Green Councillor Pete West has been nominated as the Green candidate for the City Council’s appointee to the new South Downs National Park Authority.  At a Council meeting, councillors will choose who to appoint as the City’s sole representative on the new park authority.

Pete said:
“I am honoured to be the Green councillor’s choice and would be very proud to serve the City on the new park authority. The 250,000 citizens of Brighton and Hove need a strong and energetic voice on the authority.

“There is much work to be done to set up the authority and to shape its vision. It is vital that vision fairly reflects the interests and needs of the City’s population and our local economy, and that that vision is for a 21st Century park with sustainability at its heart.  I believe Brighton and Hove with its good sustainable transport links is the obvious places for park visitors to choose to stay, and we need to ensure access to the park is low-carbon. There is a huge opportunity here to develop our tourism economy and reap benefits for local people in terms of improved recreation, health and well-being benefits.”

Pete has previously supported a national park and fought to protect public open space.  A founder member of the campaign group Keep Our Downs Public, Pete was involved in the successful fight in 1995 to stop the Labour Brighton Borough Council selling its publicly owned downland estate.

Pete then served for the Green’s on the Council’s original South Downs Working Group that considered the draft boundary of the park and argued for the boundary to keep tight to the city build-line – which has largely happened.  Last year Pete won Council support for a new Working Group to oversee the City’s interest in the new park.

Pete has stated that he believes the authority should relate strongly with the large urban populations bordering the park and pressed the government to make the authority more democratically representative by having some of the places on the authority directly elected.

According to a Green spokesman:
"Where the park sets-up its HQ will be of vital importance and Pete is arguing that the long slim geography of the park means more than one centre would work best."

Pete adds:
“The employment opportunity for the city must not be missed and the park would benefit from our very able work force. Sighting an HQ in the City would also help reduce the park’s carbon footprint.”

For more information about the Greens view:
www.brightonhovegreens.org