South Devon Green Party pushes local, sustainable economies

By PRSD, on Thursday, November 5, 2009

Members of the South Devon Green Party have been campaigning and talking to commuters about the importance of a local sustainable economy.

Totnes’s Green Party county councillor Paula Black told the PRSD: “There has been a long established view that going for growth creates wealth which has a trickle down effect to the poorest in our society. Yet this unbridled growth and desire for economies of scale demands that local businesses are taken over by larger corporations. This just results in businesses locating outside their original setting, unemployment rising, and people having to travel further and further to work.”

Lydia Somerville, Green Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Totnes, said: “You can’t have a globalised free market and a truly localised economy like the Green Party is advocating.

“The construction of Dartington School is the best example of this – no local building materials, no employment of local labour or businesses – what a wasted opportunity! Let’s get it right for the Grove school project, and every other council initiative.

“We need local food in school meals everywhere, and in our hospitals and in every council canteen. The boost to local business, employment figures and less freight traffic on our roads from faraway would be enormous.”

Last year the Green Party launched a The Green New Deal. It aimed to show how investment in sustainable industries could create employment more resilient to the pressures of international economics. The project would invest government money on insulating homes, improving public transport infrastructure, building affordable homes, training people in new green skills, and on providing renewable energy.

• Local, sustainable, green economies – can they work? Comments below, please.