Tor said “I’m really pleased to be leading the walk this year. Although plenty of people know bits and pieces about the history of Worcester, women’s stories have generally been allowed to fade into the background. I want to help change that, as there are lots of fascinating female characters who have lived and worked in our city. I feel that it also links in well with the theme of International Women’s Day this year, which is ‘Accelerate Action’. Hopefully hearing about these women will inspire others to call out inequality and celebrate women’s successes.”

“Given that women’s rights are being rolled back in certain places in the world right now, for example, increasing restrictions on reproductive rights in the USA and extreme rules around women’s lives under the Taliban, it feels particularly important to mark the day this year.”

International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1911. It aims to highlight women’s achievements and the progress made towards equality, but also to raise awareness of inequality, discrimination and how far there is still to go. The walk will start at 10am and will end at the Guildhall. There attendees will be invited to join further events during the afternoon that are being organised by Worcester Trades Union Council, including music, poetry and readings and workshops. 

To book a place for this walk, please click the button below:

The post Cllr Tor Pingree to lead International Women’s Day walk appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

As soon as the funding announcement was made Councillor Alex Kinnersley (St Clement ward) emailed the City Council to ask what alternative funding avenues are now being pursued, as the City Council had previously indicated that should Levelling Up not be available, alternative funding streams would be sought to plug the funding gap. Worcester City Council, who have already committed £140,000 for the hall renovation work, have confirmed that they are looking at an alternative funding stream, however this will need to go to committee and be considered against other projects also in need of funding. So whilst this is hopeful, it is not a guarantee of success.

Alex Kinnersley says “the Comer Hall renovation work is an excellent project that will really benefit the local community. Tor and I are really hopeful that the new funding will come through via the City Council. However there is also external funding available for these sorts of projects, and we have offered to help the Comer Gardens Hall Management Committee develop applications for external funding, as a backup, just in case the new options for funding via the city council are again un-successful. We will of course be strongly supporting this project within the City Council and hope to see the remaining funding forthcoming as soon as possible so that work can start on the building”.

A recent St Clement newsletter article talking about the project led to a local resident contacting their local councillors to share her memories of living in the flat at the hall in the 1960s, demonstrating just how embedded this building is within the local community.

The post Response to withdrawal of leveling up funding for Comer Gardens Hall renovation appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

Katie Collier, Green councillor for Leopard Hill, has called for “crucial” work done by the city council to not be lost when it becomes part of a unitary authority by April 2028.

She said: “We should focus on the work of our council that is particular relevant to children and young people that I feel that we should work to make sure is not lost.

“We need to make decisions that put children and young people’s rights front and centre.

“When considering the formation of the unitary authority, it is vital that we do not lose these voices.

“We need to collaborate with partners who place similar value and importance on the rights of children and young people to be present in decision making.”

(Worcester News 17/02/25)

The post ‘Crucial’ work for young people should not be lost in merger appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

This is thanks to a successful application for a Natural Networks grant by Worcester City Council, with the funding to be used to enhance green spaces and create wildlife-friendly habitats.

As part of the project, council staff and volunteers have started planting various bulbs and shrubs across Worcester’s parks and green spaces.

10 fruit trees will also be planted in each of Gheluvelt, Fort Royal, Riverside, and Cripplegate parks, as well as at the Cotswold Way open space.

The trees will take between 10 and 15 years to reach maturity, providing a long-term benefit to the environment.

Bird and bat boxes, bee posts, and hedgehog houses will also be installed to boost biodiversity.

Some park areas will be designated as wildflower meadows, further supporting local wildlife.

Councillor Karen Lewing, vice-chair of the council’s environment committee, said: “The city council is committed to supporting the creation and restoration of wildlife-rich habitats throughout our parks.

“These efforts are part of a larger initiative to increase the ecological health of Worcester’s parks and public spaces.

“This funding allows us to take meaningful steps toward enhancing our parks and creating healthier ecosystems for both wildlife and people.

“The addition of fruit trees and new hedges will not only support biodiversity but also provide beautiful, sustainable green spaces for the community.”

She added: “Thank you to all the volunteer groups who are helping to make this project possible by planting thousands of bulbs, along with tree planting across our parks.

“Volunteers play a vital role in making sure our parks are kept looking lovely and vibrant all year round.”

Natural Networks is a partnership between Worcestershire County Council and the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

The programme is part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Forestry Commission.

Councillor Emma Stokes, the county council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “I’m extremely proud of what the Natural Networks programme has achieved in Worcestershire by working closely with partners and local communities.

