, Transport and Local Economies from Westminster to people in Craven and to the whole of Yorkshire.
Housing
- Across Craven developers are putting up new houses. Most of them are large executive houses on green fields. Where are the new doctors’ surgeries, new bus routes, the electric charging points for vehicles, the new schools, the solar panels, or even extra sewage pipes to go with new development? We need sustainable not unsustainable developments.
- How many local families can afford the prices of the new homes? How many new council houses are being built at affordable rents? We must build homes to meet need not allow developments driven by what is most profitable.
- Government policies on supported housing have set back the creation of new specialist homes for the elderly and the disabled. We need more, affordable, supported housing.
- The loss of valuable doctors, surgeons, nurses and carers from the rest of the EU and overseas means longer waiting times for specialist treatment. We need to welcome and value non-UK health workers.
- Accident and emergency units are working under increasing pressures. We should reduce that pressure by tackling issues that increase A&E demand – for example, air pollution.
- The NHS is being undermined by increasing numbers of services being privatised. We must repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and keep the NHS public.
- Many local schools have been taken out of the hands of the local education authority and put under the control of unaccountable academy trusts. We need democratic control of academy schools.
- Children should be able to enjoy learning not be trained to pass tests. Our schools should give every child a good start in life.
- Ten years of constant austerity means that teachers are paid less than ten years ago for more paperwork and there has been a cut in school funding per pupil. Schools need better funding.
- Major public transport schemes in the south such as London Crossrail attract three times as much investment per head of population as schemes in the north. There are regular promises of new money for better rail connections in the north but the reality is ancient rolling stock and delays due to timetabling failures. We ought to prioritise useful local rail projects such as restoring the Skipton to Colne line before huge vanity projects like HS2.
- Essential bus services are disappearing due to central government withdrawing funding from the local councils who provide support for buses. Scrapping pointless major new road schemes can pay for more buses and free travel for all.
- After ten years of telling us we must have discipline and austerity, the Conservatives are now splashing money about to cover up the cost of a chaotic Brexit. We need to focus on remedying the social divisions created by austerity not squander money on Brexit.
- Despite record lows in the value of the pound, Britain’s manufacturing industries are in decline and are vulnerable to losing their main markets in the EU. Farmers face uncertainty over subsidies and the risk of fresh competition from New Zealand lamb or chemical-soaked US foodstuffs at the same time as losing access to their biggest market. The best deal available to the British people is the one we started with. It is wrong to rush a bad deal through. Give the People a vote on what is actually on offer instead of only allowing them a view on promises.
- People in work face huge insecurity with zero hours contracts, private pension schemes and fake self-employment. The pressures of work keep increasing yet the rewards don’t keep pace. We need a Basic Income to reduce poverty and boost the local economy.
- High streets are being sucked dry by online companies like Amazon that pay little tax but benefit from public spending on health, education, roads and on benefits that top up low wages. Tax evasion by wealthy companies must be stopped.
- Craven is part of a wider ecology. Extreme weather events are happening with increased frequency. All-time record winter temperatures of 20 degrees have been followed by all-time record summer highs. Nearby communities like Tadcaster, Hebden Bridge and Richmondshire have already been badly hit by floods. Greens have warned of this for many years, and now we are facing a climate emergency. It is time to get serious about action.
- Despite all the publicity, only small changes have been made to the quantity of single-use plastic thrown away in Britain. We need to change the way plastic products are made, distributed, sold and disposed of not just rely on consumer choices.
- We still waste over one third of all food produced in this country and import out-of-season fruit by air whilst British fruit trees and bushes get neglected. More locally produced local food means reduced food miles and less food waste.
This leaflet was written by local people who belong to the local Green Party, not by professional politicians. We believe:
- Decisions need to be driven by the needs of people and the environment not dominated by how much profit can be made.
- We can best support the success of responsible businesses by investing in future technology not cutting ourselves off from our major EU market.
- Local communities and their needs should be the most important thing driving political decisions.
- That every vote for the Green Party helps to prioritise positive action.
The Green Party – A real breath of fresh air
Councillor Andy Brown has been re-selected as your local Parliamentary candidate for Skipton & Ripon constituency. He came 3rd at the 2017 general election.
Contact Andy via email: [email protected]
Follow him on twitter via @voteandybrown
See Green Party national policies at https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/
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Promoted by Skipton and Craven Green Party, 27 Hall Croft, Skipton. .