Decision Maker
Siân Berry
Green candidate for Mayor of London. Councillor for Highgate in Camden.
Decision Maker
Siân Berry
Green candidate for Mayor of London. Councillor for Highgate in Camden.
#InvestInYouthWork
Youth work is important but it’s under threat. Pledge to invest in growing the service for London's young people. The cuts in youth provisions has had more of an impact on us (young people) than people may think and we care - enormously. Young people want and need to be able to socialise in a safe and secure environment. Youth provisions create great opportunities for young people. They give us places of learning, chances to build friendships, access to professional and local support and to have fun! It gives us a place we can call ours. But it's under threat. Because of cuts decided by adults, many youth workers are losing their jobs. They are as important to us as the venues and programmes being closed down and under threat. Also, many places we care about are being closed down and hours of delivery being reduced. This issue affects us all, whatever your age. This needs to stop. We want mayoralty candidates to pledge to invest in and protect youth services in London right now. We can see plenty of money being spent on expensive new homes but not on provisions for the community that already lives here. Quality youth work and services are important to us and important to the whole community. London needs these services. We came together thanks to the work of the Rio Ferdinand Foundation and Rio supports us on this campaign. “I have often said that if I had not been lucky enough to be a professional footballer I would have worked in youth services in some way, as I remember the support and mentoring my friends and I had when we were young, and some of my friends work in that field to this day. In the current climate youth services are increasingly under threat, and while in some parts of London great work continues as with our partnership with Lewisham Council, in other areas youth provision is minimal and young people are missing the opportunities we had when I was younger. It is great that young people themselves are recognising the issues confronting them, from youth club closures to jobs to housing, and are campaigning to do something about it. I am proud to support their voice and their cause both personally and via my Foundation.” Rio Ferdinand We invite the candidates to meet us, listen to us, acknowledge our campaign, and respond to our views and ideas. Change needs to happen before it’s too late. Please sign and share this petition and help us show the candidates for London Mayor 2016 how important youth provision is all over London. We can all be part of the solution. #InvestInYouthWork
Get Lambeth Council to produce their Embodied Energy / Embodied Carbon Assessments now!
Lambeth Council are demolishing several Council Estates in South London without carrying out any environmental assessments to the well-being of the residents and the wider community especially in terms of Carbon, Energy, Pollution, Traffic, Maintenance, Infrastructure and loss of Green Space. We want Lambeth Council to provide full, impartial Embodied Energy & Embodied Carbon Assessments of all existing Homes and Estates proposed for Demolition so that it can be properly considered in their decision-making process especially when the residents raise their concerns at these Council meetings, as in the case of Central Hill Estate and Cressingham Gardens. Lambeth Council have to take their legal obligations of reducing greenhouse gas emissions seriously and show evidence that they have a low carbon transition plan which can be implemented over the next 40 years. If they fail to provide these Embodied Energy & Embodied Carbon Assessments, it will show that they are, in fact, acting in a very complacent, negligent manner with the futures of all their residents. Furthermore, we request that Lambeth Council show residents examples of how their previous 'successful' regeneration projects have dealt with these environmental matters by showing us how these new developments have performed when compared to the Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon Assessments of the previous demolished Council Estates such as Myatts Fields / Oval Quarter.
It is a wonderful and completely appropriate idea to erect a Suffragette statue in Parliament Square in time for the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The suffragettes campaigned bravely and relentlessly for positive change and showed the unstoppable power of good ideas. I think it would be especially fitting for a petition promoted by young people, who often feel excluded from politics, to celebrate the lives of these women who won us the right to vote and to change things for ourselves. It would also be perfect to place the statue in Parliament Square, because in recent years the Mayor of London has often stopped campaigners from using the space to express their democratic rights. The Suffragettes were spied on and monitored by the police, in much the same way that many modern campaigners and even elected green politicians are labelled as domestic extremists today. As a Green Mayor I would ensure that the statue isn't just a memory of past struggles and a great victory, but I will also ensure that modern day campaigners are able to express themselves without fear of court action from the Greater London Authority, or police spies.
It is a wonderful and completely appropriate idea to erect a Suffragette statue in Parliament Square in time for the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The suffragettes campaigned bravely and relentlessly for positive change and showed the unstoppable power of good ideas. I think it would be especially fitting for a petition promoted by young people, who often feel excluded from politics, to celebrate the lives of these women who won us the right to vote and to change things for ourselves. It would also be perfect to place the statue in Parliament Square, because in recent years the Mayor of London has often stopped campaigners from using the space to express their democratic rights. The Suffragettes were spied on and monitored by the police, in much the same way that many modern campaigners and even elected green politicians are labelled as domestic extremists today. As a Green Mayor I would ensure that the statue isn't just a memory of past struggles and a great victory, but I will also ensure that modern day campaigners are able to express themselves without fear of court action from the Greater London Authority, or police spies.
