RUSHES: Local elections 2024: Green Party launches campaign: Carla Denyer interview

Local elections 2024: Green Party launches campaign: Carla Denyer interview; ENGLAND: Bristol EXT Carla Denyer (Green Party Co-leader of England and Wales) interview SOT Q: You mentioned the planning there, that there is the criticism that the green parties actually stood in the way of a lot of house building projects, particularly where we have a big sway in a local authority, for example, in Bristol. The mayor here has been going on about house building for a long time. He's been pushing that, but he says you've stood in the way of a lot of these projects. A: Well, yes, that is the Labor Party's attack line on the Greens, I might speculate. It's 'cause they're struggling to find anything else. Um, in fact, when you look at the track record, you will see that, uh, greens in administrations all over the country have often built, built the first new council housing in a generation. And that that council housing has not only been affordable, it's also been low carbon. So take for example, York where the Greens had the housing portfolio for four years, and in that time they built a huge amount of affordable housing, much of it very low carbon as well. And it was so good that it received multiple national awards for the quality of that social housing. Similarly, in Strouds just up the road and in, uh, Lewis, in Sussex, um, where Greens have been in administration, they have made sure that the right kind of housing, affordable housing being built in the right place to meet people's needs. Now, yes, it is true that sometimes Greens and councilors from other parties vote against planning applications when they come to committee. And that's because the application doesn't meet local needs. So for example, it's where there's a big luxury outta town housing development that doesn't have the GP surgeries, the bus services, the, the, the local shops, the school places that make those, not just houses, but homes.