The problems we have with litter and waste in our streets is not all down to students.

The Good - a student house in King Edward Road (possibly the tidiest garden in the road)

The Bad - a small block of private flats right next to the Guildhall. Not many students here!

The Ugly - who knows who left this lying around in St Albans Road for the seagulls to enjoy.

This is a problem for the whole community and it will need the whole community to work together to solve it.

If you’d like to help please get in touch and we’ll talk about how you can make a start in your area.  Contact details on the ‘About’ page

Greens announce candidates for local elections

Swansea Green Party has begun the process of selecting candidates to stand in the local council elections in May.  Following their AGM last week they have published details of the first candidates to be selected.

Keith M Ross will be the Green Party’s “first choice” candidate for the Uplands & Brynmill Ward.  Mr Ross is 62 and has lived in Brynmill for 10 years.  He is a former Royal Navy officer and has also worked in local government, university administration and telecommunications.  He was a refugee support worker with the Welsh Refugee Council in Swansea before becoming a victim of government cuts in March last year.

Proposed Motorbike Race on Swansea Beach needs Enviromental Assessment

(Letter to the South Wales Evening Post)

Sir,

The Green Party strongly supports Swansea West MP Geraint Davies’s call for an environmental impact assessment of the proposed motorbike race on Swansea Beach (‘To bike or not to bike …’, Monday 13 February, pages 16-17).

BID Chairman Dave Kenny’s argument is based entirely on economic benefit.  The threat of global warming has taught us that economic activity can never be separated from environmental and social impacts.  All human activity, no matter how small or how localised, impacts on the environment – and we ignore this impact at our peril.

Council Leader Chris Holley’s promise to carry out an environmental assessment after the event is not good enough.  By then the damage will have been done and could be irreparable.

Swansea Council’s own ‘Pre-Application Advice’ for planning applications states, “Proposals which are likely to give rise to significant environmental effects must be accompanied by an environmental statement. … The preparation of an Environmental Statement ensures that the impacts of a development are fully understood and taken into account before the development is allowed to proceed.”  (My emphasis)

Surely the Council’s own rules apply to them equally as much as to anyone else?

Yours,

Keith M Ross, Swansea Green Party

 

 

Tata Steel promise to promote long term wellbeing

(Letter to the South Wales Evening Post)

News that Tata Steel has signed up to the Welsh Government’s charter committing businesses to sustainable decision making is most welcome (‘Plan wins support of big firms’, Evening Post, Friday 3 February, page 17).

Now that they have promised to “ensure that their decisions promote the long term wellbeing of people and communities”, perhaps they will revisit their plan to close Longlands Lane (Footpath 92) and cut off public access to Morfa Beach.

After all, what could be more conducive to long term wellbeing than a visit to one of the most tranquil and secluded beaches in South Wales?

Yours,

Keith M Ross, Swansea Green Party