Ahead of the May 3rd local council elections, JesmondLocal politics reporters Ashleigh Smith and Thomas Goodall are conducting interviews with all the candidates in North and South Jesmond, to find out a little bit more about them and their policies.

Because of the large number of candidates standing this year, these profiles are being split into the political parties for each ward. A number of key questions were asked to all candidates and these are the responses of the Green party candidates.

North Jesmond

Shehla Naqvi (SN) is hoping to be elected in North Jesmond.

Why are you standing for election?

SN – Because it makes personal sense. Green is about the ‘common good’ of our communities and society as a whole. I feel strongly it is a party with real integrity because it places our humanity and relationship with the world at the heart of social, environmental and economic policy.

Why should people vote for Greens

SN – Greens are a real alternative to ‘business as usual’ politics. The city council is having to do more with less. We need to understand if council money is being spent in the right places in Jesmond. No other party is talking about climate change, nor promoting real policy change like the Greens. We can’t combat the adverse impact of environment damage unless we work together. We have to be inclusive and also may have to compromise for the common good. People will elect us because of our vision.

 What’s the best way to ensure that Jesmond has the right mix of students and local residents?

SN – Affordable housing is a real issue. Half our Jesmond population are in their early twenties but we also have an ageing population who have made great contributions to the fabric of Jesmond society. Yes we need to encourage families back to Jesmond but we also need to support high quality residences for students closer to town. Students are an asset to Jesmond. We can work with the universities more closely to promote information/ talks/ events not just at the library but in our local cafes, at hotel venues that are more commonly used to hosting stag parties.

How would you make Jesmond cleaner?

SN – I would like to see a contractual ‘social/ environmental agreement’ between landlords, estate agents and universities to tackle refuse left in back lanes. I would work closely with university student environmental officers and help ‘implement’ the student charter and publicise good work. We have a poor waste management system in the city, not least with recycling. We need positive incentivising schemes for residents for the upkeep of back lanes and gardens.

Should businesses selling alcohol in Jesmond pay more in rates to pay for the cost of cleaning up litter, policing anti-social behaviour, etc? 

SN – Yes. There are formal mechanisms such as licensing policies and a levy on city centre bars (most of which goes to the police). At present it’s ‘a one size fits all’ policy which penalises the smaller business. I would encourage signing-up to a code of practice or a league table – governed by residents.

What could be done to help Jesmond businesses and services flourish all year round? 

SN – We must support independent traders! They create more jobs and circulate more money than larger, chain businesses. Problem is that the council gets more dependent on business rates rather than government grant for its income, and schemes to reduce business rates get politically harder. So we need other ways also to assist independent traders, such as local loyalty card schemes, marketing/promotion initiatives, street events and better council procurement policies.

We need to encourage people to cycle and walk in a pleasant environment with clean air. Both business and consumers can profit. North Jesmond doesn’t seem to have a business consortia, unlike other parts of the city. I would introduce a league table of businesses according to their contribution to the community.

Has Jesmond got the balance right with regards to pedestrians, cyclist and motorists?

SN – What we need is an integrated vision of the future, with high-density urban living, transport systems that actively favour less damaging modes of transport, making journeys easier on foot, by bike or public transport, and harder by car. Yes, we risk a backlash from those who see no option but to drive. But we must be bold and we must have vision. We must not see this as a battle between cyclists and motorists, or pitting pedestrians against those on bikes.

 Will national or local politics determine the election result in Jesmond? 

SN – Jesmond has a fantastic community spirit and it is also not hermetically sealed from the outside world. Climate change is one of the worst environmental hazards facing human society and the rest of the biosphere. The detrimental effects of human-induced global warming so far on human societies and ecosystems are already severe. Future effects over the next few decades will be far worse. It requires environmental and community cooperation. This is certainly happening, but progress is slow. Locally, car congestion, over-consumerism, inadequate cycling and pedestrian routes, plus not enough bus services – these are all problems. I would engage all stakeholders in our community including Newcastle Cycling Campaign and Living Streets to fulfil their ideas and build on proposals to improve the quality of our urban space and air. Also, an over-development of housing in our ward is unacceptable and requires tighter regulation. Climate change is an overriding concern, more so because we can’t ‘see’ it. More than any other party, the Greens are championing this and it’s not too late to help make a difference.

