Luton and Bedfordshire Green Party

General Election 5th May 2005 - Mid Bedfordshire Constituency

The Green Party Candidate is

Ben Foley

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Dr Ben Foley is a wheelchair user and campaigner for disabled people’s rights.

Dr Foley is standing for election partly to publicise the fact that many wheelchair users, like him, are not paralysed, but do need to use a wheelchair. Ben also aims to highlight how disabled people continue to face discrimination and abuse.

Ben, 38, was married in Ampthill, in the heart of the constituency, and he has family ties to Bedfordshire that go back more than a century.

Dr Foley has a PhD in 'Freedom and Green Theory' and a first class honours degree in Politics. He works for De Montfort University, both researching and lecturing, in both Bedford and Leicester, and commutes by train to Leicester. He is a member of the trade union NATFHE.

For several years Ben has been a committee member of Bedford Commuters' Association, representing rail commuters from Flitwick and Bedford.

Ben campaigned against the illegal war in Iraq. His favourite pastimes include watching Arsenal play football and listening to Jazz at Nicholl's Brasserie on the Embankment in Bedford with his family on Sunday lunchtimes. He is also a keen swimmer and a member of the cycling organisation, the CTC.

A Green future means fairness, community and real quality of life - Real Progress

Local Policies:

Transport

Ben fully supports the Green Party policy of investing in public transport, rather than spending money on road building. Ben says "Widening the M1 and A421 will not help people get where they want to any more quickly. The expansion of Marsh Leys with yet more distribution depots is a clear example of why: juggernauts will fill up the new roadspace as fast as it is built. The money could be far better spent increasing capacity on the railways. To solve our transport problems we need more local services, and more investment in public transport."

Bedford-Bletchley rail line: the Green Party is calling for the introduction of a Sunday service, faster line speeds giving quicker services, and for trains to use a platform with a lift at Bletchley (to give a better service to disabled people, cyclists, and parents with small children/prams/buggies etc). Ben supports the proposals for an East-West rail link, but is anxious that it connects with the existing North-South lines.

Housing Developments

Ben opposes Labour’s plans for 30,000 new houses in the area. There are more empty homes than homeless people in this country already, and lots of space in empty office blocks, factories and above shops that could be used for housing. There is simply no need to build on greenfield land for housing, here or anywhere else in the country. Developments on brownfield land also need to take account of the extra pressure they put on roads, health and community services. If these uneccesary plans are not stopped, a rural area will be turned into yet more sprawling suburbia.

Wixams

We oppose this residential development extending Bedford right out to Wilstead. If a Wixams railway station is built, should be a ‘parkway’ station, making good use of the proximity of the A421, and should be compatible with plans for it being an interchange with East-West rail link if that is built on a route that does not go into the centre of Bedford.

Air Travel

We oppose expansion to Luton Airport (and all other airports). Air travel causes massive pollution, which we all have to pay the costs of, while it gets subsidies from local and national governments and tax-free fuel. If air-travel paid its way, we wouldn’t have to suffer the roar of jets overhead.

Center Parcs

We support the general idea of a holiday centre that will encourage people to take holidays in the UK rather than flying abroad. We are, however, deeply concerned about the road traffic that it will generate, and are calling for planning permission to be made conditional on there being effective measures to limit the amount of traffic.

Fire Control Centre

We oppose the proposal to close the Fire Control Centre at Kempston. The further away a regional centre is, the less chance there is that the operators will know how Flitwick is pronounced, or where the ‘Elephant Cage’ is. Confusions about things like this could make the difference between life and death.

School dinners

We were calling for the County Council to make sure locally produced real ingredients were used in school meals years ago, and have been calling again for the County to take action in recent weeks.

Stewartby brickworks

The Green Party would introduce stricter pollution controls, which should reduce the problems of smoke and fumes from Stewartby. But the Green Party would do much more: we oppose much of the housebuilding that means that there is a demand for the bricks (follow link). Where building projects are needed, wood would be a far greener building material. In the end, there is little real need for the bricks, or the pollution created in making them.

Please help the Green campaign by:

Making a donation to help towards the cost of the campaign (cheques should be made payable to Luton & Bedfordshire Green Party)
Displaying a window poster
Delivering a few leaflets in your local area (or elsewhere if you prefer)

If you can help in any way, please contact Gareth Ellis at 6 Flitton Hill, Flitton, Beds. MK45 5EA, phone 0777 3120243 or email Ben at ben.foley@ntlworld.com

Can we help you?

If there are any specific issues you would like us to take up on your behalf, please let us know - our aim is to serve you, not to tell you what to do.

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Summary of links within this site:

Luton and Bedfordshire Green Party Home Page

General Election May 2005

Policies for Luton and Beds as a whole

Policies for Bedford | Policies for Luton | Policies for Mid Beds | Policies for South Beds

A page for party members | A page for non-members

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