Ronnie (pictured above) is one of five candidates standing for the Chelmsford Central division of Essex County Council following the resignation of MP Marie Goldman.

She will be joined on the May 1 ballot as one of our two Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party candidates by Edward in the Moulsham and Central ward of the City Council following the resignations of Councillors Goldman and Graham Pooley.

So if you’re a Green Party member or supporter make sure you get out and cast your vote for Ronnie and Edward on May 1.

Key dates:

• Friday 11 April (11.59pm): Deadline to register to vote
• Monday 14 April (5pm): Deadline to apply for postal vote, cancel or change existing postal vote
• Wednesday 23 April (5pm): Deadline to apply for Voter Authority Certificates
• Wednesday 23 April (5pm): Deadline to apply for a proxy vote or cancel an existing proxy vote
• Thursday 1 May (5pm): Deadline to apply for an emergency proxy
• Thursday 1 May: Polling day 

For more information please see the Chelmsford City Council website at: https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/voting-and-elections/upcoming-elections/

The post Candidates confirmed for Chelmsford by-elections in May appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

Following the sad news of the passing of long-serving Councillor Ian Grundy, there will be two by-elections on Thursday 12 December 2024.

One is for the Stock division of Essex County Council, while the other is for the South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting ward of Chelmsford City Council.

A full list of candidates can be found on the Chelmsford City Council website at https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/voting-and-elections/upcoming-elections/.

The post Massey standing for Greens in December by-elections appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

And Paul, who is our local party Treasurer, encouraged anyone from our area who can follow suit to head to the target seat to help Adrian’s campaign in its crucial final stages.

“To my knowledge Waveney Valley is an unusual constituency as it crosses county boundaries, North Suffolk and South Norfolk. It is largely rural, with few large towns,” said Paul.

“Diss, probably the largest, and on the main London to Norwich rail line, has a population of c.10,000. It is a new constituency created by the boundaries commission after the recent review.

“I met Adrian soon after I joined the party in 2011, at a council by-election in Norwich and he recruited me to the campaign team for the 2014 European Elections in Eastern Region, which, to a significant extent, kick started my involvement in the party.

“Close to a hundred members arrived at Diss to door knock and/or deliver leaflets in the town and surrounding villages and hamlets. In recent years the party has gone from strength to strength in this area. It currently is the majority group on Mid Suffolk District Council and has recently won a seat on Norfolk County Council in South Norfolk.

“With postal votes likely to be delivered to households this week, it is important to make contact with as many of these voters as possible in the next few days. For those not involved in active politics, the purpose of canvassing is to identify those who either will vote for your party or who are quite likely to vote for the party; it is not to try to convert people.

“On the whole the reception was very good. A number of residents said we were the only party they had seen. The number of Green posters around the town was encouraging, but I have no doubt that there are plenty of silent Tories, whose votes are still up for grabs. In the village I visited in the afternoon, it was a straight Tory vs Green contest. A number of people insisted that they could never vote Labour, but were disillusioned with the Tory Party and recognised that we were the party campaigning against the polluting of the local river and opposing the proposed installation of pylons from Norwich to Tilbury.

“Waveney Valley is one of our four target seats  in England, and my sense is it will be close. There’s just over two weeks to go in the campaign and every conversation and every vote will count.

“The more members of Brentwood & Chelmsford Green Party and Eastern Region Green Party who can attend between now and polling day, the more doorstep conversations & the more leaflets that can be delivered, the better. This is a fun day  with likeminded people, working towards getting our first MP in the East.”

To find out more about the Action Days coming up in Waveney Valley and to sign up see:

https://actionnetwork.org/campaigns/adrian-ramsay-for-waveney-valley

The post All hands to help Adrian’s campaign appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

Reza, who has lived in Chelmsford and worked in the NHS for the past 20 years and did his training to become a GP in the city, said: “I can see that the NHS has been in crisis for the past 10 years. We know we now have the longest NHS outpatient waiting lists for the past 25 years.