With only one ward meeting per year, does communication between councillors and residents need improvement and if so how would you do this?

SN – We need to make politics relevant. One ward meeting a year is not enough. People will come to a meeting if they feel it influences what happens and there are specific roles that can councillors can undertake. There is no point in having meetings in April when students are preparing for exams, or at 7pm for business when 5.30pm might be better.

What areas or issues are you passionate about and would aim to impact should you be elected?

SN – A Jesmond neighbourhood designed around people, not cars, that is safer, cleaner, quieter, and a more pleasant place to live. The Greens advocate integrated policies. We’re not pro-green stereotype. We’re pro-sustainability to promote cycling, walking and public transport; pro-people before vehicles; pro-people-powered vehicles before other vehicles; pro-public vehicles before private vehicles. Feet are zero-pollution transportation machines. Residents and users of Acorn Road, for example, deserve an environment with cleaner air, which is less congested, with reduced CO2 emissions. Local people deserve an altogether more pleasant experience than the one we have right now.

South Jesmond

Tony Waterston (TW) and Clare Andrews (CA) are hoping to be elected for the Green party.

So tell us a little bit about yourselves.

TW – I’m a retired paediatrician and I’ve lived in Jesmond for about 25 years. I’ve been in the Green party for ten years now. I used to be a member of the Labour party but I left the party over Iraq. I’ve since found  the Green party exactly matches my ideals. 

CA – I work as a research scientist at Newcastle University. My research involves looking at the effects of stress early in life and what impact that has later on in life. I think my values have long aligned with the Green party but I’ve been a member for about five or six years now. I’ve lived in Newcastle for the past four years, in the Sandyford area of South Jesmond. I think living in a one-party dominated area has encouraged me to express my views politically but also inspired me to change things, shake things up a bit, put some pressure on.

What do you believe is the best way of ensuring that Jesmond has the right mix of students and local residents?

TW – I think a lot has been done already, but we can do more. There needs to be a reaching out to students by residents, because it’s difficult for students coming here to take the initiative themselves. The most important thing for students coming into an area is to know what happens there, how it works and who the councillors are. We need to give them information.

CA – I think students really add to an area. There’s a lot of thing students are involved in and they make a large contribution to the local economy. It’s often the first time students have lived by themselves and there is a lot to learn and it can be difficult to organise yourself amongst a group of people in a shared house. I think there’s lots we can do to work with universities, landlords and letting agents to provide the information that they need.

TW – I think as members of the Green party we have an affinity with students. We know that the youth are the future of the world and many students support the Green party. If we were councillors here we would really reach out to the students.

How would you make Jesmond cleaner?

CA – I am going to take the alternate view of clean and talk about the invisible aspects of being clean, and for me that’s air pollution. Theres a lot of things that can be done in Jesmond to reduce air pollution and take it away from the more vulnerable areas like schools and the main high streets. A lot of that comes down to transport and a lot comes down to what we do with our built environments, i.e. making green walls and looking after green space.

TW – I think the main cause of our area to be dirty is because of waste which is thrown out, partly food waste but mainly plastic waste. I think the campaign to make Jesmond plastic-free is possible and workable and can be done. I think the recycling issue is very important as well; there isn’t enough information available about recycling like what sorts plastics can we recycle. The council could do much more and in the community we need to give people more information about recycling.

Should businesses selling alcohol in Jemsond pay more in rates to cover the cost of cleaning up litter, policing antisocial behaviour, ect? 

