London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Local elections 2023: What's in store for England's first Green council?

Local elections 2023: What's in store for England's first Green council?

The Green Party secured its first sole control of an English council with victory in Mid Suffolk.

Last week, the Green Party swept to victory and took sole control of an English council for the first time. They doubled their seats on Mid Suffolk District Council, taking them to 24 on the 34-seat authority. A week on from that historic win, what can the residents of Mid Suffolk expect from their new council?


What is first on the agenda?

Andy Mellen, leader of the Mid Suffolk Greens, said he believed the party could improve local services

Andy Mellen is leader of the Green group and the person set to become the leader of Mid Suffolk District Council later this month.

He says the party is "very excited about leading the council, having that really clear mandate for change and the programme we want to achieve".

The environment will be high on the council's agenda, but he says the party will "not be telling people what to do".

"What we want to try and achieve is to make it easier for people to make the right choices about the environment," Mr Mellen says.

"We want to make walking and cycling easier and regenerate local bus services.

"People will notice a difference quite quickly in terms of the approach we take here in Mid Suffolk."


How can public transport be improved?

Mid Suffolk District Council will try to "link up" with the county council to improve public transport, Mr Mellen says

Mr Mellen admits Suffolk County Council has the "primary responsibility" for bus services in the district but says he is keen to work with them on public transport schemes.

He says: "We have already got a little programme which we managed to get funding for when we were in opposition which is a trial with electric buses.

"What we need to see is some innovative approaches and one or two things are already coming forward".

The Green leader says one example is using school buses when they are not in service, adding: "We could be doing something with them in the middle of the day.

"What we've got to try and communicate to people is if a bus service is there, use or lose it," he says.

He also believes there is an "appetite for a volunteer service" at a parish level which the council would support.


What about new roads?

Mr Mellen says traffic can become gridlocked when routes are closed, such as the A14 Orwell Bridge at Ipswich, but building more roads is not the solution

In 2020, a £500m plan for an Ipswich Northern Route bypass was abandoned due to a lack of "political support".

Mr Mellen says that "idea is dead in the water, all parties agree it couldn't go ahead".

He says it would have required "a whole swathe of housing alongside it to provide the funding" and there is not "any appetite for that".

Mr Mellen says instead of building new roads, the district and region should look at "other transport solutions to get people out of their cars... and improve the alternatives".


Can the Greens win elsewhere?


In this local election, the Greens gained 241 seats, 47 more than their previous record set in 2019.

It takes their total number of councillors in England to 481.

The Greens are now the largest party in Lewes, East Sussex, where they gained eight seats and the Tories lost 19.

In East Herts, the Greens gained 18 seats, becoming the largest party on a hung council, with the Tories losing 27 seats.

Green co-leader Carla Denyer said her party was benefiting from "a deep dislike of the Tories and Starmer's uninspiring Labour".

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay said victory in Mid Suffolk would "pave the way for electing the first Green MP in the area as well, to really represent people on a national stage as well as locally".


Will there be more new housing in Mid Suffolk?

Michael Gove, the housing secretary, says more homes are "desperately" needed across the country

Mr Mellen says "house building will inevitably continue to some extent" in the district.

But, he says: "What we've had is a splurge of development that's come through as a result of stuff that happened five years ago when the administration did not have a five-year housing land supply, and government rules meant we had to approve a whole load of [housing] that perhaps wouldn't have been approved under other circumstances."

He says the council now has "a really good housing land supply, now we have part one of joint local plan so there is an element of control coming back in now and speculative developments are happening less often and that'll be the case going forward."

Mr Mellen says housing developments which have already been approved "have to be built".

"What we'll see is the lessening of the flow of big new estates, particularly as communities get more involved in planning and development with the neighbourhood plans," he says.

Communities will have "more of a say" and there will be a "less top down approach" from the council on planning.


Will council tax rise?

Many households have seen an increase in their council tax bills

Many councils across the country have raised council tax, with several authorities increasing it by the maximum available.

But Mr Mellen does not see Mid Suffolk raising its portion of the tax bill, as the council "is not struggling for cash".

He says the previous council leadership, a 16-seat minority Conservative administration, "left us a reasonable legacy".

"There is some stuff we can do within the existing budget," he adds.

"The previously administration was putting money into reserves and we want make sure some of that is used [to] make a difference in the community."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×