2006 Local Election
Green Party Candidate for Headingley Ward

Lesley Jeffries on: Peace & Conflict Resolution Shared Housing

Peace and Conflict Resolution

In response to a request from Headingley and Kirkstall CND - here are my comments on the issues of peace and conflict resolution:

Green defence policies are democratic, accountable, sustainable, and life-affirming as well as consistent with international law and the UN Charter. Military intervention to prevent conflict or oppression must be under the auspices of the UN or under the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

We are totally opposed to policies based on mass-killing or threatened mass-killing and committed to immediate and unconditional nuclear disarmament as a step towards international agreements to ban all WMD. We would take the UK out of NATO, end the "special relationship" with the US, and seek to remove US military bases (including Menwith Hill and Fylingdales) from the UK as soon as possible.

Locally, we would promote all schemes for learning about other countries and cultures by direct contact. We support and encourage more involvement in the Mayors for Peace Campaign and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA). The Menwith Hill Forum and Leeds Peace Links are important places for citizens, politicians, campaigners and others to discuss their concerns, share information and work together for peace. Council support for them is dwindling. Green Councillor Clare Nash currently chairs both these as did Martin Hemingway (our candidate for Weetwood, who was also national chair of the NFLA) when he was a Labour Councillor.

Community conflicts need serious attempts at resolution. Community centres and events to promote sharing and understanding should be encouraged and resourced. People should be given more say in how their communities develop so that they are not overrun and destroyed by student ghettoes, big business, or vested interests. 

Environmental destruction threatens our very survival; we have no choice but to build common and co-operative responses to national and local problems.

Shared Housing

In response to a request from the Leeds HMO Lobby - here are my comments on the issue of concentrations of shared housing in Headingley:

The three main problems facing Headingley are:

• The unbalanced community that has resulted from rampant landlordism;
• The resultant monoculture in commercial provision, providing a wide range of food and drink outlets, but little to sustain family life;
• The traffic and pollution issues resulting from Headingley’s position in relation to the city, and also from the high density of population in some of Headingley’s streets.

If elected, I would campaign within the council, as I do now outside it, for:

• The compulsory registration of ALL landlords;
• Support for agencies and organisations working for family housing in Headingley (e.g. housing associations, Headingley Development Trust etc.);
• A halt to primary school closures in our area. Small children MUST be able to walk to their local school – we need to inculcate lifelong habits of walking in preference to driving, of schooling our young people in their own communities and small, local schools provide for a thriving heart of the community;
• The better coordination of the planning and licensing systems of the council, with improved access for citizens, who may not be able to spend working days waiting to give evidence to panels, or have time to learn the intricacies of the system in order to object to local developments;
• A serious attempt to provide safe routes for cyclists which do not include the hazards of parked cars, bus stops and potholes as they do now;
• An integrated transport system which does not rely on long-term expensive tram systems, but uses the power available NOW to make public transport easier and pleasanter to use;
• Road pricing, the expansion of shared car schemes into Headingley; incentives for students to use public transport. All these work together for a future with less polluted air and safer streets;
• A council-led plan to set up home zones in certain areas of Headingley, to encourage families to move back into the area, and to integrate the rented sector into a stable, sustainable community where the emphasis is on quality of environment and quality of life;
• Council initiatives to encourage property owners and developers to refurbish in environmentally friendly ways (e.g. heating systems; solar panels; water recycling etc);
• Council support for increased and improved recycling facilities, including provision for collection of compostable materials;
• The retention of Leeds-Bradford airport in public ownership. For the sake of a one-off windfall, we MUST NOT let the forces of the free market be allowed to take over the polluting of our skies and the tarmacing of more of our countryside. Cheap air travel cannot last if the planet is to survive, and this bubble will burst sooner or later.

Lesley Jeffries

Contact details:

Campaigns Manager:
Martin Hemingway
15 St Chad’s Drive, LS6 3PZ
Tel: 2786017

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