VOTE GREEN IN ORPINGTON ON 8th june
Tamara Galloway - the Green Party candidate
I’ve been born and brought up in Orpington, which has always been my home. I’m active in the local community as the Planning Secretary for the Green Street Green Village Society and the Planning Co-ordinator for Bromley Friends of the Earth.
I work as a tutor in the local area and have achieved academic success. My Computing and Statistics degrees enable well researched policies preserving our environment, health and quality of life.
I pledge to stand up for quality of life in Orpington, and I look forward to helping you with local issues that concern you.
BREXIT DANGER
Brexit threatens European laws that protect the environment, human and animal rights. The situation nowadays leaves the way open for unlabelled GM foods from the USA and the reintroduction of battery farming.
I’d work to resist these, and maintain our protections.
SAVE OUR GREEN SPACES
For many years now I’ve campaigned to preserve both the Green Belt and back gardens, currently designated as ‘brownfield land’.
This designation should be changed, but at the same time areas designated for business purposes only should be reduced. This would enable conversion of vacant shops and offices to dwellings.
HOUSING
I’ve many new ideas on how to increase housing supply, and strongly favour rent controls and security of tenure.
Economic development should be more evenly distributed across the whole country, reducing pressure on the South East.
According to the charity ‘Empty Homes’ in 2016 there were over 59,000 empty dwellings in London. This needs action.
There should be increased incentives for people to rent out rooms.
At present there is no VAT on building new houses, but there is VAT at 20% on converting and renovating old buildings to be used as homes. I’d work to abolish this.
IMMIGRATION
The Green Party believes we must reduce pressures leading to involuntary migration. Foreign aid is a key part of this, reducing ‘push factors’ making people leave their home countries. I’d seek controls on migration with enough funding to determine who is a genuine refugee and who is an economic migrant.
We should not simply accept people because they are rich. The London housing market has been gravely distorted by the number of rich migrants buying property, and sometimes not even living in it.
NHS & HEALTH
I oppose creeping privatization of the NHS and expensive PFI agreements.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the USA with its private system, spent over 16% of its GDP on healthcare in 2014, compared to under 10% in the UK.
Even those with private health insurance may suffer, as companies may try to get out of paying claims, or once a condition is established, make future insurance very expensive.
I stand against airport expansion at Biggin Hill with its flight paths over Orpington. I’d ban night flights disturbing neighbours. No sleep deprivation is a human right!
The Royal College of Physicians say air pollution is associated with 40,000 early deaths each year, and I’d work to maintain and improve Orpington’s air quality.
POLICING & ROAD SAFETY
I’d maintain funding for the police, which has been drastically cut by the Conservative government, and their focus on road safety, as road accidents cause most deaths of young people.
I strongly believe that HGVs must be equipped with either a system of mirrors or a system of cameras, so they can view their blind spots and we can avoid the tragic deaths of cyclists.
WORKING FOR ORPINGTON
We’re now at a crossroads in world politics. Any agreement with the European Union needs close scrutiny. You can trust me to stand up for Orpington!
VOTE GREEN PARTY ON 8TH JUNE