North Staffs Green Party have announced their candidates for Newcastle-under-Lyme in May’s local elections.
A party spokesperson said, 'we are proud to announce a small, but committed, team of candidates for the borough election'.
Adding that 'our team will be speaking up for local people on the things that matter to them'.
The party will be standing Will Wood in Cross Heath and Jessie Mellor in Bradwell.
A spokesperson said, “over the past year local Green activists have been at the forefront of campaigns to defend green spaces from unnecessary development” .
This includes the trees at Bradwell Hospital which developer Seddon Homes was given permission to fell to make way for 85 executive houses.
If the plans go ahead 400 trees will be lost, with the developer only committing to replace 97.
Candidate for Bradwell Jessie Mellor has led the fight by residents to stop a green space valued by the community being destroyed.
Candidates will be highlighting the need to improve public transport and revive the town centre.
They will also be advocating for major national issues, including protecting the NHS from creeping privatisation and the impact the rising cost of living is having on people's physical and mental health.
At the national launch of the party’s local elections campaign co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsey spoke about the need to address the cost-of-living crisis through helping people to make their homes more energy efficient.
Carla Denya said “Insulation programmes don’t sound very glamorous but what they can deliver is nothing short of incredible”.
Green Party councillors across the country have been working with local authorities and communities to retrofit insulation to houses, helping people save money and improve their health and quality of life.
MS Denya went on to say that as people face the greatest fall in living standards since the fifties the government is aware of the problems they face, but had fallen ‘chronically short’ in the support they have offered
Also speaking at the launch Adrian Ramsey said the Green approach to local government was “all about - fairness and community”, and providing “sensible, practical solutions”, that protect “the places we live and the people we care about.”
The spokesperson for North Staffs Greens said, 'at a time when family budgets are being squeezed like never before, people need councillors who understand the challenges they face and are not afraid to speak truth to power'.
Adding, 'that is what they will get if they elect a Green councillor for their ward'.