Tag: Scottish Greens

Greens launch campaign to stop Sheriffhall ‘spaghetti junction’

The council estimates that congestion costs Edinburgh £225m a year, yet they and the Scottish Government insist on repeating the same failed mistakes of the past.Alison Johnstone

A proposed £120m spaghetti junction at Sheriffhall roundabout will increase congestion and should be scrapped, according to the Scottish Greens.

Scottish Green MSPs and councillors have launched a campaign to halt the proposal and instead use the money to improve clean transport across the city region, reflecting Edinburgh’s proposed new ten-year City Mobility Plan.

The campaign highlights how £120m could be better invested in segregated cycle paths, bus lanes and park and rides, transforming the city’s transport infrastructure.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Lothians MSP and Scottish Greens parliamentary co-leader Alison Johnstone said: “The council estimates that congestion costs Edinburgh £225m a year, yet they and the Scottish Government insist on repeating the same failed mistakes of the past.

“Since the 1960s we’ve known that if you build more roads, they fill up with cars. That’s why the proposal to turn Sheriffhall roundabout into a spaghetti junction isn’t an upgrade, it’s a step backwards, especially when we now know 60,000 cars are coming into the city every morning.

“This is the 21st century, and we are in a climate emergency. £120m could go a long way in transforming our capital for the future. It could pay for 120 miles of segregated cycle paths, for example. It could boost our bus lanes and park and ride offerings to get our city moving again, instead of sitting in gridlock every day.

“The SNP in Edinburgh council and Holyrood need to match their rhetoric with real transformative change if we are to build a sustainable future. That means ditching the failed old ways like spaghetti junctions.”

Edinburgh Green councillor Claire Miller said: “There is only one credible direction for Edinburgh, which is at least reflected in the council’s draft plan, but Edinburgh has struggled to get even basic bike schemes off the ground, while developing a single tram line was fraught. That can’t continue.

“The city region deal needs to catch up too, that’s why £120m going towards a spaghetti junction at Sheriffhall just does not add up. The prize is a much better Edinburgh for everyone.”

You can object to the proposals here

https://twitter.com/i/status/1216736345030385664

General election: Greens announce Edinburgh candidates

The urgency of tackling the climate emergency must not be crowded out by Brexit in the looming Westminster election. That is the message from Edinburgh Greens as the party announces its plans to contest seats across Edinburgh in the election on 12 December. 
The party will contest all five seats in the capital with a central focus on a Scottish Green New Deal: tackling climate change, creating jobs and transforming the economy.

Continue reading General election: Greens announce Edinburgh candidates

Climate Strikes: Green MSPs urge councils to support schools strike action

Scottish Green MSPs Alison Johnstone and Andy Wightman are calling for councils across Lothian to support – not punish – young people who choose to strike from school to highlight the urgent need for climate action, ahead of the planned global strike on Friday 15th March. Continue reading Climate Strikes: Green MSPs urge councils to support schools strike action

Not fair: report calls for better deal for care workers

The Fair Work Convention today published its report Fair Work in Scotland’s Social Care Sector 2019. The report calls for urgent interventions by policy makers, commissioners and leaders in the social care sector to improve the quality of work and employment for the 200,000 strong workforce in Scotland.

The Scottish Greens have urged the Holyrood government to put fair work at the heart of social care by accepting the report’s recommendations in full. Continue reading Not fair: report calls for better deal for care workers

Short Term Lets: Wightman questions legality of Key Boxes

Scottish Greens housing spokesperson Andy Wightman MSP, whose Homes First campaign aims to better regulate the short-term letting industry, is urging residents in affected areas to check the legality of key boxes that are spreading like wildfire. Continue reading Short Term Lets: Wightman questions legality of Key Boxes

P1 testing: Heed the evidence, say Greens

Risk of Results Data Being ‘Invalidated’

Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer MSP has called on the Scottish Government to listen to the experts, after the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee heard a number of concerns regarding the Scottish National Standardised Assessments at its session yesterday.

In response to a question from Mr Greer, Professor Lindsay Paterson confirmed that the differential in the age of Primary one pupils being tested – between four and six – ‘invalidates’ the use of this data beyond the level of the individual pupil, particularly given the shortage of staff who have sufficient statistical experience within local councils.

On the issue of these staff having been cut from councils over recent years, Dr Keir Bloomer of the Royal Society of Edinburgh said: “Local authorities have a declining capacity to offer support to schools.”

The committee also heard from Professor Louise Hayward that the test are extremely narrow, and do not yield a wide range of information.

Ross Greer said: “The already thin evidence base for the government’s Primary One tests is falling apart under the most basic of scrutiny.

“There is a huge difference between a four and a half year old child taking this test at the start of the school year and another pupil who takes it late in the year, by which point they could be six years old.

“Professor Paterson was clear that this significant difference and an inability to control for it when using the data, for example at school level, would simply invalidate it.

“An evidence-led approach in the first place would have avoided so many of these problems but the SNP ploughed on without one. It’s time that they listen to experts, to teachers and to parents, like any responsible government should.”