Affordable and Green

Download our manifesto here.

The Green Party’s plan for Southwark

We love Southwark - from the hustle and bustle of Rye Lane to the quiet docks of Rotherhithe - we are proud of our borough.

But it’s getting harder to live here.

With Labour in power in Westminster, in City Hall and on Southwark Council, too many people are being priced out of the borough they call home.

Southwark needs a council that makes our borough affordable, and protects and enhances the green spaces and streets that make it special.

Six priorities

1. Lower living costs for Southwark families.

The Green Party will do everything we can to keep costs low for you and your family. We will make sure Southwark’s council tax is one of the lowest in London, and that the least well-off have their bills reduced. We will help parents with affordable school uniforms, support food pantries and cut energy bills through insulation and green energy.

2. A safe, secure and genuinely affordable home.

The Green Party will demand that property developers build at least 35% genuinely affordable homes on all new developments and fight for rent controls in private rented housing. The Council must ensure that land is developed for the benefit of local people: homes big enough for families and affordable enough to keep residents and their children in the area.

3. Safe, reliable and affordable transport for all.

The Green Party will make our streets safer to walk and to cycle, reducing traffic on neighbourhood roads and adding pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes on main roads. We will prioritise buses on key routes, making them faster and more reliable, and pilot free bus passes for young people as they start their careers. We will ensure disabled people and their carers can get around and park easily, and support electric vehicles with designated parking bays. We will deliver a School Street for every eligible school and make children’s safety a priority.

4. Great local jobs in a green economy

The Green Party will support small businesses and promote decent jobs. We will work with schools, colleges and local employers to give young people high-quality work placements and clear routes into good local jobs. We will support thriving high streets and local employers who pay the living wage and recognise trade unions. We will encourage jobs in green technology and creative industries.

5. Green spaces, clean air and climate action.

The Green Party believes we are facing an ecological and climate emergency. We will make clean air a top priority, protect our parks and green spaces, and plant thousands of trees on our streets, creating Cool Neighbourhoods to protect residents from heat and flooding. We will take the climate emergency seriously, holding Labour to account for its targets and using every lever we have to reduce emissions across the borough, expanding renewable energy and improving energy efficiency in homes and buildings.

6. A council that listens to you and stands up for Southwark.

The Green Party believes in a different kind of politics. We will change the culture in the council so that it respects residents, conducts meaningful consultations and genuinely listens. Green councillors will speak the truth and stand up for Southwark residents. In the coming years, Southwark Council will face worse funding cuts from the Labour government than it ever had under the Tories and Liberal Democrats. The Green Party is the only party to oppose austerity. We will work with community groups and councillors from all parties across the country to fight these cuts and stand up for Southwark.