Bristol East Parliamentary Candidate

Copy of press release issued today: The Green Party has chosen Glenn Vowles to contest the Bristol East seat in this year’s general election.

Glenn Vowles, 48, who teaches Environmental Decision Making and Environmental Studies with the Open University has been a general election candidate on two previous occasions. He is also their lead campaigner in Knowle where he has helped to triple the Green vote to over 15% in recent years. He contested the Eastville seat in the 2009 local elections, raising to green vote there to 14%. His Vowles the Green blog is very well known and he writes regularly in the local press.

"I’m very excited to be contesting this seat for the Greens. Our current politicians and the systems they have created are self-serving and inadequate. I think voters should empowered with the ability to recall, effectively sack, MPs who break rules. This has been a longstanding Green Party policy and there is no better time for it than now.”

"There is very little to choose between the ‘big three’ parties and voting for them will fundamentally change nothing " Vowles said.

"The Green Party is about thinking afresh about the kind of economy, society and politics that is ethical and can sustain us and future generations. "

“The Government has become pretty unpopular and this is likely to increase those voting Green in Bristol East.”

Following a review by the Boundary Commission, Easton and Lawrence Hill wards have been moved from Bristol East (to Bristol West) and the electoral wards that now make up the Bristol East constituency are Brislington East, Brislington West, Eastville, Frome Vale, Hillfields, St George East, St George West, Stockwood.

[Picture, top left, shows all prospective candidates so far confirmed: Kerry McCarthy, Labour, centre; and going clockwise from top left are Conservative Adeela Shafi; English Democrat Scott Wright; the Greens Glenn Vowles; Liberal Democrat Mike Popham]

Eastville's Green candidate promises to pilot a 'petition for recall' system if elected

I've been arguing that voters should have the ability to petition for the recall of elected reps such as MPs and Councillors here on my MP Kerry MCarthy's blog. Unsurprisingly she is not in favour of the idea!! I think its very important to empower voters between elections, giving them the ability, under certain circumstances (such as the current expenses scandal), to force a resignation - apparently she thinks such a system would be open to abuse (interesting word to use, given the current circumstances of many MPs)!! As part of the debate I pledged as follows:

I'm very happy to give a guarantee to Eastville's voters that if I'm elected I would resign if it was shown that large numbers of my constituents felt I had breached Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life for instance. Many MPs have breached these - they should resign!!

Contesting Eastville Ward in Bristol’s local elections: Vote Vowles, Green Party, on June 4

I’ve received confirmation that my nomination as the Green Party candidate for the Eastville ward has been accepted. I will therefore be contesting the Eastville seat and want to say why people should vote for me and what I will work for if elected.

I’ve been active on protecting and enhancing Eastville’s green spaces – having been heavily involved in the (ongoing) campaign to prevent the ‘cycle house’ development encroaching onto the Bristol to Bath Railway Path, opposing the sell off and/or leasing of publicly owned land there, and having presented a petition to the council opposing their policy of flogging parks and green spaces.

I’ve also pressured for increased safety, and reduced air pollution and noise nuisance from roads, especially the busiest roads like those leading to the M32 (and the motorway itself) eg through speed reduction, having put proposals to council consultations on noise and walking.

In both previous elections and in continuous campaigning between elections I’ve been working to:

*Get safe residential roads, with a 20mph limit, to protect our kids. This would help in creating the much better cycling and pedestrian provision we need.

*Achieve quality learning for all children - no to large, impersonal education factories. Education for sustainable living should be a central feature.

*Encourage and support home and allotment grown food, widen fresh, local, healthy, organic and ethical food availability

*Protect, enhance and if possible increase Bristol’s open, green, natural spaces – no to inappropriate developments.

*Retain and improve locally available facilities, services, and jobs, giving local people and communities the biggest say over them

*Put people before profit - no to the privatization of local/public services

*Promote local energy saving and the renewable micro-generation of energy

*Create a Transport Authority for Greater Bristol, sort out Bristol’s buses/trains – we need far better and cheaper public transport

*Get much more investment in cutting people’s fuel bills and in local public transport - cut Bristol’s carbon emissions significantly each year and generate loads of local jobs.

*Achieve higher land, air, water and environmental quality.

*Bring abandoned land and buildings quickly into good use, stop ‘grot spots’ growing

*Get government, councils, businesses and individuals acting on their responsibility to be environmentally-friendly

*Achieve respect for and the enabling of broad based public participation in community life (see the list of 21 suggestions I’ve submitted to Bristol City Council’s Sustainable Communities Act process)

I’ve lived in Bristol, on the edge of the Bristol East constituency, for over 40 years. For over 20 years I have campaigned as a Green here. I was Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol South in 1987 and 2001 and have fought many local elections, last time in Knowle where I live. As well as being a founder-member of Bristol South Green Party I formed and now coordinate Sustainable Knowle – my neighbourhood Transition group. I've a long history of continuous activity/campaigning both party political and otherwise, including raising and presenting petitions, putting questions and making statements to the council and contributing to consultations.

I’ve worked from home as an Associate Lecturer in Environment (environmental decision making and environmental technology) with the Open University for the last ten years, having been a science teacher for fifteen years and a research and development technologist in the polymer industry for six years. I have had several years’ experience as a UNISON steward and NASUWT rep. and have been a governor in three schools. (full biography here)

Please vote Vowles, Green Party, in Eastville on June 4th 2009 !

http://www.bristolgreenparty.org.uk/