This is a call for candidates to stand for the Green Party at the next elections to Parliament and to councils in Oxfordshire.

Given the turmoil in the Conservative party, there may be a General Election in the next 6 months. In November, we will select our candidates for the 6 constituencies: Banbury, Henley, Oxford East, Oxford West and Abingdon, Wantage, and Witney. If you are interested, fill in the form below.

We need more Green councillors in Oxfordshire. Could you follow in the footsteps of our Green Party councillors in Oxford, and stand for election? You could improve the quality of our councils by representing the people and views that the governing parties ignore.

Or you could help organise events and campaigns in your ward. Could you get local people to come out and join the campaign?

In May 2019 there will be elections for evrery councillor in South Oxfordshire and the Vale of the White Horse and 1/3 of the counclllors in Cherwell and West Oxfordshire district councils. Then in 2020 there will be elections for 2 councillors in each of the new Oxford City wards.

We need candidates to start right now, preparing for the elections in 2019 and 2020. Voters like to vote for people they have heard from over time, rather than those who just turn up in the last few weeks.

We will arrange meets the councillors sessions, where you can find out what Green city, town and parish councillors do and how they got elected. To find out more, fill in the form at the bottom of the page.

What you need to do to stand as a candidate

Do you want to win, or just to stand? If you just want to give people in your area a chance to vote Green, rather than being forced to vote for a worse party, you just need to get your name on the ballot paper. On the other hand, if you want to help people as an elected councillor, you need to run a serious campaign as a candidate in a target seat.

Non-target candidates

There are places where we cannot win in the next election. It takes time to grow the Green Party in a ward until there are enough local supporters to run a campaign to win. In those areas we need a candidate to stand, while a ward organiser can run a few events and campaigns on local issues until the Green Party and the candidate are better known.

All you need to do as a non-target candidate is:

1. Get nominated. You need to get 10 voters in your ward to sign a form saying they think you should be allowed to stand. They don't need to vote for you, or be Green supporters. They can be friends, family, or just neighbours.
2. Supply a photograph suitable for the web site.
3. Write a short election statement for the web site. A bit about yourself, and a bit about what you would do if elected.

If you are interested, fill out the form at the bottom of this page.

Target candidates

There are a number of seats where we have won, or came close to winning in the past. If you don't know what a councillor does, take at look at this councillor role description.

Obviously, such a campaign needs more work than just getting nominated. Candidates are expected to take an active role in their election campaign, including:

• join or build a campaign team, including a campaign manager, and senior roles to manage volunteers, publicity, data and fundraising,
• work with your team to produce a campaign plan,
• talk to hundreds of voters on the doorstep and at other events,
• taking part in campaign team decisions, including campaign messages,
• respond to voters questions and concerns.

Candidates selected for target seats who commit to work hard enough to win will get support from the Oxfordshire Green Party, including guidance, opportunities for training and mentoring, technical support and funding.

We are committed to supporting people stand for election. If you have support needs to allow you to stand for election—from childcare to disability support needs—please discuss these with us soon so we can arrange support. Being in the Green Party means we are committed to work as a team, no one has to do anything alone, we will find a way to help in any aspect of campaigning and when people become Councillors.

Act now

If you are at all interested in standing as a candidate, or helping organise a campaign for a candidate, please complete the form below, and the Elections Committee will get back to you with more details.

If you want any more information on what is involved in standing as candidate, please contact the Elections Co-ordinator, David Newman.

UPDATE: The Oxfordshire Green Party has submitted a response. If the proposed wards affect your street, please write in support.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is consulting on new ward boundaries for Oxford. In Oxford people in each ward elect two councillors to represent us on Oxford City Council. They serve the people within their ward.

Because the number of voters in each ward has changed, the Boundary Commission is doing a review to set out new ward boundaries with almost the same number of voters in each ward. They have produced a draft proposal for new ward boundaries, based on what they heard from the council and the Labour Party. We now have until 13 August 2018 to respond to the consultation, telling them what they have got wrong and how to improve on the draft.

Anyone working or living in Oxford can take part in the consultation. The Oxfordshire Green Party wants your help in designing our response. Please leave your suggestions below.

The Boundary Commission wants to know how well the proposed wards do 3 things:

1. Does it reflect the community boundaries as understood by people in Oxford? The wards should not cut a community in two. Ideally they bring together communities who are linked. (For example, Donnington and Iffley Village are part of the same Church of England parish.)
2. Is it convenient to administer? Do people come together at the same places (community centres, pubs, shops etc.)? Do the transport routes bring people together or separate one area from another?
3. Are there the same number of registered electors in each ward?

We have the data on the number of voters in each area, so we need your help on 1 and 2. We need suggestions backed up by evidence that supports your changes.

