Ahead of local elections on May 22nd, and our Vote Jesmond 2014 elections hustings event on May 19th, JesmondLocal is profiling each of the 10 candidates for councillor in North and South Jesmond. Continuing our five days of profiles, the Green party.

Tony Waterston

Green Party candidate for South Jesmond

Early career

Africa, Palestine and the north east: These are places, where Waterston, a paediatrician, worked and shaped his world view. In the course of his career he went to work in Africa for three years, after which he returned to become a consultant in Newcastle. “I also lead a child health teaching programme in Palestine”, he adds. His political orientation thus is closely intertwined with his life experience.

Why Greens?

Waterston’s interest in politics can be traced back to the time he joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) as a student. His family was interested in peace issues and “this led me into the anti-war movement and then the Labour Party,” he notes. However, the war in Iraq made him reconsider his party membership, “having seen the impact [war[ is having on populations in poorer parts of the world.”

His interest in environmental issues led him to join the Green party about seven years ago. “I felt that the other parties were not giving enough priority to environmental issues and also to democracy, local politics, the economy and inequalities,” Waterston adds. After seven years he is still convinced that the Green Party emphasises important policies more than others in the country. “I felt and still feel that the Green party is the only political party in this country which is truly interested in tackling the huge problems of climate change and the environment in the world today, and has serious policies in this direction.”

What South Jesmond needs?

Waterston brings up three main issues he stands for. He is of the opinion that the needs are similar in both wards, North and South Jesmond and thus it would be more democracy for Jesmond. Waterston says he would improve “the involvement of local residents including children and young people in the decisions that affect them.” Waterston takes a clear stance on Jesmond’s traffic problems, which includes plans to facilitate cycling, walking and the use of public transport. The third issue Waterston brings into discussion is to ensure that “residents can buy locally sourced food.”

On a national level

It’s not just environmental issues on which the Greens campaign. Waterston stresses that there is more to the party’s stance, including “some great national leaders”.  There is a positive tendency of young voters opting for Greens and once elected they “are making a big impact in the town where there are elected councillors,” says Waterston.

Voter Turnout

Waterston regards the low turnout with concern and sees the reason for that is the sparse contact of Westminster’s politics with the local communities. “Ward meetings need to be opened up to local decision making and there should be a trial of participatory budgeting. Also social media need to be used more for local discussions,” Waterston concludes.

Tim Dowson

Green Party candidate for North Jesmond

Early career

Tim Dowson splits his time between his GP surgery in Jesmond and work monitoring the sea level as a climate change researcher. Both are vital to him, he feels, allowing him to see things in a macro and microcosm. “If you look at what has been happening to sea levels in Greenaldn over the past few hundred years, it can tell you what’s helping and what’s going to happen in the future,” he notes.

Why Greens?

His interest in researching the impacts of climate change led Dowson to the Green party. “It’s the only party that actually ties the environmental and social issues together and sees there is a deep link between them. The reason we’re facing potential catastrophic climate change is the amount of coal and oil we’re burning, and a lot of the social problems are to do with reliance on cars and burning too much energy. The Green party is the only one that has noticed they are two different aspects of the same coin.”

What North Jesmond needs

“Jesmond is not the worst affected by any means,” explains Dowson, “but our transport policy causes people to use cars. People don’t want to use cars, but they’re scared not to.” At the school gates and in the doctor’s surgery Dowson talks to many concerned parents. “They won’t let their kids walk to school because of the number of cars on the road. People are worried their children get in trouble on streets and there’s no-one there to shout and call for help.”

Dowson would like to see money redirected to public transport. “We spend billions and billions on maintaining our roads. We spend much less on public transport. We make life much more difficult for those on bikes or walking because of dual crriageways and something should be done about that.”

On a national level

Dowson supports the trickle-up policy of his chosen party: “the national policies are made by local people; it’s a very democratic party,” he explains. “What we don’t have in the Green party is national leaders imposing candidates, and national leaders effectively formulating the whole of policy.”

Voter turnout

Despite the low turnout across Jesmond in previous elections, Dowson believes it “is an area where people tend to feel they can influence the directions of their lives.” Dowson’s patients, he says, feel “helpless and impotent. They feel [voting] is not going to make much difference. The other parties, if you vote for them, it’s sometimes difficult to work out what the difference is. The Green party wants to increase the power at the local level, and increase people’s influence.”