Group Spotlight – Leeds Green Party

Posted 7 years ago

This is the first in a series of blogs about individual groups involved with Leeds for Change and the great work they are doing in Leeds. If you would like me to write a blog about your group feel free to contact me at alexr@leedsforchange.org.uk. Alternatively feel free to write your own blog about your organisation, project or anything else that is on you mind on the Leeds for Change website.

The Leeds Green Party is currently one of five local Green parties in Leeds and covers 20 wards in Leeds; mainly in the centre, south and west. Although it may seem strange to have five different local Green Parties, it is a reflection of the ground up grass roots ideology of the Green Party and the way they would operate if they were in power: power is devolved to the lowest level that wants autonomy. The Green Party believes that local wards should have the power and resources to address their own individual needs as well as influencing regional and national policy. The Vision of the Leeds Green Party is ‘a greener, fairer, happier Leeds where everyone can:

  • live and get around sustainably, healthily and affordably
  • access decent homes, services and green spaces
  • breathe clean air and enjoy their area’.

 

The Leeds Green Party has a firm belief in grassroots projects and is using Leeds for Change to help them support as many worthwhile projects as they can. Rich from the Leeds Green Party believes Leeds for Change is a great project as ‘many of the organisations involved with Leeds for Change are fighting for the same things we believe in’ and therefore through using the website they can easily build relations with other organisations as well as see what events are coming up.

However, Leeds Green Party also believes that in order to truly make a difference there needs to be a top down approach that works in conjunction with the ground up grass routes projects. Therefore the Green Parties in Leeds could become key allies for many organisations within Leeds for Change in order to get political influence on policies to help support and further their projects. Particularly as the Farnley and Wortley Green party have three councillors.

The Leeds Green Party in entirely run by members who are all volunteers, so if you like the sound of Leeds Green Party (or any of the other Green Parties in Leeds) and are interested in volunteering with them then you can get in touch with them at leedsgreenparty@gmail.com. If you are interested in standing for election in your local ward then they would also love to help. Details for all the other Green Parties in Leeds can be found on there website here:
https://leeds.greenparty.org.uk/about.html

This is a map of the wards that are represented by each of the five Green Parties in Leeds…

green-party-wards