PRESS RELEASE - 27 years of Green Party New Year's Day buses

Huddersfield Greens are marking 27 years of the volunteer buses they have been running over the Christmas Holidays since 1992. Newsome Councillors Andrew Cooper, Karen Allison, Sue Lee-Richards and Sue's husband Gideon will all be volunteering on the  long running service on New Years Day 

Councillor Andrew Cooper who is a volunteer driver said,

“I remember the first one we ran in 1992 which we ran as a protest against the removal of services over the holiday period. Since then some services have been resumed in some areas, including Newsome in recent years on Boxing Day”

“I really enjoy doing the bus service each year and it is now very much part of my  holiday routine. At this time of year there can be limited public transport services, trains from Berry Brow are often cancelled and taxi journeys can be expensive  so people who use the minibus we operate really do value it. We put timetables on bus stops and in local shops so people are aware of our schedule. The service is free to use but donations towards fuel costs are always welcome. Our thanks to Kirklees who provide the minibus while we provide drivers, stewards and fuel A copy of our timetable is below.”

The service provided are on New Year’s Day connects  Berry Brow, Newsome into Town and on the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.”

Green Candidate says "Don't mess with Castle Hill"

The Green Party Candidate for Huddersfield, Councillor Andrew Cooper has called on politicians to leave Castle Hill alone.

"People in Huddersfield really value Castle Hill. Local people have an almost spiritual connection to it. When we come home from our holidays the sight of Castle Hill on the horizon tells us that we are near home. When we bring visitors to see the town it is one of the places we take them. Its history goes back to the Iron Age and anyone suggesting 'improvements' should tread with caution"

" It has not taken long for me to work out that suggestions that we might have a cable car going up Castle Hill is a non starter. It is not a theme park or a visitor attraction like Disneyland it is a place that people go to to look at the town they live in and the hills that surround us. I also oppose any suggestion that we should put a hotel on top of Castle Hill. I like many had a great deal of affection for the old Castle Hill Hotel and raised the alarm when the owners started to demolish it in contravention of their Planning Application. Sadly we can't recreate what they destroyed."

"What we do need on Castle Hill is a retractable bollard at the bottom of the road to shut it off to traffic at night and particularly around October/November when it becomes a magnet for setting off fireworks. It causes huge disturbance for local people and needs a significant clear up operation in the following days, usually by local volunteers. Kirklees Council has simply not enforced the Public Space Protection Order that banned fireworks been set off from the hill. Last year the whole side of the hill, that was tinder dry, went up in flames as a result. The Labour run Kirklees Council  needs to get a grip and when it declares a Public Space Protection Order actually enforce it."

Barry Sheerman on Brexit and Education

Every now and again someone will see me making a cup of instant coffee. I open the jar of granules and pour an unmeasured amount into the mug. " Why don't you use a teaspoon?" is often the question I'm asked. "I'm a politician and for me judgement is everything" is my usual 'smart arsed' reply.

Judgement was on my mind today as I watched Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman on The Sunday Politics. He said

"The truth is that when you look at who voted to Remain most of them were the better educated people in this country."

At one point the exasperated BBC Interviewer said "So thick people voted for Leave?"

Barry's defence was a bit feeble "I didn't say that".  No he didn't but he did!

The problem with referencing voters level of Education when looking at how people vote is that there is an implication that if you had your way that only people who had the right qualifications should be allowed to vote. Of course Barry Sheerman would rightly protest that this is not what he believes but then you would have to question his judgement at strongly making the link between education and the political choices voters make in the first place. There is an implied disrespect for those people with no or low qualifications. These are some of the people who may even have voted Labour and for him at the last General Election.

The facts are that there is a strong correlation between those people who voted Remain and educational attainment but so what? One of the many failures of the Remain Campaign was in not making its message accessible enough to convince a wide range of voters whatever OLevels/GCSE'/A Levels/Degrees they acheived. The Leave campaigns success was in making a difficult subject accessible to many different sorts of people. Admittedly it was misleading them but then their arguments were accessible nonetheless. Where is our £350 million/week extra for the NHS btw?

