20 November 2021
Green Party’s Amelia Womack uses Norwich visit to campaign for affordable housing
- Green Party’s National Deputy Leader in Norwich to support bid for more Green council seats
- Amelia Womack will call for Anglia Square redevelopment to provide affordable housing
- Photo opportunity at 11am at Anglia Square
Norwich Green Party will welcome the national Green Party Deputy Leader Amelia Womack to Norwich on Saturday 20th November to support the work of Cllr Gary Champion.
Womack joined Cllr Champion and a group of community activists for a day of speaking to residents and listening to their concerns about the local area. They were also telling residents about the community walkabout that Cllr Champion has organised with police in response to growing concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime in the north of the city.
This followed a visit in June when Womack supported Gary Champion in the Sewell by-election where he took city council seat from Labour. A large factor in the by-election was local people’s anger at the redevelopment plans for Anglia Square which many people felt would have damaged the character of the area and failed to provide affordable housing.
Speaking to community activists at Anglia Square, Amelia Womack is expected say, “Greens have a proud track record of campaigning for affordable and sustainable housing in Norwich. When I came to Norwich to support the work of Green Party councillors three years ago I visited Anglia Square and heard about the totally inappropriate plans that would have seen this part of Norwich blighted by another white elephant development.
“It is good news to hear that after the campaign against the original proposals the developers have come back with a more sensitive development, but the lack of affordable housing is still very concerning.
“Norwich is one of the cities where the cost of renting is rising fastest outside of London and we desperately need more social and affordable housing, not more buy-to-let properties that will take money out of the area and be inaccessible for local families. The Green Party nationally is calling for more funding to be provided for building social housing and for policies to give renters more rights, including rent controls and secure tenancies.”
Amelia Womack will also visit the Pockthorpe community project and meet local residents who Cllr Gary Champion has been working with to improve local green spaces to enhance biodiversity and create wildlife corridors. This project around Mousehold Ave is also intended to tackle antisocial behaviour and bring the local community together.
Green Party councillor Gary Champion said “It is great to have the support of Amelia Womack as we work for the people of Norwich and to show her the work that we are doing to make Norwich a greener, fairer city. Greens are listening to local people and at next year’s local council elections we hope to make gains that will allow us to fight for local residents in holding the city council to account.”