I was really moved by this petition and the story behind it - something that's all too common across London at the moment. Small businesses and independent retailers in London are central to London's cultural and creative life, yet they are being squeezed out by rising rents, larger identikit retailers and Government policies which are encouraging the conversion of business space into flats. As Mayor I will ensure that smaller firms and co-operatives, alongside creative venues and businesses, receive the support they need to flourish. Small and medium-sized firms are at the heart of our communities, providing most of our jobs and helping to make our neighbourhoods distinctive and our city somewhere people want to live and work. I will protect areas where groups of businesses are of particular heritage and cultural significance to the city as a whole, such as the musical instrument cluster on Denmark Street’s ‘Tin Pan Alley’ or the restaurants on Brick Lane. I will also ensure all businesses displaced in City Hall and Council regeneration plans are able to return to those sites at reasonable rents Greens on the London Assembly have fought hard in recent years to stop popular local markets being closed and replaced by shopping centres dominated by corporate shops. They have pushed the Mayor to stand up to the Government over their policy of allowing shop/business spaces to be used for housing. They have persuaded the Mayor to introduce planning protections for small shops, as a consequence of two major investigations. By exposing the loss of space and rising costs faced by small businesses and creative industries, they have recently forced the Mayor and Transport for London to rethink policies around redeveloping light industrial sites, like railway arches. While both previous Mayors have promoted the interests of big developers, the Greens at City Hall have been fighting for small businesses.
I was really moved by this petition and the story behind it - something that's all too common across London at the moment. Small businesses and independent retailers in London are central to London's cultural and creative life, yet they are being squeezed out by rising rents, larger identikit retailers and Government policies which are encouraging the conversion of business space into flats. As Mayor I will ensure that smaller firms and co-operatives, alongside creative venues and businesses, receive the support they need to flourish. Small and medium-sized firms are at the heart of our communities, providing most of our jobs and helping to make our neighbourhoods distinctive and our city somewhere people want to live and work. I will protect areas where groups of businesses are of particular heritage and cultural significance to the city as a whole, such as the musical instrument cluster on Denmark Street’s ‘Tin Pan Alley’ or the restaurants on Brick Lane. I will also ensure all businesses displaced in City Hall and Council regeneration plans are able to return to those sites at reasonable rents Greens on the London Assembly have fought hard in recent years to stop popular local markets being closed and replaced by shopping centres dominated by corporate shops. They have pushed the Mayor to stand up to the Government over their policy of allowing shop/business spaces to be used for housing. They have persuaded the Mayor to introduce planning protections for small shops, as a consequence of two major investigations. By exposing the loss of space and rising costs faced by small businesses and creative industries, they have recently forced the Mayor and Transport for London to rethink policies around redeveloping light industrial sites, like railway arches. While both previous Mayors have promoted the interests of big developers, the Greens at City Hall have been fighting for small businesses.
This petition is really important and I'm very happy to support it. Cuts to youth services in London are a false economy which show how many politicians fail to think in a long term, joined up way. Youth services come in many forms which reflects the needs of young people. They can provide purpose, identity and direction when young people need it most. As Mayor I would ensure that youth services have the resources they need in London. Greens on the Assembly have published reports highlighting the positive work done by many organisation working with young people. One potential area of funding is the police and crime budget. Greens believe that prevention is better than cure, so we would actively support programs which diverted young people away from crime, especially gang related violence. I would commission community and voluntary organisations to provide services with these funds, and investigate ways in which the police can improve their relationships with local communities, particularly in areas with high levels of violent crime. We will require Borough Commanders to act on those local finding. I would also promote genuine apprenticeships and training schemes.
This petition is really important and I'm very happy to support it. Cuts to youth services in London are a false economy which show how many politicians fail to think in a long term, joined up way. Youth services come in many forms which reflects the needs of young people. They can provide purpose, identity and direction when young people need it most. As Mayor I would ensure that youth services have the resources they need in London. Greens on the Assembly have published reports highlighting the positive work done by many organisation working with young people. One potential area of funding is the police and crime budget. Greens believe that prevention is better than cure, so we would actively support programs which diverted young people away from crime, especially gang related violence. I would commission community and voluntary organisations to provide services with these funds, and investigate ways in which the police can improve their relationships with local communities, particularly in areas with high levels of violent crime. We will require Borough Commanders to act on those local finding. I would also promote genuine apprenticeships and training schemes.