Newsdesk

Thanet: Green or grey? Public meeting on jobs

13th June 2003

Lecturers Hazel and Steve Dawe will be speaking in a public meeting about Green approaches to employment, on Saturday 28th June, 2.00-5.00pm at the Birchington Village Centre in Alpha Road, Birchington. Hazel Dawe comments:

"People in Britain work the longest hours for the least pay and have the longest commuting distances of the 15 countries in the European Union. Quality of life for people, and sustainable, useful work needs to be available in each district council area in Kent. The big question is how?

Green approaches to employment, which will be introduced in the public meeting, include the following strategies which can be followed:

* Co-operatives to share the costs of starting new businesses;
* More business rates discounts for sole trader enterprises in villages;
* Organic agriculture, for better returns for farmers and for a sustainable and ecologically-diverse countryside;
* Recycling and re-use expansion to reduce waste and create long-term jobs;
* Strong leadership from the council for home installation of renewable energy technologies like solar water heating and photo-voltaic panels, to create local jobs in installation and maintenance of these bill saving initiatives;
* Reductions in on-site hours for employees who can work from home, to reduce commuting;
* More imaginative eco-tourism initiatives, such as creating forested corridors through set-aside agricultural land, encouraging biodiversity, creating cycle and walking routes for tourists.
* Moving some of the 26,000 civil service jobs John Prescott wants to remove from London to Thanet."
ENDS c248 words

FURTHER INFORMATION: Hazel Dawe on 01233 645167. Contact address: 10 Hillbrow Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4QH. Hazel Dawe is a Senior Lecturer in Law, teaching both European and Contract Law. Steve Dawe teaches part time Environmental Policy and Sociology, and is the Green Party�s sole paid worker half of each week at the No Euro Campaign Office in London.

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20th June 2005