Tag: Scottish Greens

Greens call for councils to stop investing millions in fossil fuels

The Scottish Greens’ Lothian MSP, Alison Johnstone, has called for Lothian Pension Fund to end its multi-million pound investment in fossil fuels and instead make more socially responsible investments.

New research from Friends of the Earth Scotland shows that council pension funds in Scotland invest £1.2bn in fossil fuel giants, with devastating consequences for communities, climate and their own finances.

Lothian Pension Fund, which is operated by City of Edinburgh Council for its own area and on behalf of East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian, have agreed not to make new investments in fossil fuel companies they do not already invest in, but this does not end existing investments in climate-wrecking companies, or prevent them from increasing.

Alison Johnstone said: “Public pension funds in Scotland continue to invest millions to bankroll fossil fuel companies every year. Lothian Pension Fund invests £165m in major polluters, at a time when leadership is needed in tackling the climate crisis.

“The public don’t want to see these pension funds exacerbating the problem, particularly when this cash could be invested into socially responsible endeavours like green energy production, house building and public transport improvements.

“This year the world will come to Scotland when Glasgow hosts the UN climate change summit. It’s time for Scotland to take a lead in tackling the climate crisis, and one of the most straightforward ways we can begin to do that is by ending these public investments in big oil and gas.

“Lothian Pension Fund must show that it is serious about tackling the climate emergency by bringing its influence to bear and ending these obscene oil and gas investments.”

Greens leader Lorna Slater to contest Leith seat

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater has been selected by local party members to stand in Edinburgh Northern and Leith in the Holyrood election.

Ms Slater is an electro-mechanical engineer working in marine renewable energy, most recently project-managing the construction of powertrains for the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, which is currently being assembled in Dundee.

A Leith resident, she stood in in the Leith Walk by-election in 2019 where she beat Labour to claim a strong second and was then elected co-leader of the party.

The Scottish Greens already have two councillors representing the area.

Commenting, Lorna Slater said: “I’m delighted to have been asked to run in the place I call home.

“Voters in Edinburgh North and Leith frequently see property developers put before people, our streets showing illegal levels of traffic pollution and our skies lit up by the Mossmorran gas plant in Fife. We have too many short-term lets and not enough affordable housing. That’s why we need a local Green MSP that pushes the SNP to take action on these issues and the climate emergency. 

“We do things differently in Leith. I’m excited that this is the first time in the constituency vote here that voters will have the option to back the bold proposals the Scottish Greens have, for our future, for rejoining the European family as an independent country and leading the charge on renewable energy.”

Council refuses to act on unlawful short term lets

SNP, Labour and Tory councillors in Edinburgh have rejected Scottish Greens calls to investigate and act on unlawful short term lets highlighted by a report by Lothians MSP Andy Wightman.

In July, Scottish Greens housing spokesperson Andy Wightman’s Homes First survey revealed just one property out of the 477 surveyed had the appropriate planning consents, suggesting 99.8% of commercial short term lets in the capital could be operating unlawfully.

Green councillors brought an amendment to the council’s Planning Committee which would have compelled the council to investigate the unlawful cases highlighted by Andy Wightman, but this was rejected by SNP, Labour and Tory councillors.

Cllr Chas Booth, Edinburgh Greens spokesperson on Planning, said: “This is a deeply disappointing decision from Edinburgh’s Planning Committee, to effectively ignore Andy Wightman MSP’s detailed Homes First report on short term lets.

“Unregulated holiday flats can make life misery for neighbours, and are a cause of skyrocketing rents in the capital.

“On the day the Edinburgh Poverty Commission warned that high housing costs are forcing people into poverty, it is completely unacceptable for the SNP, Labour and Tories to combine to do nothing to respond to Andy’s report. (see previous post – Ed.)”

Andy Wightman MSP said: “The Scottish Government’s action on regulating short term lets is welcome and long overdue, but there is no reason for the City of Edinburgh Council to wait for this before enforcing existing rules when it comes to planning consent in response to my report.

“If owners are so willing to flout planning laws and councils are unwilling to enforce them, any new licencing powers are at risk of being undermined before they even come to pass.”

Council must use Spaces for People funds wisely, say Greens

New funds for cycling and walking infrastructure awarded to City of Edinburgh Council must be used wisely if traffic jams and unsafe roads are to be avoided as lockdown lifts, the Scottish Greens have warned.

City of Edinburgh Council has been awarded £5m as part of the £30m Spaces for People fund, to make social distancing and active travel possible as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The funds are possible because of the budget deal won by the Scottish Greens, which saw the active travel budget raised to £100m for the first time ever.

However, Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors across Scotland have already resisted the establishment of temporary safe spaces for walking and cycling, prioritising congestion over common sense.

