Welcome to the Home Page of the Highlands and Islands Greens
Highlands and Islands Greens
The Highlands and Islands Green Party’s task is to
communicate, and help achieve, our vision of a green,
sustainable society and the benefits such a
society has to offer.
In these pages you can find out how
Greens, in the Highlands and Islands,
are going about that task, together
with links to the wider Green Party
community.
See below and in the links to the right for:
- articles and press releases
- Highlands and Islands Green Party
contact details - information about the
Scottish Green Party, and
Green Parties around the World.
Greens Condemn Council’s Lack of Strategy
— 16 November 2008
Highland Greens have condemned the Highland Council’s document “Strengthening the Highlands” (its programme for 2009-2011) as lacking any overall strategy.
Campaigns organiser Neil Hornsby said: “A strategy should have aims, objectives and targets. Without these it becomes just a meaningless set of wishes and aspirations.
“The Highland Council document appears as though each department has submitted its own notion of what it hopes to do in the next couple of years. There is no overall strategy and there are hardly any firm targets so it is impossible to judge how well the council is fulfilling its promises or to hold it to account in any way.
“How can we the electorate judge how well our council is doing when it makes statements like:
- ‘we will support the development of sporting activities’;
- ‘we will pursue initiatives to support the procurement of local products and services by the Council and others’;
- ‘we will promote the development of an integrated transport network’?
“All of these are meaningless unless the council makes it clear what exactly it expects to achieve — then we can see how well it’s doing.”
Highland Green Party convener Myra Carus has written to the council asking for the programme to be revised with aims, objectives and firm targets.
Recent Articles:
Greens React to Kilnhill Plan Withdrawal
— 5 October 2008
Highland Greens today gave their reaction to the news that the Forestry Commission’s planning application for an eco-community in Kilnhill Wood, Nairn, is to be withdrawn.
The Greens had given the scheme qualified support, requesting however that the number of affordable homes for rent, and the issue of sewage treatment, should be looked at again.
Greens Urge Local Groups to Apply for Climate Challenge Grants
— 10 June 2008
Highland Greens are urging local groups across Highlands and Islands to apply to the Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge fund, launched jointly last week by Green MSP Patrick Harvie and Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead.
The fund will support communities across Scotland who have imaginative ideas about how to reduce their impact on the climate.
HIGP Response to the Scottish Government’s Consultation on Scottish Road
Safety Strategy
— 23 April 2008
Our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on a Scottish Road Safety Strategy has now been submitted. The response drew on HIGP members’ proposals and on existing SGP road safety policies.
HIGP Response to the National Planning Framework Consultation
— April 2008
Highland Greens comment on planning issues (summary: Not enough consultation with affected communities; big plans advanced without robust evidence for need; big towns get turned into black holes for rural populations; good agricultural land is a valuable resource which requries preserving; sustainability and environmental responsibility should mean something).
Midge Report: