Highlands and Islands Greens
Highland Council Unfit to Govern
Council dismisses out of hand Greens’ proposal to cut £25million waste bill
— 4 July 2010
Highland Greens are accusing The Highland Council of being unfit to govern after the Council’s swift rejection of the Greens’ proposal to help lower the Council’s £25 million annual waste bill by seeking financial contributions from supermarkets.
Supermarkets make us pay for unnecessary packaging when we buy their goods and then pay again through our taxes for disposing of that packaging.
Last month, we proposed inviting all major supermarkets operating in the Highlands and Islands to collectively contribute at least £10 million annually to help offset our Council’s £25 million waste management bill.
The Council budget leader, Cllr. David Alston, dismissed our detailed proposal within two hours of receiving it – and despite the consultation period running on until the end of June.
Myra Carus, Convener of Highlands and Islands Green Party says, “While our schools, libraries and museums face the threat of permanent closure, the Council spends £25 million, per year, on processing unwanted packaging. Supermarket profits are on the rise and of every pound we spend in our local supermarkets, 80 pence leaves the Highlands. For the Council to dismiss a proposal to engage our supermarkets in improving this situation is at best irresponsible, and at worst casts doubt on elected Councillors’ ability to govern and represent Highland residents’ best interest.”
Highlands and Islands Green Party’s task is to communicate, and help achieve, our vision of a green, sustainable society and the benefits such a society has to offer.
In these pages you can find out how Greens in the Highlands and Islands, are going about that task, together with links to the wider Green Party community.
Use the navigation links for:
- more articles and press releases;
- contact details;
- information about the Scottish Green Party, and Green Parties around the World.
Recent Articles:
Greens Demand ‘Punish the Rubbish-Makers’
— 22 June 2010
Highland Greens have called for all major supermarkets operating in the Highlands to collectively contribute at least £10 million annually to help offset The Highland Council’s £25 million waste management bill.
Donnie Macleod, Highlands and Islands Greens' nominee for next year’s Holyrood elections for the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency, said: “At a time when museums and libraries, and schools are under threat of permanent closure, it is unacceptable for residents and businesses in the Highlands to be literally wasting £25 million, year in, year out, simply on processing unwanted packaging. We pay for such packaging when we buy goods, and then we have to pay all over again for its disposal. This is absurd.
Greens Accuse Highland Council of Double Standards over Budget Cuts
— 23 June 2010
Highland Greens have accused The Highland Council of using double standards, in being quick to involve the public in budget-cutting decisions, but not being willing to consult on their spending plans. Neil Hornsby, Highlands and Islands Greens' Campaigns Co-ordinator, said:
“The Lib.Dem-led Highland Council are quick enough to involve the public in difficult decisions about cuts in public services, and so absolve Councillors of any blame. But all that concern for public involvement goes out of the window when it comes to deciding where Council tax payers’ money should be spent.
“These spending plans are a major concern, and reflect the Council’s dubious political priorities. If the Council were sincere about democracy and community involvement, they would consult on spending plans, as well as cuts.
Greens Denounce Highland Council’s Budget Cuts Exercise as a Charade
— 3 June 2010
Highland Greens claim Councillors are hiding behind officials’ coat-tails in failing to state openly their own political Parties’ cuts proposals.
“This way, we have no way of knowing Councillors’ political predilections until August, by which time much may well already be signed and sealed.
“Many of these cuts would be unnecessary if the Councillors challenged the supermarkets to meet a major proportion of the Council’s vast £25 million annual waste management bill. Supermarkets are responsible for generating much of the packaging that is recycled or goes to landfill. They make billions in profits every year, and should be required to meet the waste management costs of their own products.
Philistines at the Highland Council?
Greens Denounce Proposed Library Closures as
a Return to the Dark Ages
— 17 May 2010
Highlands and Islands Greens have today denounced The Highland Council’s planned closure of libraries and the Floral Hall in Inverness, as part of the Council’s budgetary savings proposals.
Neil Hornsby, Highlands and Islands Greens' campaigns’ co-ordinator, said:
“It is inconceivable that the Lib.Dem-led Highland Council can be contemplating closing libraries – they are the foundation of civilisation ... The Council’s financial priorities are now laid bare for all to see. Closing libraries and the Floral Hall would save about £500,000. Yet in January this year the Highland Council merrily coughed up a phenomenal £1·25 million loan to the applicant of a planning application related to the business park at Inverness Airport. Furthermore, the loan was apparently approved by the Council prior to the Planning Committee’s discussion of the application. We wrote to Provost Jimmy Gray, challenging him to explain the Council’s justification for the loan. Outrageously, he refused point blank to do so.”
Brighton Shows it Can be Done – Highland Greens Welcome First Green MP
— 6th May 2010
Scottish Green Party activists in the Highlands and Islands have welcomed the election of the UK’s first Green MP, Caroline Lucas in the constituency of Brighton Pavilion.
Scottish Green Party co-convener and candidate for Ross Skye and Lochaber Dr Eleanor Scott said: “During this election campaign I was aware of a great deal of support for the Greens but a reluctance to risk ‘wasting’ a vote – but this result changes everything. The whole party is over the moon to see Caroline Lucas’s triumph in Brighton last night. Westminster was always going to be the toughest nut to crack, and Caroline has made an extraordinary breakthrough. Westminster will now have a real voice speaking out against the cuts to public services, for equality and for a greener and more sustainable economy.
“I believe this will show people that Greens really can be elected even under an unfair voting system, and will encourage more people to vote Green in next year’s Holyrood elections.
“Well done to our sister party in England and Wales!”
Nigg Should Be a Renewables Manufacturing Facility, Not a Scrapyard, Say Greens
— 28 April 2010
Highland Greens have demanded that the Nigg yard should be kept for the manufacture of offshore wind turbines and other renewables, and not used to decommission ships or oil rigs.
Green candidate for Ross Skye and Lochaber Dr Eleanor Scott said: “The Nigg yard has had significant public money put into it, and is ideally placed to be used for the manufacture of offshore wind turbines and other renewable energy systems. This would create much needed quality jobs without compromising the environment of the area.
“Decommissioning oil rigs, or worse still toxic ships, would threaten the important environment of the Cromarty Firth and Nigg Bay and should not be alowed to take place.
“KBR, Highland Council and the Scottish Government have all dragged their feet on getting the Nigg facility into production. The threat of Nigg being used for environmentally damaging work must be a wake up call for local and central government.”
