We are delighted to announce that we will be standing Green Candidates in both Medway by-elections to be held on 26th August.

30 July 2021

We are delighted to announce that we will be standing Green Candidates in both Medway by-elections to be held on 26th August. 

Medway residents Cat Jamieson, who works for a national youth charity is standing as our Green Party Candidate in Strood North and Sonia Hyner, who teaches English to adults at Further Education College, is our Green Candidate for Princes Park. Both candidates are passionate about affecting change within these wards. With a Conservative dominated council these Green voices need to be heard urgently and the mood in the wards backs this view up.

Cat & Sonia will be focussing their campaigns on the key issues for residents including poor air quality, traffic congestion and difficulties parking. Cat Jamieson is highlighting the lack of affordable homes in the luxury Riverside Development being planned by Medway Council, which appears to be a vanity project designed to allow property developers to line their pockets yet again. Cat asks why affordable housing gets only one tiny paragraph in a 40-page document. “To add insult to injury for the young families of Strood North, the affordable housing planned will be for rent or shared ownership only, meaning there's little opportunity for local residents to join the property ladder”.

At least three quarters of the hundreds of apartments to be built will be luxury developments designed for the London market. Cat agrees that more homes are needed but says it is imperative that any new housing must be sustainable, affordable and in the right places.

Cat who now lives just off of Rochester High Street used to live in Strood North and worked at Strood Academy and on the Knight’s Park Industrial Estate, she is passionate about community and understands the pressure on communities to accept over-development something she will strongly oppose alongside residents.

Sonia spent 21 years working with Citizens Advise, assisting to alleviate poverty and secure housing.  She understands the pressures on young families, the need for local jobs and a clean and healthy environment to live in.  “I am determined to make Medway Council see how important every resident of Princes Park is and ensure that all of their voices are heard loud and clear” she goes on to say that “as a Green Party member I am not controlled by a party whip, my voice is completely independent and I will do what is right for the people of Princes Park”. 

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