Education and Brexit featured in the Daily Mail this week as well. I was reading a copy in the Dentist and came across the headline "In their own telling words. How Academics push Remain propaganda".  My admittedly glib  tweet in response was " In other words why do people who know stuff oppose Brexit?". It also sinisterly asked students to 'shop' lecturers who may be 'guilty' of such 'crimes'. I guess the Mail would regard them as 'Enemies of the People'. Here we are seeing a strange education snobbery in reverse where the contempt for 'the Intellectual' and 'the Expert' is regarded as legitimate. For someone who favours moderate language in politics I find it hard not to make links between the Daily Mail and Fascism on frequent occasions.

So education snobbery was everywhere this week. If you were educated your views were suspect to the Daily Mail. If you were uneducated your views may be less valid than if you were educated to Barry Sheerman. Ultimately whether you are a politician or a voter the choices you make are all about judgement and weighing up the pros and the cons. The job of politicans is not to judge the voters but to give them the information that they need to make sound judgements themselves.

Here's Pink Floyd  - Another Brick In The Wall - "We don't need no education etc...."

Public Use Piano for Huddersfield Railway Station

Really pleased my idea to get a public use piano for Huddersfield Railway Station has become a reality.

The piano has been donated by Chas Ball who chairs the Board of Marsden Jazz Festival and was the Green Party Candidate for Colne Valley in the 2015 General Election. It was a conversation with him and the Huddersfield Station Manager Andrew Croughan of Transpennine that made this happen.

I've seen pianos for use by commuters being played at Sheffield, Leeds and London St Pancras Stations and I was impressed by how they gave a showcase for local talent and entertained people on thier way to and from work. Huddersfield is a musical town with the Contemporary Music Festival, the Mrs Sunderland Music Competition and a plethora of music groups from a thriving Youth Music culture to well established groups such as Huddersfield Choral Society. Having a piano in one of the busiest railway stations in Yorkshire will provide entertainment  to thousands of travellers and be a new element to the musical culture of our Town.

Talking to the Station staff it really adds something to their day. They see a commuter walk towards the piano and wonder what tune might appear. One morning during the busy commute to work someone sat down and played the theme to 'The Walking Dead'. I guess there was some irony there.

I'm now thinking about other places in Huddersfield we might have public use pianos. Any ideas?

Huddersfield Station Piano being played to help launch Marsden Jazz Festival

PRESS RELEASE - Andrew Cooper selected as Green Party Candidate for Huddersfield

Andrew Cooper selected as Green Party Candidate for Huddersfield

Saving Huddersfield A+E a key aim of Greens Campaign

Kirklees Green Party Leader Councillor Andrew Cooper has been selected as his Party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the Huddersfield Constituency in the forthcoming General Election.

Andrew was first elected to the Newsome Ward in 1999 and has been re-elected five times beating all the major parties. He is the Green Party National Energy Spokesperson. 

He successfully campaigned for ‘Welcome to Huddersfield’ boundary markers and for free insulation to over 50,000 homes around Huddersfield.

Speaking at his selection Andrew said,

“I don’t have to defend a Conservative Government and I don’t have to defend a Labour Council the only institution I want to defend locally is the NHS and in particular Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and it’s Accident and Emergency Services. Winning the Huddersfield seat would send a powerful message if the new MP was not from one of the establishment parties”

Andrew proposed the initial motion that brought all political parties together on Kirklees to unite against the Clinical Commissioning Group proposals and he has been a consistent supporter of the objectives of the Hands Off HRI Campaign.

