News
Exeter Residents refuse to play the game
Green Party welcomes Exeter residents’ reluctance to engage in County Council’s cuts agenda.
Creative revenue raising measures mark the way forward to secure public services and save jobs say Exeter Green Party.
While the meeting held at Exeter Central library to discuss the imminent spending cuts was so popular residents were being turned away, less that 30 of the approximately 120 attending agreed to play a monopoly style game in which participants had to decide which areas of expenditure they would shave. Members of Exeter Green Party who attended the meeting have welcomed the reluctance of Exeter residents to take part. Andrew Bell, Exeter Green Party policy officer who was at the meeting said:
“This was an outrageous attempt by the County Council to have residents of Exeter do their dirty work for them, and it completely backfired. It was clear from the comments made to the Council at this meeting that the majority of Exeter residents don’t want to play this game of savage cuts to our public services. This agenda of public spending cuts is being pushed through by a Tory dominated council who are obediently following orders from the Con-Dem government. Yet these cuts are not economically inevitable, they are an ideological choice.”
The Green Party believes that there are positive alternatives to the cuts which will increase revenue and safeguard public services.
The Green Party is suggesting solar electricity generated from County council owned premises and land[ii] and a workplace parking levy[iii] as two revenue raising ideas and are urging residents in Exeter to contact Cllr John Hart, leader of Devon County Council, and let him know their own ideas for increasing revenue.
Exeter Green Party Chair, Audaye Elesedy said:
“We believe that Devon County Council should be tapping into the ingenuity of local people for positive and creative solutions to the deficit which do not sink us further into the damaging cuts agenda. We need to switch the focus from cuts onto how we can increase revenue, invest to save, and properly communicate these needs to central government. We need a positive vision for the future; one where we safeguard public services and protect peoples jobs and our environment.”
[i] See the Tough Choices website: http://toughchoices.co.uk/ Devon County Council’s website regarding choices on how to reduce costs and save money
[ii] Solar electricity generated from County council owned premises and land would better utilise Council assets, reduce costs by providing free electricity and generate an income by exporting surplus electricity to the national grid. It would also help move Devon towards becoming a low carbon county. Low interest loans are available to local authorities for the capital costs of setting up renewable energy generation and costs would quickly be recovered through selling electricity to the grid.
[iii] A Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) is a charge on large businesses (those with 10 parking spaces or more) for each parking space they provide. Nottingham is to introduce such a scheme next year. The main aim of any WPL is to generate funds for sustainable transport solutions, safeguarding and expanding public transport and protecting the many jobs in this sector. A proportion of the levy could also be used to protect vital services to the most vulnerable residents of Devon. There are also great social and environmental benefits from the WPL. By encouraging car sharing and the use of public transport it would help reduce air pollution and carbon emissions and encourage more employees to walk or cycle to work improving the health of the workforce. For more on the WPL see: http://www.exetergreenparty.org.uk/index.php?id=15
Further information
For a leaflet on the issues raised in this press release and handed out to residents who attended the Tough Choices meeting on 11th October at Central Library in Exeter see the Exeter Green Party website: http://exetergreenparty.org.uk/assets/docs/ToughChoicesLeaflet.pdf