London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, May 11, 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
Trump's Upcoming Visit to Gulf Nations: Investment and Security at the Forefront
Rodrigo Duterte Awaits Trial at The Hague. Next week he might be elected mayor of his hometown
Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say
Retired British police officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at ICE Facility Amid Congressional Visit
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
×