SE Hants Green

Another one down, gains made!

May 23, 2014 — Leave a comment

I’d like to thank the people of Warsash for voting for me, all 170 of them. We have made significant progress since last year, where I only received 6% of the vote and only managed to beat the Lib Dems. This year I have recieved 8% of the vote and have not only beaten the Lib Dems, but also Labour too!

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The response I’ve had since canvassing in November has been immensely wonderful – the people of my hometown were very welcoming and agreed with The Green Party’s ‘bottom-up’ approach to local politics! Canvassing has also really helped my confidence in public speaking (although some of my friends may argue I’ve always been confident, or just not willing to stop!) and I would like to also thank the Portsmouth News and their team of reporters for giving me an impressive amount of media coverage as of lately.

All I can really say is that this is not the last Warsash, or even Fareham, has seen the last of me! I’ll most definitely be back in 2016 to stand again. Although someone mentioned standing as a parliamentary candidate, a tempting idea to keep me busy over next year indeed…

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I’m not going to stop campaigning for local buses, an end to parking issues and also fight for better crossings in Warsash. These issues, although appear small to some, are big to many. I would like to take the time to congratulate Cllr Cartwright for his victory and I’d like to thank him and the other candidates for keeping the campaign clean and also his wife Ruth for her lovely home-baked banana bread she gave me yesterday!

I think I’ll take a week off, perfect timing too – it’s half term, though some revision for my World Development exam will be done as well.

Thanks for reading,

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Miles Grindey

Getting it done!

April 30, 2014 — Leave a comment

When I started campaigning for the local elections I’d never had thought I’d come as far as I have done. It’s not even the election yet but the mood has never been this encouraging. I’ve had people email me asking me how they could help, I’ve had others saying that they’ve never voted before because they’ve never seen anyone else actually try and help out before.

The bus campaign is going very well, ever since we received some media attention we have had the Green Party South-East MEP – Keith Taylor – sign our petition. That’s some major backing!

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We have received almost 200 signatures overall! 76 on Change.org and a further 95 on paper petitions. It’s amazing what a positive response this has received from the people of Warsash. I can only hope that things get even better after May 22nd. I’ve also gone back round to the many people who’ve been affected by these double yellow lines, they too were happy to see that someone was finally speaking up for local people – and that parking permits were a suitable alternative to yellow lines.

It seems to me that the other local parties seem to have this mentality:

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From what I can see, The Greens are the only ones who support local people

I’d like to thank everyone who has gone out and leafleted and canvassed with/for me. Without them and the support of The Green Party couldn’t have even come this far without them. It just goes to show that if we come together we can make a difference in our community – it’s this grassroots democracy that binds us together as a society and allows us to gain the things we need to be able to get by.

The amount of people joining and supporting the Greens is snowballing heavily, and it’s an avalanche about to hit the Tories.

Thanks for reading,

 

Go Green

      Go Green on       May 22nd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles Grindey

 

 

Yellow Lines and Shoulder Shrugging is not how we do things in Warsash.

February 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

It keeps coming up, parking and public transport links. With the dense population focused in Warsash you’d think that there would be a sufficient amount of parking places for students and a decent network of public buses for everyone? Well if you’ve been following this for long enough you’d know that there isn’t. It is rather appalling. When I ask about how we as local residents go about tackling these issues I get told one thing and then another. It’s either “Up to the council to come up with new routes” or it’s “The bus companies will make these routes if they make it commercially viable” – really? There’s pretty much only one bus company operating in Warsash, it’s hardly “free market” if there’s one company with a monopoly on the service.

The same can be said for parking, I confronted Tory Councillor Trevor Cartwright about it during a Warsash Residents’ Association meeting last month, and he said that only 6 people (way less than a percentage of people living in the area) had written to the council in support of another round of the many yellow lines he has continued to place down on the streets of my hometown – and so he ordered their placement. The Chairman at the meeting called a vote to see whether we the WRA would support Permits, and unsurprisingly no one voted in favour – one resident, rightfully, pointed out that since many of them had drives there’d be no point.

The fact is that in Eastleigh, just outside Barton Peveril (where I briefly attended in 2011-2012) they have been successful. Many students who have cars can only park there for 90 minutes before they had to move them, this is perfect for the School of Navigation as generally people would move their cars. Many residents have driveways that they are able to park cars on, overall this has a much better cost-benefit result than just the organised kettling that has been approved by the Tories.

I’m calling on residents to join with me and start the call for a better public transport network and parking. We need a bus service that works for everyone that is reliable, one that is regular to Whiteley and the Fareham Community Hospital. We need to start using some common sense in Warsash. I think it’s time to do something different, it’s time to Go Green.

Thanks for reading,

Miles Grindey

When the Greens come a-knockin’

January 27, 2014 — Leave a comment

We’ve been canvassing for the nearly 4 months now and the reception has been incredible, 49.5% of the people we call on have a problem – they are responding well to my canvassing. One person said they hadn’t  even voted in the last 20 or so years and they were going to make their next a Green Vote! The people of my home town have been incredibly gracious towards me and my aim of representing all the residents of the local community. Being a 2nd Generation Warsash Resident (only having moved to Locks Heath/Park Gate two years ago), attending Primary School at Hook-with-Warsash – I have a personal history with the village.  I still frequent down The Silver Fern often with my friends, and I still see my Grandparents often. I feel as though I should give back to the community that gave me so much growing up.

Since November, I have been talking to local residents about local issues – the issues that affect people in their daily lives, and I am hugely grateful for their time that they’ve taken to talk to me. As of now I will fight for local people’s right to be heard, one resident along Newtown Road said to me:

Finally a breath of fresh air! Until you came along we never saw a candidate for anything come to our door and actually speak to us.

At the last Warsash Resident’s Association meeting, I confronted Cllr Trevor Cartwright when he was discussing Yellow Lines. I said that I’d been speaking to resident’s throughout Warsash, and how they were quite rightfully fed up with the Council-sponsored kettling of students parking places. I also told him that residents don’t feel as though he’s taking their concerns seriously, and that no legitimate consultation was taking place. He quickly stated that 6 people had written to him/Fareham Borough Council, and that’s apparently the go-ahead to do anything anymore, when a ridiculously small number of people in a largely populated area actually take the time to write in. It’s hardly democratic or fair, from my notes I can count at least 16 people who are fed up with double yellow lines and want to see some sense put into councillors. They want Parking Permits! That’s common sense.

The fact of the matter is that myself and The Green Party share common ground when it comes to local issues, consultation is key when it comes to the things that matter. It seems there are dark clouds of complacency surrounding the Tory Party in Warsash, are they really trying hard enough to represent those who they were chosen to represent?

The people of Warsash are calling to be heard, and Warsash I’ve been listening!

Thank you for reading,

Miles Grindey