Photo: John Tyson

We joined Thames 21 for the Big Bottle Count on Saturday 2 September. We picked up and counted plastic bottles, clear bottles for still water, fizzy drinks bottles, and milk bottles. Then we picked up a lot of plastic, mostly brightly coloured broken fragments gleaming against the pebbles and gravel. Here's a list of some of the things we found...

Transport for London has published plans for changes to the junction at Camberwell Green. Full details and drawings can be found here.

Some of the proposals are genuinely useful. Much needed changes include: a new pedestrian crossing between Camberwell Passage and the Green, and the repositioning of the St Giles bus stop, setting it a few metres back from Vicarage Grove, to improve sight-lines.

But the plans offer far too little to improve safety.

Southwark Green Party has serious concerns about the escalating situation for residents on the Ledbury Estate in Peckham.

Safety issues on the estate were first raised over 30 years ago, and the blocks have since been the subject of reports by industry experts. While we recognise that control of the council has changed over the years, and mistakes made in the past are not the responsibility of the current leadership, it should not have taken the tragedy of Grenfell Tower for Council leaders to acknowledge problems on the Ledbury.

Residents have been without hot water and proper cooking facilities since 10 August. They should not have to heat water on a stove or with kettles to have a bath, or travel to a sports centre to use showers.

After the Grenfell fire, Green activist John Tyson started a petition aimed at getting the Department for Communities and Local Government to implement the findings from the Lakanal fire inquest.

Recommendations from the report include:

• use of fire resistant materials
• regular fire assessments
• providing residents with full instructions about what to do in the event of a fire.

The petition has received over 104,000 signatures, from people up and down the UK. 

On 22 August, John (right) delivered the petition to the Department for Communities and Local Government, with the support of Green London Assembly member Sian Berry (centre) and Dave Lewis, of Sceaux Gardens TRA and a witness of the Lakanal House fire (left). You can still sign it to keep up the pressure. 

At the Global Greens and European Greens congress in Liverpool this year, I made contacts with the Polish Green party. I was asked to meet and help with setting up structures in the Gdansk branch of the party.

Two weeks ago I attended an international summer school where besides representatives of Polish Green party, there were representatives from Czech, German, Ukrainian and Dutch parties as well as foundations and Brussels institutions supporting green NGOs. I also met the sole Green councillor in Poland. Next year there will be local elections and for the first time the Greens want to have candidates in at least half of constituencies. It's a massive task.

On Saturday 1 July, Green Party members from Southwark joined thousands of people from across the UK at a march on Parliament organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity to demand an end to Theresa May’s minority government.

Many of the protesters carried placards calling for justice for victims of Grenfell Tower, and a minute’s silence was held to remember them. Speakers at Westminster included the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Fire Brigades Union leader Matt Wrack and the Green Party’s Siân Berry, who chairs the London Assembly’s housing committee.

It was great to see Labour adopting some Green Party policies in its manifesto for the General Election in June. Our anti-austerity policies on social justice and abolishing student debt are clearly popular with voters! But Labour continues to support disastrous projects such as Heathrow expansion, the Hinkley Point nuclear power station and the renewal of Trident – not to mention leaving the EU. We need decisive action on air pollution, with a new Clean Air Act, and a commitment to protect the environment in the Brexit negotiations. While the UK political scene is very much on our minds, Southwark Greens continue to take practical steps to support environmental and social justice.

We're asking our three Southwark MPs if they will oppose airport expansion - both to protect residents from noise and pollution and to combat climate change. The question has been asked in Southwark News and by individual members. We are still waiting for the MPs to let us know where they stand. If you live in Southwark, you can help by emailing your MP:

• Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark): [email protected]
• Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham): [email protected]
• Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood): [email protected]

Please remember to include your address, so that they know you live in their constituency.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. … Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. - John Donne, 1624

Every Green vote counts. With more support, we will influence the direction of British politics.

In two Southwark constituencies, Camberwell & Peckham and Dulwich & West Norwood, the previous Labour MPs had huge majorities. They are not marginal seats.

John Tyson, the Green Party candidate for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, says: "The demolition of the Heygate Estate is the worst example of a council pushing out tenants and destroying communities, allowing absentee investors to benefit at the
expense of renters. We need better housing solutions."

The Green Party would:
• abolish the cruel Bedroom Tax,
• set up a Renters Union,
• refurbish, insulate and improve homes instead of demolishing,
• work with communities to find solutions that work for them.

Why is the government charging nurses to train, when we have a national shortage? Why is it paying private agencies millions for locum staff, instead of recruiting permanent staff and making sure their workinglife is sustainable?

The Green Party believes in an NHS that looks after us all. Molly Scott Cato, MEP says: ‘A fair tax system goes to the heart of what it means to be a just and equitable society, and it’s necessary to fund our increasingly stretched NHS.’ 60% of people in a recent poll said they thought corporations should pay more tax. Do you agree?

Green Party calls for a second referendum - this time with the facts

Southwark voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, with 72.3% of votes for Remain. The Green Party is making the case for a second referendum on the precise terms of the deal. We want voters to have an informed choice: sign up to the deal, or stay with what we have now and remain in the EU.

Would you buy a new phone without asking how much it’s going to cost? And yet, when it comes to the biggest decision for the future of our country, Theresa May has said that we will leave Europe whatever the outcome of her negotiations! It doesn’t make sense. Make sure your voice is heard.

We are demanding cleaner buses after our tests found pollution levels in Southwark more than double legal limit. We have  launched a petition demanding London Mayor Sadiq Khan take action this year to clean up every bus driving through Camberwell Green.

Pollution monitors placed around Southwark by local members recorded levels of nitrogen dioxide at more than twice the legal EU limit outside McDonalds on Denmark Hill. Just two of the 20 locations monitored for the full month of February fell within the legal limit.

We're delighted to announce our candidates for the 2017 General Election.

For Camberwell and Peckham, we have selected Eleanor Margolies. Eleanor is an outstanding campaigner, currently working on highlighting toxic air pollution levels throughout the constituency, and is also Co-Chair of Southwark Green Party.

Bermondsey and Old Southwark will be contested by John Tyson, a Chartered Accountant and housing campaigner, highly active in his local community.

In Dulwich and West Norwood, Rashid Nix will be looking to build on his excellent result in the London Assembly Elections, where he got the highest vote share of any Green constituency candidate.

Did you know there is a Green Party of Mongolia? You do now! Greens from around the world, including a group of us from Southwark, were among delegates at the first joint congress of Global Greens and European Greens, held at the ACC, Liverpool. This really inspiring weekend – the biggest gathering of Greens ever – gave us the opportunity to learn more about the work going on across an amazingly rich mix of countries to promote environmental and social justice.

On Saturday 25 March Southwark Greens, together with Tenant and Resident Associations from Rotherhithe, Bermondsey, Peckham and Walworth and many other local groups, took part in a march through the borough organized by Defend Council Housing to fight for an end to social cleansing.

Southwark Green Party put together a simple document on some of the steps Southwark Council could take to make cycling easier, safer and more attractive for everyone, age 8-80. Download it here. (Image credit: Adam Hypki)

Download the latest Green News from Southwark Green Party. Find out more about Southwark Council's 'regeneration' of council estates, new cycle routes and air pollution. There's also information on the work of Green London Assembly member Sian Berry to protect and extend the rights of renters. And our regular column on the things we love about Southwark celebrates Benhill Road Nature Garden.