Tube ticket office plans could see off Boris

Reported plans by Transport for London to axe 800 tube station staff, affecting around 12 ticket offices in Barnet borough among dozens across London, could be the broken pledge too far that causes so many people to end their support for Boris Johnson that he will fail to win re-election if he stands again as Mayor of London in two years' time, predicts Andrew Newby, one of the Green Party's candidate for East Finchley in the Barnet Council elections on May 6th.

In 2007 when previous mayor Ken Livingstone announced plans to shut the ticket offices at Totteridge and Whetstone, West Finchley and Mill Hill East stations among 40 proposed closures, tube travellers were so keen to make their objections known that they literally grabbed draft protest letters from the hands of Barnet Green Party campaigners who offered them to people emerging from the local stations.

"Some people told us awful stories of problems they had had when no staff member was around to help them - elderly people who had had to climb over barriers, mothers with children in pushchairs who had had to lift the chairs over stubbornly closed barriers before climbing over themselves, and so on," Newby said.

Wily Ken backed off from his idea and so will Boris if he has any sense. Despite the impression given by the vociferous road lobby that most people rely on cars, in fact around 80 percent of people who work in central London commute by public transport every day and they deserve improved tube, train and bus services, not reduced.

The objections to reduced ticket office opening hours are as strong now as they were then - greater risk to everyone, delays to journeys, loss of revenue. Worst of all, the heightened feeling of insecurity when no staff are around might put some people off travelling by Underground altogether.

Barnet needs a 20 mph limit

Barnet Greens are calling for a 20 mph default speed limit on residential and shopping streets across the borough, using as a "case study" the problems in East Finchley's Church Lane.

As well as cutting the number of accidents, a 20 mph limit would be "good for children, cyclists and the planet," said Andrew Newby, who will be a candidate in East Finchley ward in the borough elections on May 6th.

Barnet Council's Conservative administration has had no credible road safety strategy for several years since Councillor Brian Coleman unilaterally decided to abolish speed humps, Newby said.

Peacemeal traffic calming controls remain in place on some streets but residents of many neighbourhoods across the borough are increasingly angry that their pleas for increased road safety measures near their homes and schools have fallen on deaf ears.

Barnet Green Party has decided to address the issue by proposing a 20 mph speed limit on all residential and shopping streets in the borough, in line with decisions already approved by Camden council, amongst others.

Barnet Greens are preparing a report on the proposal and will submit it to Barnet Council and ask councillors to back the idea.

"A 20 mph speed limit is proven to reduce accidents and also makes cycling or walking much more pleasant, such as for children going to school, if speeding traffic is no longer rushing by," Newby said.

Meet your Greens this -- Saturday

Barnet Green Party has selected East Finchley as its target ward for the borough council elections on May 6th and will officially launch its campaign in the ward this coming Saturday, February 13th.

The launch will take place outside Budgen’s supermarket on the High Road. We invite all local people to come along at about 11.00 am to meet ward candidates Noel Lynch, Steve Norman and Andrew Newby.

The Electoral Reform Society calculated that the number of votes achieved by Barnet Green Party in the last borough election in 2006 could have won six seats for the Greens under a fair system of proportional representation.

The present first-past-the-post system and the fact that our votes were spread widely across the borough meant that we were denied any seats, so this time we are focussing our campaign effort on East Finchley, the ward where we have greatest support.

In the London Mayoral election in 2008, around 25 percent of East Finchley participants voted Green as either their first or second choice. We only need to boost that score by a few percentage points to win the East Finchley council seats and secure a much-needed Green presence on Barnet Council.

Greens in several London boroughs, including neighbouring Camden, have won council seats by targeting certain wards and Barnet Greens are aiming to match that achievement this time.

The launch in East Finchley will be part of an action day that will also include canvassing around the ward and a stall outside Budgen’s. At the stall we will be collecting signatures in support of our campaigns for a new bus service between East Finchley and the Royal Free Hospital and for a 20 mph speed limit in East Finchley’s Church Lane as well as other local streets. We will also be collecting supporters for our call to Barnet Council’s pension fund to sell its BAe shares.

Our general election candidates Donald Lyven (Finchley & Golders Green), Kate Tansley (Chipping Barnet) and Andrew Newby (Hendon) will all be at the target ward launch.

Let's be eco-friendly in East Finchley

Everyone in East Finchley needs to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions they cause and adopt a more sustainable way of life to help in the worldwide fight against climate change. Why not start in 2010 with a 10 percent cut in your carbon footprint? We can still have fun Perkin the purrfect draught excluder while we adapt ourselves.

ANDREW NEWBY'S 10 WAYS YOU CAN LIVE MORE SUSTAINABLY IN 2010:

Food and clothing:

1/ Eat food grown in Britain when possible, to save on 'food miles' -- energy used in transporting imports. Eg, don't give up bananas but when you eat an apple make sure it is a British one.

2/ Eat meat no more than once or twice a week. Producing a kilogramme of beef uses ten times the resources needed to produce the equivalent amount of vegetarian food.

3/ Grown your own food. Grow fruit and vegetables in your garden or on the patio, where tomatoes, peppers and chillis will ripen nicely in pots. In a flat, grow herbs in pots on the windowsill.

ECO-FUN: 4/ Fed up with your clothes? Swap items with your friends instead of buying new garments that need a lot of energy to make and to import to Britain. Hold a clothes swap party!

Transport:

5/ Walk or cycle as much as possible, eg when going to the shops. It is good exercise, it will save you money and you will see sights and hear sounds you would have missed inside a vehicle.

6/ Use one of East Finchley's regular bus services or the underground instead of going by car. You can relax on buses and trains by reading or sleeping. If you are tired (or drunk!), public transport is the best way home.

