Exeter Greens launch local manifesto

Exeter Green Party have launched their manifesto for the City Council elections under the banner 'development today as if tomorrow matters'. 

The Party calls for urgent new and imaginative ways to build and deliver affordable housing, pointing to the fact that Exeter has been identified as the third most unaffordable place in the South West to rent and one of the most expensive in which to buy.

Elected Green councillors will push for Council owned brownfield sites such as car parks to be turned into new social housing developments available to rent and for an ambitious programme of home insulation to address fuel poverty, prioritising the most vulnerable and hard to heat homes.

Greens will also push for the immediate introduction of weekly food waste collections, to remove food from the black bin incinerator waste stream and use it in a process known as anaerobic digestion that creates compost and energy.

Isaac Price-Sosner, who is hotly tipped to win a seat in St James, said: “Our manifesto offers the most detailed and distinctive policies of any Party in Exeter. We are the only Party totally opposed to austerity and cuts to public services with a chance of winning council seats. Our forward thinking policies put the environment and people's health and wellbeing before growth. We want to see a resilient local economy where people prosper with meaningful jobs, warm and comfortable homes that everyone can afford to live in, and vibrant and healthy community to enjoy."

Other measures announced in the Green's manifesto include: a purpose built market square as part of the bus station redevelopment to promote local businesses, a local carbon plan showing how the city will meet its greenhouse gas reduction target, and ensuring the New Homes Bonus and developer levies are prioritised for vital local facilities to cope with the growth of Exeter such as community centres and youth services. Isaac Price-Sosner concluded:

“Green councillors will press for decision making to be decentralised and for local people to be more involved in decisions that directly affect them. This is particularly important when considering the impacts of new housing and other developments as well as the way in which budgets are allocated. We believe that when people are empowered to make informed decisions they will want Exeter to develop today as if tomorrow mattered.”