In the map below, you can see the draft boundaries from the Boundary Commission (in red). Overlaid on that (in green) is a proposed alternative for 3 wards prepared by our Green councillors for a council committee. These proposals were judged by officials as fine. They improve on the draft. But they were voted down by Labour councillors, in a tradition dating back to 1812.

Policies

On Halloween Keith Taylor MEP come to give us a fright: about air pollution in cities like Oxford and towns like Watlington. At a public meeting in Oxford Town Hall he was joined by Dr. Imad Ahmed who has discovered a possible connection between traffic pollution and Alzheimer's disease, and Chris Church of Oxford FOE.

Read more to view video recordings of their speech and find out what you can do to make Oxford a breathable city.

I’ve been living in Barton since 2015. I was disgusted when Labour and LibDem councillors on Oxfordshire County Council voted with the Tories for heavy cuts to social care, children’s centres, public transport and other vital local services. 

The Green Party gives people across Oxfordshire a chance to vote against these vicious attacks on people’s livelihoods. We have a costed and affordable budget that will keep Oxfordshire running without austerity.

As well as standing for the County Council, I am also the Green Party candidate for a by-election to the City Council. The two councils have different responsibilities, but the same principles guide me in both cases.

To vote for me is to vote for:

• Decent, well-funded social care.
• Affordable, sustainable housing, with housebuilding linked to local services to reduce pressure on roads.
• Good comprehensive education for all – not grammar schools, private schools or academies.
• A pedestrian-friendly Oxford, with efficient and accessible public transport.
• The right of EU citizens – such as many staff in our local hospitals – to live and work in Britain.

As your councillor you can expect to see me around the area – in the street, in the shops, at the doctor’s surgery and in Barton chippy. I teach in various parts of Oxfordshire for the Workers’ Educational Association, while also working part-time for the Peace Pledge Union. I have been involved in grassroots campaigning since I was a teenager, over 20 years ago.

My political values were formed when I was growing up in the Midlands in the 1980s. Living in a council house as Thatcher attacked the working class, I saw the effects of inequality all around me. Now it’s even worse. Austerity is an outrage in one of the richest countries in the world. Much of the world's wealth is in the hands of a tiny number of people. The Tories pursue the interests of the super-rich at the expense of the rest of us. The Labour Party fails to stand up to them.

This is of course a local election, not a national one. But the same principles apply: we need to share resources, not leave them for the few at the top. Capitalism is not the only way. For too long, we’ve been following the wishes of the rich and powerful. I think it’s about time we stopped. 

I’ve lived in West Oxford for 25 years and am passionate about building stronger communities and tackling climate change. Here are some of the things I’ve been involved with locally

• Chair and member of West Oxford Community Association for 10 yrs.
• Whilst Chair of WOCA, I set up the first Zipcar, installed solar panels, and outsourced the café. These still provide regular income for the centre.
• Co-Founder of the charity, Low Carbon West Oxford in 2007 and the social enterprise, West Oxford Community Renewables in 2009.
• Director of Artweeks.
• Friend of West Oxford School  for 10 years and organised the first Christmas Bazaar.
• Helped to organise Harley Road Street Party for the past 24 years.
• Set up Hogacre Common in 2010, leasing the land from Corpus Christi College for a jar of honey/annum.
• Founding member of West Oxford Panto Assoc. in 2010.  Made scenery, props, directed.

10 things I will do when you elect me:

1. Fight to improve Air Quality in Jericho/West Oxford
2. Fight to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians
3. Oppose new council policies that criminalise boaters, buskers and the homeless
4. Oppose privatisation of NHS and public services
5. Push for more affordable homes and fairer rents
6. Protect community assets like Port Meadow for future generations
7. Work to reduce Oxford’s Carbon Footprint
8. Support Jericho Community Association in their plans for new canal-side development
9. Support local small businesses
10. Oppose academies

Robert Paynter is a father of two and a science researcher; he has been a Green Party member for over twenty years.

Fair is worth fighting for is key to the decisions that must be made to avoid exploitation of others. This applies at all scales: protecting rights of individuals or protecting the world from rampant resource use and damage, ultimately this is exploitation of future generations. For generations exploitation has been included in daily life as a matter of course — this can change.

Robert will bring these principles to the table when representing Chalgrove and Watlington. His primary interests are to support improvements in housing, transport and jobs.

I have lived in Oxford, working at the John Radcliffe, for many years. As well as work I enjoy conservation work with local groups and the National Trust.

Locally, nationally and internationally there seem to be a large number of ill affecting us, for which the Green Party has the best solution. I am standing so that voters have the opportunity to vote Green and support this view.