“I am full of admiration for everyone who has worked so hard on the campaign to save our Health Services whether they are seeking change and funding from National Government or tackling the local Clinical Commissioning Group on their proposals. We need a new way of sending a powerful message to whichever Party forms the next Government about what is most important to people in Huddersfield”

“Of course I am a member of a Political Party but I have worked with all parties on Kirklees Council on the hung council over the last 17 years. I am used to negotiating hard to achieve tangible outcomes. This is what we need from a new MP fighting in Parliament to get positive movement on our Hospital Services."

A Question of Taste? - Ugarit Restaurant, Cross Church Street, Huddersfield

The Ugarit Restaurant

The old Estate Agents before Ugarit took over

Beauty like so many things is subjective, to a point.

If I was asked for a view on whether Cross Church Street in Huddersfield was one of the most beautiful streets in the Town Centre  I'd be hard pushed to agree to that one! It has some high points. I quite like the shop frontage for the hardware store, some of the pubs have made an effort to have attractive signage and quality fronts but then there are the dubious looking takeaways and other shops with tired old plastic signs.

The Ugarit Restaurant has recently opened on the street  offering Syrian and Lebanese dishes and it looks like they have made a real effort to improve the appearance of the building both on the interior and exterior. I was surprised to discover that the Council's Conservation Team in the Planning Service deemed the signage outside Ugarit to be a detriment to a listed building and ordered changes to be made. The Restaurant was formerly an Estate Agent with a plastic sign outside. No damage has been caused to any of the buildings features as a result of the restaurant sign going up. A short wander down Cross Church Street and the vast majority of people I believe would regard the Ugarit shopfront as a positive thing compared with some of the garish signs on display. I have used my right as a Ward Councillor to refer this matter to the Planning Committee to see whether other Councillors see this issue as I do. There are a number of times I've seen matters differently to the Conservation Team in the Council. I really don't regard myself as some sort of Philistine who doesn't appreciate the need to preserve important architecture but I do find it difficult on a number of occasions to appreciate their viewpoint like this one on changes to New North Road Baptist Church from a few years ago.

Ugarit is a business which will hopefully be part of an improvement to the Town Centre and I hope the Council will be seeking to help businesses like this get established and not be regarded as an obstacle.

Kirklees Councillors move out of Crown Court Buildings

Crown Court Buildings

A time of big changes at Kirklees Council. We are re shaping ourselves into 'New Council'. That just doesn't mean a smaller council with less budget and less  staff but also a culture change as well. One way that this is being put in place is by moving all Councillors out of Crown Court Buildings which is opposite the Town Hall and conveniently next door to The County Pub. The new home for Councillors will be in Civic Centre 3 with Kirklees Directors and the Chief Executive. The 'them and us' seperation of Councillors and senior officers was highlighted in a recent external report in a negative light and this change is one way of addressing that issue.Packing boxes and seeing the building begin to empty you cant help thinking 'if only these walls could talk'. I know they would have a few interesting tales to tell!

Crown Court Buildings was refurbished around 20 years ago as Councillors offices, a couple of years before I was elected. When the first Green Cllr Nick Harvey was elected he wasn't given an office so he worked in the Members Lounge with its telly and comfy chairs. He reckoned he found out more there than being in an office anyway. Not only was there a Members Lounge but also a Members Library with a dedicated Librarian to help Councillors with research. Sadly this was very under utilised and the function and the member of staff went back into Huddersfield Library. The Members Lounge also disappeared and quite rightly became a large meeting room instead.

When I was elected in 1999 the Green Party Group of 3 finally got an office. It was possibly the smallest room in the building if you don't count ones containing a toilet. We later got allocated a space on the top floor on the same corridor as the Press Team lead then by David Bagley. They have been out of the building a few years now and there rooms were replaced by the Tory Group who we have shared the floor with us to this day. One of the great things about our office space was the balcony. I say 'balcony' it is more access to a flat roof space through a window. For a couple of years I quietly  grew vegetables on it and took pleasure in carrying bags of compost through Reception looking as shifty as possible. I'm sure they thought I was growing cannabis on the roof. It was great to sit out there in the summer between meetings. Other Kirklees officers will soon move into Crown Court Buildings, in the short term at least, but it will eventually be sold  off if a suitable buyer can be found.