Green MSP for Lothian, Alison Johnstone, has urged City of Edinburgh Council to put public safety, air quality and the economy first by investing the funds in a way which keeps people moving.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “I welcome the fact Edinburgh has applied for and been granted £5m to make our streets safer. This funding can make a real difference here, but only if it is invested wisely.

“If people avoid public transport in the near future, there is a real danger our streets will be clogged up with traffic jams, causing dangerous levels of pollution and preventing anyone getting anywhere.

“New infrastructure must be visible and useful not tokenistic, such as on main arterial routes which people will need when they start to go back to work. It also needs to be given the option to become permanent once the benefits become clear.

“Roads exist to serve people, not just cars, and there is some incredible work being done in France, Italy and across Europe to redesign them to keep people moving. I urge City of Edinburgh Council to ignore the retrograde naysayers who are obsessed with 1960s-style town planning and look instead to the needs of citizens.”

Greens: Edinburgh must act now to protect cyclists and pedestrians

Scottish Greens Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone has lent her support to a grassroots campaign calling for urgent action to protect cyclists and pedestrians after a spate of accidents, including the deaths of a three-year-old boy and an NHS nurse in recent days.

Hundreds gathered to reclaim a road in Edinburgh today in a vigil for the deaths, which come after years of campaigning to protect cyclists and pedestrians in the capital.

Alison Johnstone said: “I fully support the many Edinburgh residents who have gathered today to demand that enough is enough. Yesterday a man was killed while he was cycling to work, and the day before a three-year-old boy was killed on a pavement. There have also been other cases of accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians this week. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

“It’s not good enough to just offer condolences. In 2012 I called for capital road safety summit and raised these concerns at Scottish Government’s road safety group with many of the people campaigning today, and I can’t believe eight years later we’re still mourning cyclists killed on our streets.

“We need to see urgent action on the ground to make streets safer for people walking and cycling.

“If we cannot afford basic safety for people merely cycling to work or walking on a pavement we fail a basic test of leadership. Edinburgh needs to drastically cut traffic, like most normal historic European cities have done.”

Children with ASN failed as specialist teacher ratio drops again

Access to additional support for learning specialist teachers has continued to drop in Scotland, the Scottish Greens have revealed. Figures from the Scottish Greens show that there is now only one specialist additional support needs teacher for every 76 ASN pupils.

The number of specialist additional support needs teachers in 2019 was 2,836 [1], while the number of pupils with additional needs rose to 215,897 [2].

The increasing number of children which each specialist teacher is responsible for is partly driven by the loss of hundreds of ASN teachers since 2010, whilst the number of pupils with identified needs has grown by almost 150,000.

The number of pupils with additional needs has increased from 69,587 in 2010 to 215,897 in 2019. By comparison, there were 3,887 ASN teachers in 2010, with just 2,836 now, or 3,462 if primary teachers in Scotland’s handful of special schools are included.

Ross Greer MSP, Scottish Green education spokesperson, said: “Thousands of children in Scotland with additional needs are being failed. I have raised this with the government time and again over a number of years, but the picture still is not improving.

“Specialist teachers are essential to supporting pupils with additional needs but they are gradually disappearing from our schools, at the same time as demand skyrockets.

“We know already that this lockdown is disproportionately hard for young people with additional needs and for their families, with a real risk that the attainment gap will be widened.

“As well as the need for urgent support, the Scottish Government must ensure that when schools do return to normal, it is a new normal where those with additional support needs are given a far fairer opportunity to learn than they have been this past decade.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, which campaigns to improve services for vulnerable children and young people, commented: “The comments over a cut in specialist teachers reinforce concerns we have raised for some time now about a potential ‘lost generation’ of vulnerable children and young people.

“It is vital that those with ASN get the care and support they need, especially during and as we come out of the current COVID-19 crisis. This is also key if we are to genuinely close the educational attainment gap as we know that those with ASN disproportionately come from lower income families and areas of deprivation.

“Such a situation is clearly challenging during lockdown, when the educational attainment gap will inevitably widen, and with evidence of cuts in spending per pupil with ASN and in the number of specialist teachers supporting this group.

“The cost to society in the long term if adequate support is not provided will far outweigh any potential savings made today.

“Ensuring the adequate provision of educational support for children young people with ASN is critical and yet too many pupils are missing out on the specialist support they require because of cuts in specialist support at a time of increasing need.

“When children and young people with ASN return to school it is vital that we use this as an opportunity to give them the specialist support they need, ensuring that we can address increased inequalities that will have inevitably arisen due to lockdown.”

 

Regular care home testing essential, say Scottish Greens

Scottish Greens Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone has called on the Scottish Government to urgently introduce regular testing for staff in care homes in a bid to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

The party published proposals (see below) calling for the regular testing of frontline care workers and NHS staff in April, in a bid to ease the anxiety of staff and reduce the spread of the virus, yet the Scottish Government has resisted repeated requests to do so.