TW – I don’t know if that’s possible. I do think there should be an imposition and expectation to clear up and also they do have a responsibility. There are other thing that can be done locally; the Green party is very keen on organising things locally and getting people together to do what they want to do. You could have an award scheme for landlords and pubs, and the idea of being fined is very important. We would work with the council and see if we could develop a fining system around heavy drinking; that’s something we need to think about, but there’s a lot we can do by working with pub owners.

CA – There are things I think you can do through persuasion as well as fining. There is a cafe up the street from me that actually gives free drinks to people after they are involved in local community litter picking, which unfortunately isn’t very well attended as it isn’t very well-known about. So you can do things to build community spirit and raise awareness about issues like that. In terms of antisocial behaviour there are probably ways to get at that through licensing, like employing door staff during busy times of the year – in the summer, during bank holidays, exam times and match days, to try to deal with it at the source.

What could be done to help Jesmond businesses flourish all year round?

TW – There needs to be much more of a coming together of businesses. We don’t have a business association for Jesmond, there have been some efforts to set one up but it’s something we need. There was an example published in the Guardian this year of a retail road in York, a bit like Acorn Road, and it wasn’t doing very well so they decided to do two things – firstly they part pedestrianised it and secondly they set up an association which then organised street events and street parties. That really brought a lot of people in and it turned round the economy in that area.

CA – I think there are examples in other cities as well, of local loyalty schemes that businesses can sign up to where you can give local residents loyalty cards or locals discount which encourages them to shop locally. I think one of the things students do that contributes on a local scale is they don’t have cars and transport so they are shopping locally; we should encourage non-student residents to adopt that way of living more.

TW – The Green party is very strongly in favour of a) the local economy, meaning local shops; and b) sourcing food and veg locally. We want to promote that. On Acorn Road and Clayton Road you can’t buy vegetables that are grown in Northumberland. We do have a farmers market but I think we would really try to promote local shops sourcing local food in our shopping areas.

Has Jesmond got the balance right with regards to pedestrians, cyclists and motorist?

TW – Well, I think there isn’t a balance: there’s car domination. Despite what the council has done and I  would criticise them for foot-dragging over making changes, we are in a very seriously dangerous state from air pollution which comes from cars as well as from the obesity epidemic, caused from people not being active enough. Accidents are affecting children too; the biggest cause of death in children is pedestrian-motor accidents, so what are we doing about that? Very little. There are cycle lanes being developed but there are no measures to reduce motor traffic. There could be congestion charging or low pollution high quality air zones, with only certain cars allowed. There are quite a lot of other schemes that could be used so I think it’s really about pushing for a shift, reducing car traffic and increasing cycling. People would cycle if there were fewer cars on the road.

CA – Jesmond, north of the Metro, is really developing its cycling facilities but south of the metro towards Sandyford and Jesmond Vale, there’s really not a lot going on. Theres are a few main roads there that are pretty bad and the junction around the Jesmond Metro itself,  there really aren’t any cycling facilities. It’s a good thing that some of the potholes in that area are being dealt with, but it seems like a bit of a missed opportunity on roads that are perfectly wide enough to get a basic cycle lane.

Is there anything you’d like to add? Any issues you are particularly passionate about?

CA – In terms of cycling and walking and promoting that, there are things that councils can do working with schools. First of all you have to ensure there is a safe route along the main routes to schools, but you can also introduce things like walking caterpillars and walking buses organised by groups of parents.

TW – The other topic I’d like to mention is energy. Clearly our main thrust is climate change and a lot comes back to that. Transport is the biggest thing we could change but home energy use and insulation is a massive problem in Jesmond too. If you look at the housing stock, I think less than a third of houses in Jesmond are double glazed or have had any other measures of insulation. Landlords don’t want to spent much money and the heating bills are paid by the students, so it’s not in the interest of landlords to make heating bills smaller. I think if you look around there’s very little use of solar energy and very few solar panels so we want to make a push on that and get the councils to do much more to improve the insulation in houses. Also, all new houses should have solar panels as part of the law, so we should be pushing for these type of things in Jesmond.