So not just a new building but a new era for Kirklees Council. Moving people around is one thing but shifting the culture of an organisation is quite another. I am hopeful and optimistic, but that has always been a failing of mine.

My old roof garden on Crown Court Buildings - definitely no cannabis!

Access to 'the balcony' in the Green Group Room

Kirklees Elections 2012 report

Optical illusion - Actually it's the Green Party that is on top here!

Lots to be said about the Kirklees Elections of 2012 but the headlines for the Green Party were winning our fifth seat on Kirklees and our second seat in the Kirkburton Ward by 23 votes as Robert Barraclough joined our ranks. Robert will be an excellent local councillor. He is a farmer, businessman, Parish Councillor and former Chairman of Kirkburton Parish Council who is refreshingly straightforward and considered in his approach to decisions. He'll be an asset to the Green Party but also to Kirklees Council as a whole. This just leaves Cllr Christine Smith as the remaining Conservative in the ward. We'll be gentle with her!

It was the wettest election I can remember. Thousands of leaflets were delivered in heavy rain. One morning 6 of us delivered the whole of Shelley in wet weather gear through a relentless downpour, Special campaign honours to those people.

We also had a more aggressive Labour Party Campaign in Newsome than usual that needed addressing and handling. It was a bit of a 'surprise attack'  and soon we were seeing Labour Councillors from all over Huddersfield canvassing in Newsome. We also had our Labour MP Barry Sheerman and a Coronation Street Actress pressing the flesh for Labour in Newsome. We closely followed the literature being produced by Labour and there was a lot of it, some personalised letters and several full colour glossy leaflets. I bumped into Cllr Mehboob Khan leafleting in Lockwood who insisted to me that Labour were not targeting Newsome but the evidence and information that had come my way seemed to indicate the opposite. I was getting calls from constituents from all over the Newsome Ward telling me what this or that Labour Councillor had said to them on the doorstep in pursuit of their votes.  Apparently I spent all my time running Kirkburton Parish Council and was neglecting the Newsome Ward which I didn't even live in! Actually I attend about 2 Parish Council meetings a month and there are plenty of other Kirkburton Parish Cllrs to do the important stuff without me interfering. As for not living in the ward I've never tried to make a secret of this and have put my home address prominently on several leaflets over the years. It was strange to get this sort of attack from the Labour and Conservative Candidates who also didn't live in the ward themselves but of course they didn't put this particular fact on their leaflets. There were 2 full colour leaflets that went out in the last couple of days as well as a full colour Polling Day reminder card. There's plenty more I could say on the Labour campaign but it can wait for another day. Interestingly the Tories put a bit more effort than usual into Newsome but the messaging was all about not voting Green rather than reasons to vote Conservative. It almost seemed like a two pronged attack from 2 Parties working together to unseat me. When Kirkburton Cllr Christine Smith was sighted canvassing in Newsome trying out her own particular brand of invective with the locals I knew the knives were out. The feeling and support on the doorstep towards the Green Party remained good throughout which was comforting.

The outcome of all this was an increase in the Green Party share of the vote from just over 51% to just under 53%. Anyway here's a clip from Star Trek 2 - The Wrath of Khan. Khan has just carried out a surprise attack on the USS Enterprise and believes he has the upper hand.

Green Leader Caroline Lucas MP visits Huddersfield

Caroline Lucas MP visited Huddersfield today to see some of the projects local Green Party Councillors on Kirklees and on Kirkburton Parish are involved in and supporting. It was great to take Caroline round to meet some of the gang and a shame I didn't get any pics of her visit to Hillside Primary School in Newsome which she was very impressed with.


Caroline with some of our Kirkburton Parish Cllrs at one of the guidestoops used in the walks project.



