Sheffield local elections: ‘Everyone wants to claim green policies now’ – The Green Party’s influence in Sheffield

In part of a series of interviews ahead of the local elections on May 2, Cllr Douglas Johnson, the leader of the Sheffield Green Party, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) of problems with council housing, and the amount of student accommodation being built in the city centre.

He also said the committee system in the council helped them achieve “a lot” last year.

He said: “That’s because of no overall control so there is a continued dialogue there and the parties talk to each other because they have to talk to each other. It means that everything is brought out in the open and it’s so much harder to hide things away – that leads to better decision-making.”

But Cllr Johnson said this won’t stop being vocal about issues they don’t agree with.

He said: “We’re going to criticise those decisions we disagree with and we’re not going to support those decisions.

“With all the parties, we agree on some things and disagree on other things. This system allows us to do that.

“In that sense, it’s much more open and transparent.”

He added the new system is good because the parties needed each other to pass decisions – if there are disagreements, it’s not going to be passed, as simple as that.

He said: “We’re definitely the smaller party but they have to because of the numbers, neither Labour nor the LibDems have enough votes to carry things through on their own so they need us – or they need each other.”

He said on a lot of issues there are a lot of discussions and they (the Greens) present a “compromised area”.

The Green Party was in coalition with the Labour Party starting May 2021 (the Greens and Labour in the cabinet) before the committee system was introduced so he said his party has experience in what it was like being part of the old system when only a small number of people made the most important decisions behind those closed doors.

What about the work on climate change? There is a lot of talk about the topic, and not just by the Greens but by those who may be closer to power, the Labour Party, for example.

Cllr Johnson said if other parties make a claim for it and things get done then “it’s great”.

“We want to see our policies implemented,” he added.

He said the Greens’ influence was real.

He added: “So for example we’re looking at the electric bus program in the city centre. That was something that we’d proposed first.

“Everyone can make a claim for it but the difference is you can go back and look in the records and you’ll see our budget amendment in 2019 that specifically refers to the electric bus.”

He said being Green is to make a stand on climate change – it needs to be recognised it’s real, it’s happening, it affects all of us – and to bring the other parties “with us”.

“Everyone wants to claim green policies now, which is great, you know,” he said.

The Greens are loud on international affairs, too.

When it comes to what is happening in Gaza, one of the most active councillors is Cllr Alexi Dimond who has spoken up on the topic a number of times in the past six months.

Cllr Johnson said while they comment on foreign affairs, they still do work in their wards and report things like bins, potholes and more.

When he was asked whether more local issues should be raised on social media, he said what is happening in Gaza is not “only international politics”, it directly affected people living in Sheffield.

Cllr Johnson said: “We’ve got quite a sizable Palestinian population. We’ve also got people with links with Palestine. People are being bombed in Yemen… it’s not just the people in Yemen, it’s also people’s families living here.”

He said the Greens had taken a “very clear, humanitarian” stance on the topic on day one and this “pushed Labour into supporting the proposition we took”.

Cllr Johnson added: “It meant that we were able to get that cross-party motion actually calling for a ceasefire through the council in November, this is how the Greens influence things by having principles and standing by them.”

Cllr Johnson is also the chair of the housing policy committee at Sheffield Council during a time when people are struggling to get on the ladder and when the number of people (and families) without a place to live is increasing.

The last time we spoke there were almost 1,000 empty council homes.

He said we were around that number still but he reiterated that the homes were not kept empty – lots of them were waiting for people to move in.

Does he have any solution – or an idea – to make things happen a little bit quicker?

Cllr Johnson said one solution could be to put priority on repairs to homes that are empty and are waiting to be re-let above those homes that are currently occupied – except for emergency repairs.

The other solution could be to have a single team look after the whole process of dealing with empty properties “from one tenant leaves until the next tenant comes in”.

He added solving the housing crises would require a lot of money and action on a national level and while everyone is expecting a new government in the near future, “no change” to help Sheffield.

Amid this housing crisis, Sheffield city centre is seeing tower after tower being built for students.

Cllr Johnson said it was a massive problem.

“There is a surplus in student accommodation in the city centre,” he said.

He added this was something the Greens had highlighted more than 10 years ago.

The implications of that, he said, was that in a couple of years, there were going to be empty blocks not well maintained, not being used – “abandoned”.

They then called for a survey so they could learn about the need for student accommodation and adjust their planning policies but were rejected first just so “behind the scenes they went on and started doing that”.

Cllr Johnson said: “So again, it’s another example of the Greens setting out a demand and although it gets rejected, the work actually starts happening.”

In the run-up to the local elections on May 2 where a third of the 84 councillors will be elected, the LDRS has already heard from Cllr Tom Hunt, the leader of the council, and the Liberal Democrats leader Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed and now Cllr Douglas Johnson.

The interview with Cllr Dianne Hurst, of the Sheffield Community Councillors Group, will be published tomorrow (Thursday).