26 March 2018
Hi, I'm Ben Newton.
I've lived in Hull for over 20 years and I currently teach music at Wyke Sixth Form College.
Here's a bit about my Green Party policies.
Transport in Hull is an important issue. We all have to get around and we want to do so quickly and efficiently. We want to keep costs down too - which is more difficult when bus prices go up! Cars are expensive enough and then you've got parking charges on top!
PHOTO: Ben Newton for Orchard Park
As Greens we favour grassroots solutions. We want the local environment to be so attractive that people will want to walk and cycle! But often shops are farther than we want and if you look for cycle lanes you'll be looking in vain! This should change.
Greens want to make walking and cycling increasingly attractive, making the most of the city's landscape. We know that air pollution matters too. Trees literally help air pollution by taking in microparticles, as well as producing oxygen. But putting ever more vehicles on the road will only make it worse.
Greens are committed to public trasport, to making it attractive, accessible and people's first choice.
As a Green, and together with the people, I believe that profit has no place in our NHS. We are passionate too about wanting to renationalise our railways and make rail an easy choice for long distance travel.
We have green energy factories on our doorstep, but we need to integrate our own city's energy into renewables. What's stopping us? We could beat the Big 6 energy companies once and for all!
I care deeply about education and the provision of high quality services for young people, yet instead of a Green vision of relaxed child-centred learning, we have an education system almost entirely geared around testing, SATs and Ofsted inspections.
Greens provide the only real alternative to politics-as-usual.
To elect a Green councillor would be a great signal to the city and beyond that this is our statement: we believe in sustainability, in social equality, in investing for the future and in working for the Common Good.
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