Candidate for Manor Castle

I am married with 3 grown up children and have lived in the area since 1979. I am 49 and work at Castle College where I teach adults Skills for Life. I have stood in every local election since 1994, gradually increasing my vote. I have also been a General Election candidate, opposing Richard Caborn.

I am standing in this election because we urgently need to change our City Council. Climate change is already happening, yet our councillors are doing very little about it. The floods we experienced last year must now mean we start to change the polices in the town hall.

In our ward we need to improve the housing stock so that our homes stay warm and dry without wasting fuel and creating more climate changing gases. Lots of us live in early 1900's terraced housing which is not very energy efficient. The Green Party have persuaded the Labour Party to fund South Yorkshire Energy Centre, where you can get help and advice on making your property more energy efficient.

We need to regulate the bus service so that we can rely on good quality public transport and be happy to leave our cars at home. We need good local shops and services, so that we don't need to travel so much. We need schools that are public services, not trusts that have their own agenda, be it religious or corporate. This ward is now in the crazy position that all three of its local secondary schools are controlled by christian organisations.

Park Hill is being redeveloped, but I am concerned that so few of the flats will be available for social housing, and little effort seems to have been made to make the redesign eco-friendly. A multi storey car park on the site of the old school is certainly not welcome! Where are the wind turbines and solar panels that could so easily grace such a building?

I am a friend of Sheaf Valley Park and have been campaigning for better pedestrian routes down the hill to the railway station. A proper, well lit, path would encourage many people to walk into town more. It's ironic that now new steps have been laid going down the hill to the station entrance, that route may now be blocked to pedestrians when they reach the station. I have been campaigning against the proposal by East Midlands trains to restrict access to the railway station to ticket holders only. Lots of people use the route through the station to walk into town. The old bridge is completely inappropriate- it is impossible for wheelchair users and has a terrible reputation for muggings. It is very frightening to walk through the dark unlit tunnel. The station say they need to stop access to the station to prevent fare dodging. However it wont stop people buying a ticket for say Meadowhall, and then going much further. To stop fare dodging the best way is to employ more conductors and ticket collectors, rather than preventing pedestrians safely walking to town.

Personally my work at Castle College means that I can walk to work, but sometimes I am forced to take the car to travel to other centres around the city and be in time for my next lesson. I am very proud that the college is going ahead with its "green" rebuild which incorporates solar panels, wind turbines and a green roof. I have not flown since I returned from teaching in Uganda in 1990 and usually holiday in this country. I experienced the effects of climate change at first hand in Uganda and have been campaigning on it ever since.

Graham is an elected officer of Sheffield Green Party. He shares the role of Web Site Manager with Krystyna Haywood. In the past he campaigned strongly against Bernard Road incinerator as chair of Residents against Bernard Road Incinerator (RABID) and appeared on television during the Greenpeace "Toxic Crime" occupation. He has a website at www.grahamwroe.dsl.pipex.com and an election blog at http://manorcastlegreens.blogspot.com/