Green Party leader on vision for South Tyneside as group hopes to grab more seats in May elections

The Greens won their first council seat in South Tyneside in 2019, with Councillor David Francis giving it a foothold in the Beacon and Bents ward.

The party won a second seat in the same ward at the next elections in 2021, when it also picked up another in the West Park ward, bringing the total to three.

The next round of council elections are on May 5 this year, where the Greens will be gunning to claim the final seat in Beacon and Bents, pick up another in West Park, and see where else they can make gains in the borough.

It comes as South Tyneside eyes a greener future, with hopes for hundreds of jobs in new green industries – including renewable energy, particularly with the Port of Tyne hosting the operations and maintenance hub for the world’s largest wind farm at Dogger Bank.

The Green Party set out a motion to declare a climate emergency in South Tyneside in 2019, which was voted through by all councillors.

The council has been working on scored of green initiatives, including innovative schemes in Hebburn and South Shields to use water from closed mines to heat buildings.

Carla Denyer, Co-Leader of the Green Party, visited South Shields to set out the party’s vision and launch the South Tyneside group’s election campaign on Friday, March 25.

Carla, a city councillor in Bristol, was visiting a number of North East across the weekend, meeting Green Party Councillors and candidates.

“We’re feeling really confident ahead of the upcoming local elections,” she told the Gazette.

"I don’t like to be cocky but I think we’ve got a really good chance of increasing our number of councillors here in South Tyneside.

“Green jobs is something which is really important. We need to transition our economy to more sustainable technologies and way of living. That has to be in a way people can take part in and doesn’t leave any communities behind.

“The Green Party’s Flagship Policy is a green new deal, which is all about providing those sustainable, well paid, unified, green jobs and providing the root to access those jobs.”

Cllr David Francis said: “It’s really great to see Carla up in the North East. It’s a really positive thing because the leadership is keen to get out there and meet people in all sorts of different communities across the country, England and Wales, and find out what people on the ground are thinking.”

Andrew Guy, who will be running as a West Park Candidate, said: “The Green party are doing things differently and I think that’s why we’ve had some success in South Tyneside. It’s all about giving an alternative to people. It’s not the constant bickering between parties and why you shouldn’t vote for them, it’s more about why you should vote for us.”

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