A Local Election Message from Karen Allison

A Local Election Message from Karen Allison

Newsome Ward - Thursday May 3rd

Dear Neighbour,

Thank you to everyone I have met during this election campaign for the warm reception I & the Green Party Team have received. It is great to know we have so much local support.

Whether it is standing up against sky high rises in burial fees or standing up to those people who seek to profit from the destruction of community assets such as Newsome Bowling Green, it is Green Party Councillors who stand up for and by local people.

I have lived in Newsome for over 20 years & I work with a wide range of groups in the Community such as Worth Unlimited in Lowerhouses, Newsome Ward Community Forum, Newsome Scouts & I am also a School Governor at Hillside Primary School. In my role as a local Councillor I have taken up hundreds of individual concerns on behalf of local people.

Kirklees is a hung Council with no Party having an overall majority. This means Green Councillors can use our influence on Kirklees more effectively on behalf of local people. If Labour get a majority on the Council then local people will have less leverage over decision makers on issues such as development on our local green field sites.

Other parties may claim to ‘work all the year round’ but only the Green Party Team locally really does, with our regular newsletters, advice surgeries & New Year’s Day Bus Services.

Please use your vote to re-elect me to Kirklees Council on Thursday May 3^rd.

Yours sincerely

Karen Allison

P.S. – It is the votes of local people that ensure we can work effectively on your behalf. Please use your vital vote to help us keep working as a strong team for our area.


promoted by Andrew Cooper on behalf of Karen Allison of 76 Brockholes Lane, Holmfirth HD9 7EB

We’re backing Karen Allison! - Kirklees Elections 2018 - Newsome Ward

A message from Caroline Lucas Green Party Leader

I urge the people of Newsome Ward to vote again for Karen Allison as one of your local Councillors. Karen is a strong advocate for the local community. Her hard work and dedication as a local Councillor for the past 4 years and as a community activist for over 20 years mean she’s invaluable as a champion for local people, and her voice on the council really makes a difference.

Caroline Lucas MP – Green Party Leader

I’ve known Karen for over 20 years & was so pleased when she was elected in my place 4 years ago. The last 4 years have shown Karen take to the role ‘like a duck to water’. She has got stuck in with local activities and taken up 100s of local concerns. She really deserves your vote on May 3^rd.

Graham Simpson of Taylor Hill

  

Karen is not the sort of Councillor who just sits around in meetings. She has put a pinny on & got stuck in helping with our lunch clubs in Lowerhouseses regularly. We need active people like Karen who do positive things for the community representing us on the Council.  –

Wendy Marsden of Lowerhouses

  

The Green Party are the only people who really get involved in local issues. We know we can rely on them and they don’t just appear at election times 

Karen Hobson of Primrose Hill

Karen has adapted to the role of Councillor extremely well, and

taken her responsibilities very seriously over the past 4 years.  Karen has a deep affection for the Newsome Ward, having lived here for over 20 years. She has a great passion for all the communities she represents.  Karen has a good balance of intelligence and creativity, which means she gets good results for people who ask her for help.  She is a pleasure to work with, and I hope the people of Newsome Ward will support her to continue her great work.  - Councillor Julie Stewart-Turner

Karen is really active in the Newsome Ward and has helped lots of

people in the local community with all sorts of problems. She is really approachable and committed as a local Councillor. She is involved in loads of local groups and we can always rely on her to support and get involved in local events. We need to see her re-elected on May 3rd

Danni Jones of Newsome

Statement by Cllr Andrew Cooper on misinformation in the Labour Election leaflet in the Newsome Ward

There is a disappointing and misleading attack on the Green Party in the Labour Party Election leaflet in the Newsome Ward.

There is a statement in the leaflet which says,

“I would rather the elderly and disabled were cared for than £4.5 million spent on electric vehicles as was proposed by Newsome Green Councillors budget amendment”

The £4.5 million we identified in the Council Budget was not being used by the Labour run council to fund services for the elderly and disabled nor could this particular source of funding be used in this way.

The Labour Cabinet said that this funding was to be spent on Regeneration projects mostly in this financial year. Officers informed us that there was no way that that Labour could spend the money they had allocated in the time they had identified.

The Green Party proposed to use the funding to replace Kirklees vehicles which were reaching the end of their useful life and would have to be replaced anyway.

The £4.5 million was Capital (non recurring) funding which could only be used once and so could not be used to fund council services for the elderly and disabled anyway.

As Electric vehicles require less maintenance and have lower running costs the Green Party amendment would actually save the Council money against the ongoing costs of continuing to use petrol and diesel vehicles.

With Air Quality being such a hot topic in the Huddersfield area this was a way of Kirklees showing leadership on reducing air polluton. So this was very much a public health issue as much as it was an environmental one.

The Labour Deputy Leader who was leading on the Kirklees Budget had indicated that the electric vehicles part of the Green Party amendment would be acceptable should Labour not get their budget passed in the Council’s Budget meeting and should they need Green Councillors support to get their budget through.

We are aware that the Labour Councillor for Dalton and Cabinet Member Mus Khan is involved in the Newsome Labour Candidate's campaign and we believe she has been poorly advised. Labour Cabinet members should be well informed about the realities of the Council finances and so we can only assume that this attack is a deliberate attempt to mislead electors.

