Enfield Green Party's manifesto for Southgate Ward

We want to thank Southgate residents for the many good wishes we have been sent ahead of the council election on 5 May.

We are the Green Party's candidates in Southgate ward, where a Green councillor has represented the ward since May 2021. The Greens can win Southgate. We have been hard working hard all year round, stood up in the council on behalf of residents without being whipped by the party.

Many Southgate residents have said, that no matter who they normally vote for, they're voting Green this time. They know that Green councillors works hardest. They want to see more Greens continue to provide principled opposition and accountability continues on the council.

This manifesto is our work-plan for the next four years and our ideas for how the council should be run for a better Southgate. As a party we are always listening to you, and we will also take action when residents and campaigners ask for our help and when new issues arise.

How much we can do when we're elected depends on how many Green seats we can win. Your vote can really make the difference.

We pledge to you we will work for

• A cleaner, greener and more welcoming place: fight for weekly refuse and recycling bin collections and protect free regular collections of bulky waste. More education to deter fly tipping, reduce waste generation and increase recycling levels. Increase numbers of street trees.
• A safe place to live, work and visit: work with you and local police to make Southgate safer, preventing crime, and supporting our young people and community facilities.
• Fairer and greener ways to travel: press for socially just, green transport solutions and fair practical measures to clean up our air sooner; more active travel infrastructure; push for solutions to reduce congestion at Southgate circus and through traffic in residential streets.
• A healthier borough: Encourage more GP sessions to reduce appointment delays; promote the benefits of vaccination, screening and checkups; improve air quality.
• Housing that meets the needs of local people: fight for more family homes that residents can genuinely afford, and won't sell out to property developers and overseas investors over new developments; protect our green belt.
• A fairer and more open borough: help bring local citizens into the Civic Centre, and help residents take the lead on the plans and decisions that matter.

A CLEANER, GREENER AND MORE WELCOMING PLACE

• Protect our green spaces and public parks for our residents to enjoy; No to building on the precious Green Belt; No to the public parks land grab and corporate sell off of our parks.
• Work with community groups to increase the number of Green Flag parks across Enfield particularly retain ones around Southgate (Groveland Park, Oakwood Park, Amos Park, Broomfield Park, Trent Park).
• Push for better protection and care for our mature street trees and green verges across Enfield to help protect residents from the negative effects of climate change and improve local area.
• Develop proactive planting schemes for street trees and hedges, and flood control measures, to help reduce the impact of climate change on our urban areas.
• Encourage food growing and community orchard projects and protect allotment spaces from development and vandalism.
• Improve recycling rates by reintroducing weekly collection of refuse and recycling bins. Protect free regular collections of bulky waste and increase advertising of the service. More education to deter fly tipping, reduce waste generation and increase recycling levels. Push for better recycling facilities in blocks of apartments and flats.

A safe place to live, work and visit

• Keep up our pressure on the Mayor of London to increase the number of ward police officers across Southgate. We must have more active community-based officers in post in our ward.
• Push Transport for London and the Council for more security cameras in key public spaces and crime hotspots to address public safety concerns, such as around Southgate tube station to improve public safety.
• Resource local Town Teams to support and develop town centre, including engaging with local businesses and community groups, to reduce empty shops and to increase activity on our high streets.
• Improve safety for pedestrian and cyclists, and push for more safe and well-lit pedestrian routes and crossings, school streets and maximum speeds of 20 mph in busy streets and residential areas.
• Work with community groups and youth leaders to work towards removing knife crime from our streets and ensuring there are safe community spaces for our young citizens.
• Support initiatives for Enfield police to deliver on violence against women and girls. Encourage work of Business watch, Southgate Community Action Partnership Enfield and neighbourhood watch groups.

A fairer and greener way to travel

• Push for solutions to reduce congestion at Southgate circus. Ensure Council's proposed mitigation measures to resolve the issue are speedily evaluated. We will continue scrutinising the results.
• Keep our pressure on for integrated, fair and green transport solutions to help address the climate emergency - measures such as affordable, reliable and accessible public transport, well designed active travel infrastructure, and reduced use of high-polluting motor vehicles.
• Ensure green transport schemes are based on a platform of social justice by conducting comprehensive Equalities Impact Assessments prior to policy implementation. The people who are disadvantaged due to socioeconomic deprivation or those with protected characteristics will not be made to carry more of the burden of any transition.
• Reduce the need for vehicle use - support local shops, businesses, and community facilities (e.g. GP surgeries and schools) to ensure that people can reach services without having to use a car (benches / pedestrian friendly).
• Will call for evidence-based policies to ensure the effective and efficient movement of people and goods in a way that enhances the wellbeing of the local community and has a positive impact on the environment and the economy; measures such as a diesel-free borough by 2030, 20-mph speed limits with enforcement, cycle storage units, more school streets.

A healthier ward

• Continue to oppose the expansion of the Edmonton Incinerator and support alternative greener, healthier, and more economically viable alternatives approaches to dealing with waste.
• Commission an independent and comprehensive report on the risks and impact of the expanded incinerator on Enfield and publish its findings without delay. More local district heating networks powered by renewable energy sources.
• Support a truly public NHS. Call for programs to encourage more GP sessions to open in areas where there is a shortage.
• Promote the benefits of vaccinations, screening and check-ups to promote early detection of diseases and good dental health especially in children by working in partnership with public health organisations.
• Push to provide free school meals for all primary school children and ensure a mental health first aider is available for every school in the borough.
• Encourage daily activity by ensuring safe active travel is a viable and preferable alternative to car use.
• Subsidise more leisure facilities and services for both older and younger people.

Housing that meets the needs of local people

• Follow the evidence: There is a very clear evidence base that shows what type I of housing the local community needs and can afford. Ensure this evidence gets acted upon, not ignored.
• Fight to stop the Council housing vulnerable people outside of Enfield in cramped, overcrowded, and unhealthy converted office blocks.
• Stop the Council demolishing affordable social rent housing and replacing in with unaffordable private housing that most local people cannot afford.
• Ensure that local people are prioritised for the homes that get built in Enfield.
• Not stand by and let the Council repeat the mistakes of the past by building dozens of tower blocks with only a single staircase escape route in the event of the fire.
• Push for grants to help local people improve the energy efficiency of their home and reduce their energy bills.
• Push to build homes on regenerated brownfield - ensuring investment is brought to areas that need it most and have good but under utilised existing public transport infrastructure.
• Ensure landlords, letting or management agents of private residential rented properties are 'fit-and-proper' persons by extending Enfield's selective private rented property licence scheme to Southgate ward.

A fairer and more open southgate and enfield

• Call for Southgate residents to have a stronger voice in council decision-making, by reforming Full Council and committee meetings. Enable residents to put forward motions and ask questions directly to the cabinet. Strengthen the scrutiny process and ensure the chairs of the scrutiny panels are rotated amongst the political groups in the council.
• Ensure that service suppliers to the council pay at least the Living Wage.
• Remove all anti-homeless infrastructure and street furniture from the borough's streets, parks and public spaces.
• Reverse recent cuts to youth services, and help local groups apply for the Mayor of London's Young Londoners Fund (if scheme is extended).
• Restore funding to community centres so they are no longer expected to be self-financing and pay large rents to the council. Enhance local community centres and public facilities. Enhance Southgate community centre, Alan Pullinger and preserve Southgate library by fighting for more funds.
• Provide efficient adult and children services.
• Back further reforms to our electoral system and work with campaigners to support votes for everyone over 16, and a change to a proportional voting system for both national and local elections.