This refusal comes despite the proposal receiving the backing of influential organisations like the Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “It’s beyond doubt that regular testing is needed both to protect frontline staff and to get control of this virus.

“A growing list of experts and organisations have backed Scottish Green proposals for regular testing, so it is difficult to understand why the Scottish Government hasn’t made this a priority.

“Staff may be unknowingly spreading the virus in care homes, so it’s vital that the government uses the significant spare testing capacity it has available and introduces regular testing at once.”

https://greens.scot/sites/default/files/COVID-19%20Testing%20

 

Greens raise concerns around home-care support

Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone has called on the region’s Health and Social Care Partnerships to urgently address concerns around the reduction in provision of home-care support, which has left many disabled people in an extremely difficult position.

Reports suggest that the Lothian region’s Health and Social Care Partnerships have reduced their visits by 356 in total, leaving many vulnerable people struggling to cope – a matter the Scottish Greens raised in parliament this week.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “The figures published this week raise major concerns, There is huge disparity around the country, with the City of Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership reducing their clients by 240, East Lothian by 44, Midlothian by 24, and West Lothian by 48, while at the same time Angus increased its by 80.

“The Scottish Government confirmed that extra support is available and that if more is needed it will be provided, so our Health and Social Care Partnerships must confirm that they will immediately access this support and restore home care visits.

“I’m extremely concerned about the impact of these changes, which result in some people having their support packages dramatically reduced, and others losing support entirely, with many then forced to rely on family members for personal care, meals and medication.

“The impact on the mental wellbeing of disabled people, particularly in terms of social isolation which can disproportionately affect disabled people, is a huge concern. While its vital that care is restored as quickly as possible, the immediate roll-out of online or remote mental health resources would be really valuable right now.”

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52415302

Greens call for government to cover nursing fees

The Scottish Greens have called on the Scottish Government to demonstrate its appreciation for Scotland’s nurses by covering their 2020 professional registration fees.

Nurses and midwives in Scotland are required to pay an annual registration fee of £120 to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, but Scottish Greens Parliamentary Co-Leader Alison Johnstone MSP has called on the First Minister to cover that cost this year as a small token of appreciation for the role these professionals are playing in the fight against coronavirus.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “All across the country nurses and midwives have gone above and beyond during this crisis. From supporting young families, to comforting dying patients whose loved ones cannot be with them, these dedicated professionals play an essential role in the fight against coronavirus.

“It becomes more evident every day how crucial frontline health and care staff are to our communities, and there are rightly calls for a review of how we remunerate all our health and care workers who have put themselves at risk to protect us.

“One modest measure the Scottish Government could take immediately to show a small token of appreciation to our nurses and midwives is to cover their professional registration fees.

“Covering the £120 fee payable by nurses and midwives to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for 2020 would be a small gesture, but one that I’m sure would be most welcomed.

“Quite rightly those retired professionals who have been called back to support our NHS during this crisis have not been charged registration fees, and it would be fitting if this consideration was shown across the board.”

Edinburgh ‘slowest city in the UK’ 

A new report (see below) showing that Edinburgh is ranked alongside London as the UK’s slowest city must act as a wakeup call for city chiefs, says Scottish Greens Parliamentary Co-Leader Alison Johnstone MSP.

The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard shows that drivers lost an average of 98 hours in the capital city in 2019, with last mile speeds of just 10mph on an average journey, costing the city’s economy £177million.

Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone said: “Edinburgh’s ranking as the UK’s slowest city won’t come as a huge shock to many in the city, but it must come as a wakeup call to city chiefs who have for far too long prioritised getting cars into the city centre rather than investing in improving public transport, tackling congestion, and making it safer for people to walk and cycle.

“Lothian buses is a well liked service but buses are all too often delayed by the appalling congestion in the city. It’s time buses and trams were given priority over cars.

“The current consultation on the City’s Mobility Plan will help decide the future of the City.  We need a bold and visionary approach that doesn’t consider issues in isolation, and we need funding to bring about the change. We need too to stop wasting money on the dinosaur transport projects of a bygone era.

“In light of this report the city/region deal partners must now listen to my calls to scrap the proposed £120million flyover at Sheriffhall, a new road that will only make congestion worse, and instead invest those funds in congestion busting public transport across the region.

“Investment in safe walking and cycling routes in and around the city has been sorely lacking. We know that lots of people would cycle to work, or let their children cycle to school, if there was safe segregated infrastructure but all too often this isn’t the case.

“The budget deal secured by the Scottish Greens recently ensured that the Scottish Government’s cycling budget hit £100million for the first time. I know that Scottish Greens Councillors on City of Edinburgh Council will be lobbying hard to ensure the city gets its fair share of that funding too.”

 https://inrix.com/press-releases/2019-traffic-scorecard-uk/