With Robert Barraclough talking about the Kirkburton Parish Council 1000 Fruit tree project



With workers at Stirley Farm at one of the Veg growing beds

With Kim Warren Food Education Officer. A posed photo for the benefit of the Huddersfield Examiner.

Highlighting the need for greater investment on the Penistone Line.

Waterpark or Kingsgate 2

I've always admired Cllr Eduardo Rodriguez for his insightful comments on Kirklees Council. Here he outlines the waterpark proposals. The video below that is a spoof by some character who goes by the name of Cllr Mehboob Khan !

Huddersfield Tesco Public Enquiry - Barry and the Barrister



Fortnum and Mason - where i believe Tesco's Barrister shops. Go on sue me!


You'd be forgiven for not knowing about the Tesco Public Enquiry. Not highly publicised they held it out of town in the Hudawi Centre this week. Just to recap Kirklees Council sells Huddersfield Sports Centre and surrounding area to Tescos for millions to allow them to build a huge store at the edge of the Town Centre to help suck more money out of the local economy. The money from Tesco's is then going to used to build a new Sports Centre on Springwood Car Park. The Planning Committee decision was highly dubious given the background and expressed reservations of Counciilors who then went on to vote for it. Barry Sheerman Huddersfield's MP (he managed to beat me in the General Election as did  a couple of others) successfully called for a Public Enquiry. You should be up to date now.

Here's the Tesco Enquiry I spoke at on Friday. On your left is the Tesco Legal team mob. At the far end is posh Barrister. The Planning Inspector in the middle and Barry Sheerman on the left. I followed on from our esteemed MP

I managed to get there for half an hour to present my evidence. I arrived as Barry Sheerman MP was having a set to with Tesco's rather plummy Barrister. It seemed I had entered just as class war was breaking out between Barry and the Barrister. Barry gamely slagged off supermarkets and how much money was being drawn out of the local economy while the 'Tescos Toff' said Barry was biased against supermarkets and wasn't giving any planning reasons to oppose the application. So when I took the stand following Barry I decided not to go off on a Tescopoly tirade but to stick to the unsound nature of the planning decision itself. I pointed out the deep reservations expressed by councillors in the planning meeting who then went on to promptly vote for the application. I told the Planning Inspector about the seven fold increase in traffic at the end of an air quality management area on Leeds Road, the lack of a commitment to social housing, the lack of natural stone in the development despite Councillors wishes. I went on to point out the extraordinarily long time, 9 years, that Kirklees had granted Tesco to build their barn and the lack of trees and biodiversity about the site as well as the impact on the Town Centre. I finished giving my evidence and awaited the onslaught of probing questions from Tescos Barrister. The Planning Inspector invited him to respond but 'No questions' 'Cmon!' I said, 'there must be some questions' I had focussed on the Planning Decision after all. 'I've no questions but that doesn't mean I agree with what has been said'. During my evidence 2 of  Barrister Posh's staff rushed up to him with bits of paper and conferred with him but whatever they said it did not seem like he wanted to engage. I counted about 8 Tesco's people there either legal or company people so they are certainly throwing some money at this lets hope Kirklees Planning's deeply dodgy decision on this ( with the honorable exception of Cllr Christine Iredale) is overturned.

A Tale of Two Community Gardens

The community came together.

There was a disused, council owned play area near their homes.

They wanted to create a place to relax, to come together, to grow vegetables, fruit trees and herbs.

You may be thinking this is another blogpost about Highfields Community Orchard in Huddersfield but you would be wrong. At the weekend I went to the Association of Green Councillors Conference in Norwich and on the Friday night (before the beer and curry) we went to see a successful project to  transform a forgotten patch of land to the rear of some houses into a community garden. Grapes Hill Community Garden was truly inspirational with a project where local  people can collect herbs and fruit and disabled wheelchair users can grow their own vegetables in raised beds. We got a special pre-opening tour of the garden which will officially open in August.

