Second Enfield councillor joins the Green Party

The Green Party gained its second Enfield councillor last week, when during the full council meeting on 22nd September Cllr Anne Brown announced that she had become a member. She represents Southgate Green and joins Cllr Charith Gunawardena, from neighbouring Southgate ward, who announced his move to the Greens in May. Both are former Labour members and both will continue to be part of the Community First group of councillors. Community First is not a political party with a shared policy platform, but its existence means that council committees no longer comprise only Labour and Conservative councillors, which can help strengthen their scrutiny function.

In the speech during which she announced her change of political home, Cllr Brown laid the blame for inadequate council services and failure to properly address environmental issues on both the big parties:

"I would just like to remind the main opposition that it’s the draconian cuts made by the Conservative government over many years that have led to difficulties in providing any number of services to the level which residents deserve.

"That said, issues around consultation and engagement with the public generally should be given much higher priority by the current administration in Enfield.

"Neither of the two main parties has adequately addressed the major environmental challenges and it is time for a fresh approach to public services and particularly to environmental issues."