“The addition of more native trees and hedges, creating shelters for animals and establishing new wildflower meadows, all go a long way to maintaining and improving biodiversity across the county.”

(Worcester News 15/02/25)

The post Worcester parks set for makeover with wildlife-friendly habitats appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

It comes at a time when nearly 2,000 people signed a petition calling for urgent action, led by the daughter of a seriously ill patient.

Cllr Katie Collier of the Green Party handed in the petition to Worcestershire County Council bosses yesterday (Thursday) as she called for County Hall car parks in Worcester to be opened up to hospital patients and their families. 

In a joint statement from Councillor Marcus Hart, cabinet member with responsibility for Corporate Services and Communications, Worcestershire County Council, and a spokesperson for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust:

“While car park improvement work takes place at the Elgar Unit, NHS staff based at this site will temporarily use a number of allocated parking spaces at the council’s County Hall Campus. This is a temporary arrangement while essential works are carried out.

“It makes sense for both the NHS and the county council to work together to support staff parking arrangements, while the future use of County Hall is being discussed. The provision of these spaces is not expected to have an impact on the availability of parking for council staff.”

County Hall has been closed since Friday, June 21 last year when the legionella bacterium was found in the water supply, a problem compounded by parts of the building becoming inaccessible because of safety concerns over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as ‘RAAC’.

The Leopard Hill city councillor spoke at the full Worcestershire County Council meeting at the Civic Centre in Pershore.

The mum-of-two said: “Congestion at Worcestershire Royal Hospital is a daily source of frustration for employees and local residents, and an additional source of stress and anguish for patients and their visitors.

“It is also worth considering the additional impact on air quality for patients, staff and local residents. A very short walk from the hugely congested hospital site is county hall, which for numerous issues has largely unused car parks.

“It seems nonsensical that a solution- even a temporary one- exists within the power of the county council and yet to date requests for visitors to the hospital to use the car parks have been refused.

“My family’s experience of this issue reflects the experiences of so many others. My dad has been seriously unwell for a few years now.

“He has had several prolonged stays in hospital, lasting some months. For my mum, travelling from Droitwich, inadequate public transport led to her being forced to drive and the congestion added stress at an already incredibly difficult time.

“I spoke recently with a midwife who works at the hospital, and works with families and premature babies.

“She disclosed that when disclosing these babies, they have to consider the time of day as they are aware that when congestion is at its peak these newborns and their families can be stuck in traffic for over an hour and a half, which could be dangerous.

“How horrific that families and hospital staff are having to consider this when making choices about care.

(Worcester News 14/02/2025)

The post Worcester hospital parking ‘horrific’ as petition handed in appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

The manhole on Gregory’s Mill Street and Raglan Street was spotted on Tuesday (February 11) without a cover.

This led councillor Alex Mace to raise concerns about the issue, fearing it could result in pedestrians falling into the hole.

He said: “I saw a post on the local WR3 Residents Info group mentioning the missing cover late on Tuesday evening.

“It was dangerous for residents on foot or using mobility aids that risk falling into the hole, as well as drivers who risk damage to their vehicles.

“I visited first thing on Wednesday morning to take pictures and flag it up to St Stephen County Councillor Matthew Jenkins, who raised it with Worcestershire Highways.”

Within 24 hours of the issue being raised to Worcestershire County Council, the manhole has been repaired.

(Worcester News 14/02/25)

The post ‘Dangerous’ manhole on Gregory’s Mill Street fixed appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

Frustrated residents living at The Fairway, off Tolladine Road in Worcester, have attacked the poor state of the road and pavements and say the entire road looks ‘a mess’ and is ‘depressing’.

A spokesperson for Platform Housing Group, which manages new homes on The Fairway, says issues began after the original contractor went into administration.

However, residents say they are fed-up complaining for the last four years in the hope the road will one day be fixed. 

Issues on the unadopted road include its uneven surface and poor maintenance; cars ‘bottoming out’ on drain covers; barriers and traffic cones completely blocking unfinished footpaths; and street lights which do not work.

Victoria Atkinson, 54, has spent over £1,000 on repairs to her Audi TT because of the road while her dad had to cut someone out of his car last June because he hit one of the raised manhole covers and the ‘brand new’ Jaguar’s airbag went off.

One mum of two children aged five and 11 has a 3ft hole in the pavement at the bottom of her garden with only flimsy barriers held in place by sandbags to stop them falling in.