It is disappointing when these sort of tactics are used. It doesn't help people's faith in politics and politicians as a whole when some parties have to resort to misinformation in pursuit of votes.

Newsome Greens win new seats!

Cllr Karen Allison on the new bench up High Lane - more to come!

The dilapidated public benches at Newsome Crossroads and halfway up Lockwood Scar are to be replaced with new ones.

These will be made by a local firm and will be paid for out of the small ward budget that Newsome’s Green councillors have for local projects.

Councillor Andrew Cooper said, 

“ The two new benches will add to the one on High Lane that was installed last year in memory of Stuart Roebuck of Hall Bower Chapel.

Councillor Karen Allison added,

“These benches will be useful stopping points for those people who need a breather while trekking up towards Castle Hill.”

Plastic not so fantastic

Jug or bottle? A simple choice.

At a Kirklees Council Event I attended last week tincluded in the refreshments were bottled water, single use plastic glasses, disposable paper coffee cups, single use plastic tea spoons and little single serving plastic milk cartons. Nobody was setting fire to tyres in the meeting so it wasn't a complete environmental disaster! The Council really do need to be getting the basics right on single use plastic but sadly we are not.

When I asked the Kirklees Cabinet Member Councillor Naheed Mather a question about how Kirklees might address the issue of single use plastic at a recent Council meeting she talked vaguely about the possibility of influencing the use of single use plastics by Take Aways using licensing conditions. If this is possible it would be welcome but when Kirklees hasn't got its own house in order it is very difficult to ask anyone else to.improve their green credentials. The Council needs to 'walk the walk' on cutting back on plastic waste and needs to start providing tap water for events. So far all we have had is talk and no action at all.

So what would an alternative to the refreshment arrangements at Kirklees meetings look like? We could have polycarbonate plastic cups which are reusable and aren't a danger if dropped like glass. Reusable mugs and metal teaspoons could be used. Using milk from milk bottles which are still being used would be a positive move. Tap water could be provided in jugs or in reusable bottles like many organisations already do. Doing the right thing is not rocket science it just requires the right choice to be made and a decision to be taken.

And here from 1980 (the dawn of time) is Buggles and The Plastic Age

An Interview with Councillor Karen Allison - Newsome Green Party Candidate

What have the last 4 years been like as a Kirklees Councillor?

Busy, non stop, varied and lots and lots of issues and problems to deal with on a daily basis. It’s everything from reporting potholes, planning issues, trying to ensure the Council has robust child protection policies and lots more besides. It’s all about dealing with day to day local community matters. It's great being part of a great team. Myself and the other Green Councillors Andrew Cooper and Julie Stewart-Turner are all different characters but we work together really well and each have our projects and issues that we lead on.

Cllrs Andrew Cooper & Karen Allison with the New Years Day Bus

What’s frustrating about being a local Councillor?

We’re not able to solve everything and some things take longer than you would like to solve. Top of the list has to be Newsome Mill. It is privately owned with an overseas owner. We’re in touch with the agent acting on his behalf and we are trying to work with a variety of agencies seeking to get some movement but it is painfully slow.

What are the most common issues people bring to you?

Potholes and dumped rubbish. My mobile phone isn’t full of family snaps it is all broken roads and

old fridges/sofas etc. Checking to make sure you direct the Council to the right place is essential. We also gather evidence and try to get flytippers prosecuted.

What is different about being a Green Councillor?

We don’t have party bosses or ‘Whips’ telling us how to vote. Most of the time the Green Councillors vote the same way but we are free to vote differently if we wish.  Ultimately people are voting for an individual to represent them and I’d like to think people know my views won’t be overruled by someone higher up in a Party machine.

The other thing that is different about us is that we get ‘stuck in’ with community activities. We aren’t all about sitting in meetings. Our New Year’s Day bus service, our clean ups, cleaning Village signs are all examples of us not just talking about local problems but actually doing something about them.  Our support for community activity is very practical and you’re likely to see one of us washing up or putting tables and chairs away. When it comes to working in the community Green Councillors walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

What do you do when you’re not ‘on duty’ as a Councillor?

I’m married with two ‘grown up’ children which keeps me grounded. I’m also involved with local theatre companies helping with costumes as a volunteer. I’m not a total ‘Councillorbot’  7 days a week.

Green Councillors defend Taylor Hill green space from development.

A proposal was due to be submitted to the Kirklees Labour Cabinet for their meeting on the 20th of March to put forward a number of sites for potential housing development across Kirklees.

These sites included the land between Mansion Gardens and Blue Bell Hill in Taylor Hill and the former Stile Common School site at Primrose Hill. They have referred to this as ‘soft market testing’.

Following representations by Green Councillors the item has been withdrawn and will be deferred to a future Cabinet meeting. probably after the Local Elections in May.

Councillor Karen Allison said “The land off Mansion Gardens is a valued amenity space and we opposed its inclusion in the Local Plan and so we opposed it being put forward for potential development now.”

Councillor Andrew Cooper has previously liaised with residents at Malvern Rise and Plane Street over the future of the Stile Common School site. He said, “ I am quite clear that we had an agreement with Kirklees that no further action would occur before there had been consultation with residents over any proposals.

“I would include this ‘soft market testing exercise’ in that agreement. We will continue to keep a close eye on this issue”.

Green Councillors have submitted their objections to the proposals and will keep local people informed of developments.