Our Policies
A vote for a Green Party councillor is a vote for a cleaner, fairer, healthier Milton Keynes, with practical local action on climate, housing, transport, public services, and community life.
City-wide policies
These are the core priorities we would take into Milton Keynes City Council: action on climate, decent homes, stronger public services, a fairer local economy, and safer, greener transport.
A Councillor That Listens
Listening to people and getting their voices heard on local and global issues.
Real Action on the Climate & Emergencies
MK City Council has declared a Climate Emergency and committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. However, the council's current policies will not deliver that. Policies need to be more radical to reach that target.
We would create a Green New Deal and encourage:
- Carbon-neutral housing that meets community needs
- Better insulation for every dwelling in Milton Keynes over the next five years to reduce energy consumption and energy bills
- Generation of more electricity locally from renewable sources, including solar and wind power
- Solar panels and heat pumps on all suitable council-owned buildings and solar panels over surface car parks
- Council to procure its electricity from renewable sources
- Community-owned energy company
- Protecting wildlife habitats and enhancing biodiversity
- Planting more trees in streets, parks, and green spaces
- Working with grassroots organisations to implement a sustainable food strategy for the city
- Stopping water companies from discharging sewage into our rivers and bringing the water companies back into public control
- Reducing litter and fly-tipping
- Reducing waste and encouraging repair, re-use, and recycling
Decent Homes & Neighbourhoods
- Provide more affordable social housing to reduce waiting lists and homelessness
- Push for more secure tenancies for renters and smart controls to stabilise rents
- Ensure that residents have the final say over any regeneration proposals
- Ensure that the New City Plan prioritises people, providing the homes they need and protecting biodiversity and the environment
- Insist that any enlargement of MK is matched by supporting infrastructure, such as schools, surgeries, dentists, transport, and green spaces
- Oppose large-scale housing developments in the countryside, such as 10-15,000 dwellings proposed around each of Moulsoe and Haversham
- Higher-density development around transport hubs, especially in CMK and around the three rail stations on the WCML at Wolverton, MK Central, and Bletchley
- Revitalise our town centres and high streets
- Work with Pesticide Action Network to find solutions so pesticides and herbicides are no longer used
A Healthier, Caring City
- Improve public health by providing more information about diet and exercise
- Oppose privatisation of the NHS and ensure it is properly funded
- Provide more youth services
- Provide mental health support for young people, including positive activities such as sports, arts, clubs, and access to outdoor spaces
- Challenge the reduction in central government funding for MKCC, which has led to cuts in services
- Protect schools, libraries, post offices, and other local services from cuts, closures, and privatisation
- Support the voluntary sector
- Offer free lunches in all state schools every school day to every pupil
- Support food banks and other agencies that help people deal with government austerity and cuts
- Support people in need of adult social care to remain in their own homes where practicable and ensure good quality residential care provision
- Continue to fight for equal rights for disadvantaged and minority groups
- Provide more support for services countering domestic abuse, forced marriage, and FGM
- Fight for social justice, offering support and advice to those affected by benefit cuts and Universal Credit
Jobs in the Local Economy
- Encourage and support MK's thriving arts scene and protect live performance venues from closure due to nearby developments
- Support the Night-Time Economy to help revitalise the city centre with locally owned venues and businesses
- Support an undergraduate University for MK
- Encourage local employers and council contractors to pay the Living Wage
- Support smaller, local businesses and a growing localised economy
- Use the council's procurement powers to source from local businesses
- Insource services where possible
- Support Worker Co-ops and Unions, and encourage more worker-owned businesses
- Champion local food production and farmers' markets
Better Public Transport and Safer Streets
- Provide better and more reliable bus services, including more evening and weekend services, and better facilities for bus users
- Bus services should be re-regulated and controlled by the council
- Make roads safer by introducing more 20mph speed limits in residential areas and reducing speed limits on grid roads
- Install electric car charge points in new-build housing and more on-street charging points
- Promote more cycling and walking in MK
- Add more Redways in old towns and rural areas
- Improve maintenance of footpaths, Redways, and street lighting to encourage more pedestrians and cyclists
- Ban pavement parking
- Encourage more children and parents to walk or cycle to school to decrease parking issues outside schools
- Stop engine idling outside schools
- Support East West Rail from MK Central to both Oxford and Cambridge and ensure the line is electrified
- Support an Eastern entrance at Bletchley station
International
Following the horrific Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens, it is clear that the Netanyahu government's response has been totally disproportionate with attacks on civilians in Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon.
Green councillors would support motions to MKCC calling for a full bilateral ceasefire, the suspension of arms exports to Israel, support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and ensuring that council pension funds are not invested in companies supporting Israel. Key players in the Netanyahu government should be held accountable for possible war crimes.
The war on Iran is an illegal war of choice by the governments of the United States and Israel. Green councillors would support motions to MKCC calling for an immediate withdrawal by the United States, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, and withdrawal of support by the United Kingdom of United States military action.
Greens also support the UN General Assembly's call for Russia's unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine, a just and lasting peace based on the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
A just peace must also include the investigation and prosecution of war crimes.
Wolverton
Alongside the city-wide platform, we have a focused set of priorities for Wolverton covering the local environment, transport, opportunities for young people, and access to good jobs.
Environment
- Protect green spaces
- Use brownfield sites, especially along the canal
- Redevelopment of Wolverton Railway Works, including a frontage to the canal and a footbridge across the canal to the towpath and Old Wolverton
- Full redevelopment of the Agora site with integral green space opening up the connection between Church Street and the Square, with affordable housing, energy-saving features, and commercial units
- Better street cleaning, including alleyways cleaning
- Oppose the government proposal for 10-15,000 houses north of Haversham (NTTF). The River Great Ouse forms a natural boundary to urban MK which should be respected
Transport
Roads, traffic, and parking
- Ensure plans are in place to manage road traffic to the new Eco Park site in Old Wolverton to minimise pollution and maximise residents' safety
- Parking enforcement, especially on corners and on Fridays
- Better parking layout, as many houses have no driveways
- Regulate e-scooters and e-bikes for the safety of other users
- Reengineer Stratford Road to be more pedestrian-focused, with narrower lanes
- Dedicated two-way segregated cycle lane
- Speed humps along Stratford Road
- One-way system in the roads around Bushfield and Victoria Road
Walking and cycling
- Better cycling facilities
- Link Wolverton to the MK Redway network
- Cycle lanes where possible
- Fix the alleyways
- Better route to the station for pedestrians and cyclists
- New footpaths from McConnell Drive to the canal towpath
- New footpaths from McConnell Drive to Wolverton Park Road
- New footpaths from Bridgeturn Avenue to the canal towpath
- New footpaths from Deans Road to the canal towpath, where access has recently been blocked by a sometimes locked gate
- New footpath from the Lidl access road to the canal
- Short-term secure bike storage infrastructure in Wolverton town centre and at the large supermarkets
Buses and rail
- Better bus services
- Introduce a bus service on Old Wolverton Road linking the major employment area to Wolverton and the rest of the network
- New bus stop opposite Hodge Lea Meeting Place, to serve the Meeting Place and housing at the west end of the estate
- Extend EWR Oxford-MK Central service to Wolverton and Northampton
Provisions for Young People
- Ensure young people have facilities to get involved with healthy opportunities
- Access to good jobs
- Promote local businesses and bring life back to the community
- Support more community events, shared spaces, knowledge, and cultural celebration
- Encourage people to volunteer
- More police presence in Wolverton to discourage anti-social behaviour