“And we have people waiting for many hours when they attend A&E too. I have personally seen that people can wait 9-12 months to see a specialist in Chelmsford as well, after they have been referred,” added Reza, who now works in the community as a local GP at Little Waltham Surgery, and as a community dermatologist in Mid-Essex. He will be standing for Brentwood and Chelmsford Greens in the General Election on July 4.

“I am so happy that the Green Party of England and Wales wants a Fairer, Greener society. I think that people should vote Green. The Green Party is so important because we believe in preserving social health care.

“And the Green Party will be campaigning for the extra funding for the extra staff that the health care service desperately needs.”

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, parliamentary candidate in the new Waveney Valley constituency on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, backed up Reza’s comments by saying: “Labour is offering fantasy plans to end the NHS crisis. It wants to pay the private sector more, make existing staff work longer hours and squeeze more patients into overcrowded wards.

“Waiting for growth, won’t cut waiting lists. You can’t seriously reduce the waiting lists, or build a health service for the future, without raising the money you actually need through fairer tax, as well as tackling the profit motive.

“Greens will be unveiling our practical solutions that offer real hope and real change, support staff and invest in facilities to defend our NHS.”

The post Green Party can tackle NHS crisis says Reza Hossain appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

After last week’s announcement of the General Election for July 4, RJ said: “I’m looking forward to offering voters in Brentwood and Ongar a credible alternative to the old parties.

“The Green Party offers a transformative and hopeful vision of what our country can be; a fairer and greener society, where people have financial and energy security, where people can lead happier and healthier lives in a good quality and affordable home, and where the reality of the climate emergency is given the urgent attention it needs.”

RJ, who grew up in South Essex and works in Brentwood, added: “Greens across the country are already representing their communities and working honestly and collaboratively for the common good.

“We can have representatives who bring this kind of hard work and integrity back to public office, and this is what I offer. I want to put the urgent needs of our community back at the top of the agenda.

“If you share these values, I urge you to vote for and join the Green Party, and support our mission to build a fairer and greener country.”

RJ’s comments were echoed after the election was called by Green Party co-leader and parliamentary candidate for Waveney Valley, Adrian Ramsay, who said: “We are ready. Across the country people will have the chance to vote for a Green candidate offering voters hope and practical solutions to the cost-of-living crisis, supporting people into warm, affordable homes, protecting our NHS and cleaning up our toxic rivers.”

Ramsay added: “We are offering the common sense, affordable policies that will dramatically improve our quality of life. More Green MPs in Parliament will hold whoever forms the next government to account, and make the other parties confront the challenges our country faces. Together, we can make the change.”

The post Back bold Green vision for Brentwood and Ongar appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

More than 1,300 people voted for Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party candidates in the May 2 ballot across nine wards in Brentwood Borough. But without a proportional system they counted for nothing in the final tally of the election of councillors, with three winning in each individual Council ward rather than a vote-based split across all 13 wards.

“1,382 people in Brentwood voted Green and wanted environmental issues and protection of green space  at the centre of council policy making, which is far more than any individual candidate received. But these people have no representation on the council,” said David Hale, candidate in Pilgrims Hatch.

“The Green Party would introduce a far fairer system of Proportional Representation so that everyone’s voice is heard and no vote could be considered ‘wasted’.”

Candidates polling less than half that total were elected as one of 39 on the new Council. The lowest winning vote was for Jason Gibson in Hutton East, with the Conservative candidate getting 597 votes; while his party colleague Soni Sunger was elected with 604 votes in Brizes, Stondon Massey and South Weald ward. The largest vote count was recorded by Liberal Democrat Barry Aspinell in Pilgrims Hatch (1,015).

Paul Jeater, B&CGP candidate in Brentwood North last week, added: “If you look at the nine wards where we stood, we were given a vote by 1,382 residents. Although they may have cast votes for other parties, they at least indicated that they wanted a Green Councillor.

“The ‘First Past The Post’ system meant that did not occur.”

The Green Party believes that elections for all levels of government should be by systems that provide for high proportionality, few wasted votes and good accountability, so that the political aspirations and views of each area are represented.

The post Greens call for a fairer voting system appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party stood nine candidates on the May 2 ballot, and managed to increase their vote total by 267 per cent from 2023. 