Cllr Andrew Cross, the Green Party city councillor for Leopard Hill, has been out to speak to residents and said they were ‘understandably fed-up that, four years on, the road is still not done’.

He added: “Residents asked Katie Collier and me to come out to see the road condition and to help them raise their concerns. We will be happy to do so and look forward to hearing from Platform Housing soon.”

On the day we visited (Wednesday), residents said a delivery driver had damaged the bottom of his saloon on one of the raised manhole covers and that the bottom of his car ‘fell off’, creating an ‘oil spill’.

Read more here

The post The Fairway in Worcester so bad it damages our cars appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

A community campaigner has raised concerns over the safety of a wall and bank on Lark Hill Road off London Road in Worcester.

A path is still sealed off by barriers while nearby steps are described as having been ‘in a state of disrepair for some time’.

We reported last year how a section of the wall collapsed in Lark Hill Road a few years ago but, following wet weather, the rest of the wall came down overnight between Sunday, February 18 and Monday, February 19 last year. 

Clare Wratten, a member of the Green Party, says barriers have been in place at the bottom of the wall and steps for a long time, but the wall and bank are now so precarious that they appear to be on the verge of collapsing completely.

She expressed concern that if they do collapse, not only could someone be badly injured as a result, but there are also some large trees on the bank that could be dislodged and cause further serious injury or damage.

Ms Wratten said: “I have reported these issues to the city council, as I’m worried that with the weather being quite windy recently, it will catch the trees and they will bring the wall down.

“The steps are also in a hazardous condition and it won’t take much to dislodge them. They are on a useful cut-through route and really need some attention, especially as they have been in a poor state for quite a while now.”

Other residents have also highlighted to her that they are reluctant to use the pathway up the steps because of antisocial behaviour by groups hanging round the area.

She has passed their concerns on to her local policing team so that additional patrols can be carried out.

Ms Wratten said: “It’s a shame to hear that some people are nervous about using the steps and are walking past them to get home because of others hanging round and engaging in anti-social behaviour. If our neighbourhood police officers or PCSOs are able to include it on their rounds, myself and other residents would be very appreciative.”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “The footpath closure is in place here on the steps due to the condition of the wall.

“This wall is not Worcestershire County Council’s responsibility to maintain and South Worcestershire Building Control are in talks with the relevant landowner to take the appropriate action to make the location safe. We will keep the closure in place until we receive confirmation from building control that it’s safe to re-open.”

(Worcester News 04/02/2025)

The post Lark Hill Road in Worcester collapsing wall dangers appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

The sewage map has gone live, showing the situation across the country, including in Worcestershire as Severn Trent Water comes under fire for having too much focus on ‘profits’.

The map – www.sewagemap.co.uk – shows discharge locations, times and durations in real time, based on data supplied by the water companies, including Severn Trent.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent said it was making progress in reducing its impact on watercourses.

One discharge on Monday, January 27 lasted ’21 hours and 34 minutes’, feeding into a tributary of the River Teme near Broad Green.

Another Severn Trent discharge into the River Severn in Kempsey on Tuesday lasted 48 hours according to the live map.

Cllr Andrew Cross, a Green Party city councillor for Leopard Hill and a county councillor for Warndon Parish, said: “Live data maps are a brilliant development – anything accurate that helps raise public awareness of the scourge of pollution in our rivers is beneficial.

The same goes for air quality. Pollution of our rivers, with sewage, and chemicals, is an environment crime that must stop.

Worcester floods regularly; this is worsened by climate change, costs taxpayers, disrupts businesses and wrecks peoples’ homes.

On top of this, our rivers have been shown to contain high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause infections which our hospital medics struggle to treat. Antimicrobial Resistance may ultimately end modern healthcare. Without antibiotics, minor infections or injuries can become fatal, and hip or knee replacement operations prohibitively risky. Why on earth are we still allowing companies to discharge chemicals and sewage into our rivers?”

Labour must seize the opportunity to fix what the Conservatives have failed to address, by delivering tougher regulations, stronger enforcement, and a system that puts people, nature, and clean water first.  Our rivers and communities deserve better.”

Gareth Mead, River Ranger Manager at Severn Trent said: “While there are many factors that contribute to river health, we’re making progress in reducing our impact on watercourses across Worcestershire and are going further and faster than any other water company.  

“It’s been a very wet start to the year and the ground is saturated, so these storm overflows are acting as they should, helping to prevent sewage from backing up.  

