Tuesday 2 December 2008

PARTY LEADER CALLS FOR GREEN NEW DEAL FOR THANET


IMS Press Release


Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, and Kent’s Green MEP, will call for a radical “green new deal” for Thanet when she speaks at a public meeting in Ramsgate on Friday December 12th.

Thanet, she says, should turn away from developments such as the controversial China Gateway plan and the destruction of greenfield sites, and instead pursue an alternative, more sustainable, economic strategy.

She said: “We must take action to stop the area being developed to death. Thanet needs a green new deal with a range of social and environmental measures to deal with the recession and create a more just and sustainable economy.”

Her plan for action for the isle includes:

--abandoning Manston Airport and turning it into a centre for leisure

--the transformation of Margate seafront and the rebuilding of Dreamland

--a growth in Thanet’s further and higher education opportunities

--the expansion of organic farming.

The meeting, called by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, will discuss the biggest environmental issues facing the isle including Thanet Earth, the China Gateway proposal, the giant greenhousing development Thanet Earth and the plans for Manston Airport.

Film-maker Norman Thomas who is chairing the meeting said the meeting is even more critical given the current economic situation. “We face the prospect of a terrible slump. But this is going to be all the worse because we have political leaders in Thanet who have pinned all our hopes of employment on things which are going to be the most badly affected -- like property development, warehouses and the airport.

“We in Thanet need to do a huge rethink and ask where are the real jobs of the future are going to come from. Otherwise we’re on the road to catastrophe.

“Anyone who is concerned about the future of the area should come and put their point of view.”

The meeting will be held at St George’s Hall, Broad Street, Ramsgate at 7.30 pm on Friday December 12th. For more details telephone Christine Tongue on 01843 604253 or email inmeds@yahoo.co.uk. Picture attached of Caroline Lucas.

For information about Caroline Lucas please ring
Melissa Freeman Media Officer to Caroline Lucas MEP Suite 58 The Hop Exchange 24 Southwark Street London SE1 1TY
Office: 020 7407 9935 Mobile: 07950 382149

1 comment:

  1. This picture was taken when she was much younger and better looking

    ReplyDelete

Comments, since I started writing this blog in 2007 the way the internet works has changed a lot, comments and dialogue here were once viable in an open and anonymous sense. Now if you comment here I will only allow the comment if it seems to make sense and be related to what the post is about. I link the majority of my posts to the main local Facebook groups and to my Facebook account, “Michael Child” I guess the main Ramsgate Facebook group is We Love Ramsgate. For the most part the comments and dialogue related to the posts here goes on there. As for the rest of it, well this blog handles images better than Facebook, which is why I don’t post directly to my Facebook account, although if I take a lot of photos I am so lazy that I paste them directly from my camera card to my bookshop website and put a link on this blog.