The parallels with Highfields are significant. Both Council owned land, both former play areas, both are near the town centre, both have local people coming together in common cause to improve their local community. That is where the parallels end. In Norwich the Council has supported the project and funding has been found from external sources to bring the project to life. In Kirklees the Council still sees the future of this land as a lucrative development plot rather than a community resource. The Highfields Community Orchard folks have permission from Kirklees to be on the site for the next 6 months or so and this may be extended but a political steer has not been forthcoming.

Ironically, the local Councillors in Greenhead Ward are supporting the establishment of a village green on Clayton Fields a mile up the road. This is something I very much support not least because I used to go sledging down there as a kid when I lived on Imperial Road. The irony is that the council owns the Highfields land at Wentworth Street. With the smallest amount of political direction it could allow local people to have a community orchard in a built up area with all the social benefit that would come from that. This, unfortunately, is not forthcoming.

The Denby Dale Passivhaus

Here's a film about the Denby Dale Passivhaus completed this year. I saw it during construction an at its opening and I'm incredibly impressed by the work the groundbreaking work the Green Building Company have done on this project. The estimated heating costs are around £75/year and around £100 for the hot water (though the solar thermal system may reduce that cost). It is of national significance as it uses cavity construction and so could by replicated by the building industry across the UK. The commitment to reducing energy demand through airtightness, super insulation standards and heat recovery ventilation is impressive. Great to see such an important project in the Huddersfield area.

"We're all in it together" - if you use Public Transport

Huddersfield's Free Town bus

I was contacted this week for comment by 'The Examiner' on the cuts to bus services by the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority - Metro. There are proposed cuts to the Free Town Bus Services in town centres around West Yorkshire, including Huddersfield, reductions in early morning and rural services. Interestingly one of the comments on the Examiner Website article says,

"Cllr Andrew Cooper is playing party politics as it is not the government that is choosing to cut this service. The decision is a local one!"

 

You have to ask yourself what cuts passed down by national government could the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authortity make that aren't to public transport! It is what they do after all. If the government gets off the hook as easily with the chap who said this they can cut us to oblivion with impunity.

Of course the people who rely on these bus services are often people who don't have access to a car and in many cases that is because they simply can't afford it. Huddersfield Town Centre is built on a slope. From St Patricks Catholic Centre down Westgate to the Beast Market you are walking down hill. If you go shopping at theKingsgate Centre and are getting the bus home then its a long way uphill especially if you have mobility problems or are getting on a bit. For these people the Free Town Bus Service is a godsend. Ultimately this is down to Government spending cuts and cutting the budget deficit. Of course politics is about choices so lowering the upper tax threshold to incomes over £100k? No. A Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions? No. Tougher action on banks and bankers bonuses? No. Cutting bus services? Yes!

Then of course there are the environmental implications of a diminished public transport sector but then this is "the Greenest Government ever".

Huddersfield - Give us a sign!

I read in today's Huddersfield Examiner how their (and Ken Davy's) campaign to get 'Welcome to Huddersfield' signs have been successful. Modesty prevents me from pointing out that it was actually me who kicked off this campaign earlier this year. Now Barry Sheerman will apparently be joining us at the official launch of the signs tomorrow. It's like the free insulation scheme all over again, everyone wants a share of the glory and why not.

The important thing of course is that we will have boundary markers which will help give the town more of a distinct identity from Kirklees (which is in Calderdale). There is a wider question of ' What is our vision for Huddersfield?'. The growing danger is that once people head over the Huddersfield border they will hit a ring road lined with supermarkets with a town full of empty shops. Then we will need another sign on New Street saying 'You are now in the 'dead centre' of Huddersfield'

The attached photo is from when I kicked off the campaign for Huddersfield signs and is my personal entry for the ' Glum Councillors' blog http://glumcouncillors.tumblr.com/