“However, we know that they’re no longer fit for purpose and we’re continuing to make meaningful progress towards further reducing the need for storm overflows, including improvements at over 150 sites in Worcestershire in the last half of 2024 alone. 

“We recommend that anyone looking for the most up-to-date information on our storm overflows, along with information on our investment plans at specific sites, should use the map on the Severn Trent website.”

Severn Trent invested £4.4 billion over a 25-year period up to 2050 to reduce spills and improve river health, including spending £1.7 billion to reduce spills at storm overflows across the Severn Trent region. This includes 154 new interventions already completed across Worcestershire and Gloucestershire this year   

(Worcester News 01/02/2025)

The post Severn Trent Water sewage in real time on live map appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

Two Worcester City councillors have finally finished a long-running project to restore 57 street name plates across Arboretum.

Councillors Karen Lewing and Hannah Cooper noticed that many signs were so faded that they were illegible while others were damaged or missing from walls and posts.

It led the two to report and catalogue the work required to help people visiting navigate their way around the area.

Cllr Cooper said: “It took some persistence from officers to access all the signs for restoration as some are on people’s houses and permission was needed from the homeowners.

“Karen and I thank the city council officers for carrying out this work.

“We love where we live and want it to be well cared for.”

There were also many posts with their caps missing and the posts had been filled with rubbish that had now been removed and amended.

The Arboretum junction of Northfield Street, Barry Street, Washington Street and Little Chestnut Street alone required all four traditional nameplates to be refurbished.

Cllr Lewing said: “Our ward includes several conservation areas where details are important and the traditional cast iron road signs are particularly special.

“We’re pleased to have got through our initial list but we will, of course, carry on getting any signs that start to look tired sorted out.”

“We will still keep an eye out for any more signs that need fixing.”

(Worcester News 03/02/2025)

The post 57 Arboretum street signs replaced by Worcester councillors appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

The move received cross-party criticism because Councillor Geraghty had not consulted councillors and had only spoken to the county council’s Chief Executive before writing to the minister. The city council was also not informed. The Council Leader claimed that there had not been time to discuss the election postponement with councillors.

Leader of the county council’s Green and Independent Alliance Group, Councillor Matthew Jenkins, said “It’s good news that the request to postpone elections was turned down. This would have been highly undemocratic. The request strongly suggests that the Conservatives are worried about losing seats at the May elections and were trying to avoid this by taking away people’s ability to vote councillors out in May at the end of the term for which they were elected.”

“The current Conservative administration is a failed one. It has proved disastrous on social care and education for children with special needs, it has set an incredibly weak target of 2050 to reach net zero and it hasn’t even managed to take care of its own building properly. The elections present an opportunity for competent, responsive councillors to be elected, who will seek and take into account residents’ concerns about what form the new council will take. Proposals need to be beneficial to local businesses and they must ensure that climate and biodiversity are prioritised. It’s also vital that it works with the city council going forward.”

The post Green Councillors ‘pleased to hear’ that elections will go ahead appeared first on Worcester Green Party.

However, he said he and the Labour Party were committed to making the UK a ‘clean energy superpower’.

The Climate and Nature Bill (CAN Bill), which had been due to have its second reading on Friday, would have enshrined the UK’s obligations around limiting global warming and restoring nature in law.

The Green Party described the bill as ‘unique’, as there is currently no legislation that connects action on climate and biodiversity.

The City Council Green Group leader Louis Stephen said: “Our Labour MP, Tom Collins, has effectively voted to block a piece of legislation that would have been pivotal in tackling the climate crisis and reversing the terrible decline of nature in the UK.

“Given the fact that we have seen an increase in flooding in Worcester due to the changing climate, it is alarming to see the MP for our city vote against a bill that would mean real progress on dealing with the climate crisis. Yet when he was a city councillor, he backed motions on biodiversity and climate. We need an MP who will stand up consistently for the environment, not fall into line when party bosses want him to vote against it.”

Leader of the Green and Independent Alliance, County Councillor Matthew Jenkins, said: “The CAN Bill had the backing of MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru and it’s incredibly disappointing that it was blocked.

“This decade is make-or-break time for action on climate and biodiversity, but this government’s ambitions are very weak. 

“It needs to stop burying its head in the sand; the longer it tries to kick the can down the road just as the Tories did, the greater the cost to people, nature and financially.”

More information on the CAN Bill can be found at https://www.zerohour.uk/news/

(Worcester Green Party press release)

The post Green Councillors criticise Worcester MP’s vote on Climate and Nature Bill appeared first on Worcester Green Party.