A total of 1,382 Green votes were cast, compared to 376 for five candidates last year. The biggest support came in Hutton South, Hutton North and Brentwood North wards, where John Hamilton, Mike Flood and Paul Jeater received 183, 181 and 181 votes respectively. 

Nick Kelly polled a similarly high 180 in Blackmore & Doddinghurst ward. Eight of the nine candidates received three-figure support, which none had done in 2023.

“We wanted to stand as many candidates as possible to give as many people as possible the chance to Vote Green in Brentwood,” said B&CGP chair Julian Goode.

“The voting base lays the foundation for the next Brentwood election, probably in 2025, to get Green councillors elected and start to influence the Council administration with a fairer, greener outlook.”

The Council remained under no overall control, with 19 Conservatives elected (down two), 17 Liberal Democrats (up one), and three Labour candidates (up one) now in Brentwood South.

Full results can be found on the Brentwood Borough Council website.

2024 B&CGP votes:

Warley – Olivia Ritson, 140

Brentwood North – Paul Jeater, 181

Shenfield – Julian Goode, 148

Hutton South – John Hamilton, 183

Hutton North – Mike Flood, 181

Brentwood West – Marc Sardinha, 130

Pilgrims Hatch – David Hale, 97

Blackmore & Doddinghurst – Nick Kelly, 180

Brizes, Stondon Massey & South Weald – Rebecca Enifer, 142

1382 total Green votes

2023 details:

Brentwood North – Adam Oliver, 87

Brizes and Doddinghurst – Paul Jeater, 88

Pilgrims Hatch – David Hale, 31

Shenfield – Anne Milward, 94

Warley – Julian Goode, 76

376 total Green votes

The post Green vote up by 250 per cent in Brentwood elections appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

Green candidates on the ballot for Brentwood Borough Council this coming Thursday have urged voters to use their votes wisely if they want to see real change where they live. 

“We can offer voters something different – people who really care about Brentwood,” said Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party chair Julian Goode, who is on the ballot in Shenfield ward. “We offer real action on the climate and nature emergency – making sure the council administration is held to account against its climate emergency targets.”

This was reinforced by Paul Jeater, candidate in Brentwood North, who said: “Brentwood needs Green councillors to ensure that the other parties aren’t able to ignore the protection of our local environment, green space and nature.

“You have three votes, where possible give one of them to a Green.”

B&CGP has nine candidates standing in wards across the Borough. In Hutton South, John Hamilton is on the ballot, saying: “The future has to be Green, or there won’t be one….!”

Pilgrims Hatch candidate David Hale added: “Only the Greens put our environment at the heart of everything they do,” emphasising that a vote for Brentwood Greens is a vote for saving the environment, greening our area, and protecting nature.

Marc Sardinha, candidate in Brentwood West, underlined that Greens change lives for the better on a national and a local level. “As a resident and business owner in Brentwood, I am proud to stand for the Green Party in my local area to try to make a real difference.

“Brentwood Council desperately needs some fresh blood and new ideas to improve its low standards and current complacency.”

“Greens listen,” stressed Julian Goode. “We want an equitable and fairer society that benefits everyone.

“We know what a huge appetite there is for green policies and for having a greener, fairer Brentwood. But if you Want Green, then you need to Vote Green on May 2.”

If you want to see what Greens stand for everywhere, then watch the launch of our local elections campaign with Green Party of England and Wales co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay. 

The post Vote Green for Green policies in Brentwood appeared first on Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party.

Currently the Green Party are running close to taking the seats ahead of the Conservatives on Basildon Borough Council on May 2. The three SW Essex Greens candidates up for election in Billericay East are Andrew Brennan, Stewart Goshawk and Andy Tatman. 

B&CGP was only too happy to help out, and with a bit of luck and leg work the Party’s leafleting efforts will pay off, bringing the first Greens to the Council.

“We know from long experience that having even a single Green in a council chamber completely changes the debate and reminds the other councillors about what’s really important,” said David, who’s also B&CGP Secretary, and is on the Brentwood Borough Council ballot in Pilgrims Hatch ward in the local elections.

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