ECO-FUN: 7/ When planning a holiday see if you can avoid travelling by air, which has a high carbon footprint. Try the Eurostar train to Paris – it's luxurious and can be cheap as a bargain flight.

In your home:

8/ Close your curtains at night. Day-to-day habits like closing your curtains and internal doors can lower your gas and electricity bills. You can save even more money by ensuring the loft and walls of your home are well insulated and by installing high-grade doubling glazing.

9/ To make a meal use a microwave instead of the oven, when suitable. On average, cooking a meal in a microwave uses only half the electricity of cooking the same food in an oven.

ECO-FUN: 10/ Sit under a duvet to watch television instead of turning up the heating in your living room. Better still, invite a friend to sit under the duvet with you.

Www.barnetgreenparty.co.uk
Http://eastfinchleygreens.blogspot.com

Greens back 20 mph limit for Church Lane -- and all residential streets

Greens in East Finchley are urging the introduction of a 20 mph speed limit on East Finchley's Church Lane and all the other residential and shopping streets in Barnet borough.

Barnet Council has fobbed off a call by East Finchley Village Residents Association for a 20 mph limit on Church Lane by saying some people will ignore the limit whatever it is set at.

There will always be tearaways who drive much too fast but the Greens point out there is a much larger proportion of people who drive at or no more than slightly above the prevailing speed limit – you can witness this on almost any road on any day.

"These more or less law abiding people will change their behaviour if a speed limit changes and it would therefore be very worthwhile to introduce a speed limit on part of Church Lane, East Finchley," said Noel Lynch, chair of Barnet Green Party and an East Finchley candidate for the council elections in May.

"Given that the average speed along the stretch is 29.5 mph while the limit is 30 mph, there is a strong chance that a 20 mph limit would bring the average speed down by a fair amount, making the road much safer and making life more pleasant for schoolchildren and other pedestrians using Church Lane," he said.

The danger and nuisance caused by speeding motorists do not just affect Church Lane of course but also blight many other roads in Barnet borough and the Green Party would like to see a 20 mph limit adopted for all Barnet residential and shopping streets, with appropriate enforcement measures.

Islington Council, at the initiative of a Green councillor, has just become the first borough in the country to adopt a 20 mph limit for all except principal roads and "it will be very interesting to see what the effect is not just in terms of road accident figures but in the percentage of children walking or cycling to school," Noel said.

Greens urge councils to act to cut bus fares

The Green Party of England and Wales has urged local authorities across the UK to take advantage of new legislation and cut bus fares.

An amendment to the Local Transport Act of 2008 which came into force this month enables local governments to create Quality Contract Schemes. Such provisions allow authorities the power to instate London style quality control over service provision including fares, timings and routes.

Caroline Lucas, Leader of the Green Party, said: "Greens welcome amendments to the law that allow for Quality Contract Schemes. We must make sure buses are a financially viable alternative to cars. While such provisions give local authorities a fantastic opportunity to move ahead with plans to reduce fares, the current government has done little to make buses an attractive option.

"In the past decade the cost of motoring has fallen by 13% in real terms whilst bus fares have risen by 17%, and funding for buses is poor compared to many of our European neighbours. In addition 53% of people would take the bus to work if the service was better [1]. Cutting bus fares is a sure fire way of easing congestion and pollution on city roads. The QCS's present a real chance to make this happen."

However the optimism over QCS's may be short lived. Exponents of the scheme have warned that local authorities must act quickly after reports surfaced that a Conservative government would repeal the part of the act that allows for QCS's in favour of a more competitive bus industry.

A spokesperson for the CBT (Campaign for Better Transport) said:

"Shadow Transport minister Stephen Hammond wants to scrap Quality Contracts. We advise Quality Contracts should thus be quickly approved, and that the Department should play an active role in encouraging and supporting local transport authorities who want to use these new powers. Currently bus services in the UK receive some of the lowest funding in Europe. A better funded and attractive bus system would do a good deal to lower carbon emissions and create more pleasant city environments."

Your Green candidates for East Finchley

The Green Party has selected Noel Lynch, Andrew Newby and Steve Norman as its candidates for
East Finchley ward in the Barnet Council elections to take place in May. East Finchley is Barnet
Green Party's top target ward and Noel, Andrew and Steve are aiming to win. Please vote for them!
Noel Lynch – long-time East Finchley campaigner

Green Party stalwart and former London Assembly member Noel
Lynch has campaigned in East Finchley for many years.
He is currently pushing for improvements to East Finchley's bus
links, in particular for a new route to the Royal Free Hospital.
Noel said: “London Greens are proposing the cancellation of
Boris Johnson's recent approval of a big rise in bus fares. Boris
doesn't care about ordinary people or the environment.”
Noel has fought to protect East Finchley and other
neighbourhood communities and has been a long-time champion
of small business.

Financial journalist Andrew Newby has had his home in the
borough for 23 years.
He is furious at Barnet Council's weak social and environmental
policies and its refusal to adopt the Sustainable Communities Act.
“Some Green policies are unglamorous, such as better insulation
of private and social housing, but they can save money and give
everyone a better quality of life,” he says.
In Totteridge ward in 2006 he doubled the Green Party vote,
beating Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates. In East Finchley
he aims to beat all other parties and win a council seat.

East Finchley-born Steve Norman is a professional gardener but it
wasn't just the environment which led him to join the Greens.
“I joined because of its policies on animal rights and civil
liberties issues. I am concerned about corporate interests being
given priority over human rights,” he said.
Steve himself coordinated a campaign against greyhound racing,
focussed on Walthamstow track, which has now closed down.
Steve first stood in East Finchley ward in 2005, campaigning
alongside Noel. In that year Noel and Andrew were the top polling
Barnet Greens, with Steve not far behind.