Star date: 4th May 2016

GREENS PROMISE POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE

Wendy Olsen, who is standing for the Green Party in the Salford Mayor election, believes that the role should be political, and would promote an anti-cuts policy, while trying to reverse the power that developers and speculators have in the city.

"We want to be on that ballot paper to give people an alternative to Labour" she says. But what is that alternative and do the Greens stand a chance?

For the full interview click here...

"The Labour Party is split in two equal parts, it's a disaster; you don't know what they mean any more and you can't trust them..."

The Green Party's Wendy Olsen is in no doubt that she is flying the flag for humane political policies in the city...

"It's a Labour dominated council and we think it has an inner looking approach to politics" she explains "It's not very political now, it's almost like a corporation so we want to have a political alternative.

"The role of the Mayor should be political" she adds "It should be leading, but at the moment they're letting the Council staff tell them what they can and cannot do, and that is completely wrong. It needs to be reversed and I don't think Paul Dennett, the Labour Party candidate, is going to challenge the current city council system at all. But the Greens would."

So how would the Greens challenge that system? "You have to decide on the priorities and make those decisions" Olsen insists "Sometimes councillors begin to see the Council as if it was a business, but it's not a business. The Salford Mayor has a leadership role, and we should be moving the whole way we think about economics towards a more humane and less austerity approach.

"I will not agree with the cuts" she says "It's morally wrong to cut that budget, so wrong..." That's easy to say but how would she do it? "The Council will have to change its reserves level, and we need to work on borrowing and postpone payments

"There's a high risk of Council legal officers saying `You must not do that', and I would oppose them and say `Your job is to find out how we can maximise our spending'" she explains "That's the political role of the Mayor – to insist that these officers help the people of Salford..."

The Greens favour more regulation of landlords, a jobs programme focussed on renewable energy production or local food production, more preventative policing, and encouraging residents to think about how economic policy should be changed radically to help negate inequality in the city. Olsen would also try and reverse some of the developer power that's going on in the city...

"We have towerblocks going up all over the place in Ordsall with no parks, no primary school places and no place for families to mingle; it's becoming expensive and like social cleansing" she says "Mocha Parade is a disaster and needs support. In Whit Lane and Charlestown they want to take the riverbanks away from the people and give them to incomers: it's all been planned but they're planning the wrong thing.

"There seems to be an issue with Salford Council's relationship with some large corporations" she adds "The developers in Salford have a lot of power, they seem to get a good deal and that's because they can represent their interests in small back rooms, in secret. But the people of Salford don't have an opportunity to present their views. There may be some secret conduit where Labour Party members can give their views but it's secret."

Wendy Olsen promises a more open and democratic Salford and pledges "to try and control the Greater Manchester Mayor...Greater Manchester is becoming a mega city and Salford will be destroyed in that."

Indeed, whoever becomes the next Mayor of Salford will be king or queen of almost nothing. Loads of council public services have been hived off, privatised or outsourced; from swimming baths to social housing, to social care and schools. Greater Manchester devolution, while promising more local decisions, will see even more control being taken from the city...

"Why did they agree to devolution?" she asks "It seems they were offered sweeteners, enjoying building white elephants and spending money in Manchester. They should have had a North West assembly but instead Salford signed up to Devo Manc. I would have objected."

She believes that the cycle lanes that have been installed on main roads all over the city were merely a "sweetener for the deal that Labour has signed...They are trying to make cyclists safer, but in Salford people are more likely to use a car; we understand that people have to travel...A lot of it is also irrational, like they have space for pedestrians on the Crescent, where there are no pedestrians."

Meanwhile, the flood that hit Lower Broughton is high on the Green agenda... "There were a lot of things about the floods that upset us but we also look at the background to it, like there was no snow and nothing holding the water back on the hills because of global warming" she says "Climate change is here and it causes these extreme weather events like heavy rain. But at the end of the day the whole economy is overusing oil reserves and putting carbon into the atmosphere which creates the global warming. We need to change the way we use energy."

Obviously for the Greens, fracking isn't the answer and they were the only political party standing in this election that publicly opposed the IGas exploratory drilling site at Barton Moss... "I think some Salford councillors were questioning fracking but, because of the discipline found it difficult to speak; the same with council staff" she says "We act democratically; we have open meetings and want to be available...As Mayor I'd be very clear that we're here with the permission of the public."

The problem would be that if Wendy Olsen was elected Salford City Mayor there would be a hostile majority of Labour Party councillors ranged against her. How would she cope?

"We have an association of Green councillors, so I've had training" she reveals "But if we win Mayor we'll also win a group, so if there's five or six of us we have voice, and I think that's where we're heading."

Since the last election, the Greens haven't really been vocal in Salford, only popping up when it's time to vote. How can they justify this? "It's only two years since we've been an active party in the city, it's still being built up" she explains "Many of us also have jobs and so it's difficult in practical terms. But we want to be on that ballot paper to give people an alternative to Labour...

"The Labour Party is split in two equal parts, it's a disaster; you don't know what they mean any more and you can't trust them" she adds "Most have converted to Corbyn, at least in name, but I would question whether they support his agenda. It's a dangerous thing to do, to keep voting Labour without knowing what they represent."

The full list of candidates standing for Salford City Mayor on 5th May...

Robin Garrido – Conservative Party – click here for interview
Wendy Olsen – Green Party
Paul Dennett – Labour Party – click here for ass interview
Owen Hammond – UKIP – click here for interview

*See also previous Salford Star article – Salford Mayor Election on brink of democratic disaster as no-one can name candidates or parties standing – click here

On 5th May there is also the local election – see here for details

Photo by Steven Speed