Winchester Green Party welcomes the decision by County Councillor Alan Weeks to defect from the Liberal Democrats to become Hampshire's first ever Green Councillor.

Alan was the Chairman and Campaign leader for the New Forest group of the Liberal Democrats until shortly after the May election. Originally elected onto the New Forest District Council as the youngest ever councillor, Alan has over twenty years of substantial experience in local politics. He has pledged to give local Greens a big boost.

We are pleased that you, as our MP, have been selected to serve on the Committee dealing with this Bill.

Our candidate in the City Council election (St Bartholomew Ward), Alison Craig, achieved 17.5 per cent of the vote, up from 12 per cent last year. 

This shows a strong and steady rise in our vote, and was among the Green Party’s best performances in Hampshire.

Alison says, 'It's exciting to be part of a new movement in Winchester. We thank everyone who voted for us, and we promise to work on for a better future for this District than the other parties will ever deliver.'

In the St Michael Ward, our candidate Mary Tiles also achieved a good result, with over 7 per cent of the vote-share, a remarkable showing for a new candidate. 

Winchester Green Party is calling for the total closure of Hyde Church Lane to dangerous traffic.

Cars are STILL being allowed to drive both ways along Hyde Church Lane which is extremely narrow and has no pavements for most of its length. Huge lorries are using the lane, often guided by their satnavs.

A recent survey by local residents found that over 700 pedestrians, including small children and elderly people, use the Lane per day. They are forced to share it with more than 200 vehicles per day.

The City Council decided on an inadequate compromise solution last December. The plan is to close the Lane – but only at one end (the Worthy Lane end) – by next month.

Winchester Green Party joined the Unison demonstration against HCC job cuts on 24th February, to demand green jobs in Hampshire.

1200 jobs, or 8 per cent of the HCC workforce, is to be cut under the latest Council budget plans. Alison Craig of Winchester Green Party says ‘Nothing but steady deterioration, high unemployment and lost opportunities can be expected from public sector job cuts.’

Winchester Green Party has written to dozens of retailers asking them to keep doors closed, and to stop wasting heating and energy.

Even in snowy weather, many shops in the High Street have been keeping their doors wide open, while turning the heating up, in the hope of attracting more customers. 

Today (Sunday 28 November) members of Winchester Green Party and other local residents took over a civic flowerbed in a dramatic ‘guerilla gardening’ coup.

They planted up the flowerbed on the corner of Hyde Street and Worthy Lane with hundreds of daffodils and crocuses which they donated themselves.

The flowerbed (owned by Hampshire County Council) had been neglected for many years and was a mass of nettles. Local residents had tried to draw attention to its plight, without results.

Winchester Green Party (WGP) warns that the draft Winchester Town Access Plan (WTAP) is not fit for purpose and promises a future for Winchester that is even more car-blighted than today. 

The Greens say that, despite the rhetoric about tackling the negative impacts of traffic in Winchester, what the Plan actually proposes in terms of car control is next to nothing. 

Alison Craig, Convenor of Winchester Green Party, says:

About the Green Party and our transport policies

The Green Party has a well-developed and longstanding set of transport and access policies, and has for many years been at the forefront of radical thinking on the need for transportation and how it can be efficiently achieved with minimal damage to the environment and without causing social exclusion.