Meet Amy Hardy, your Green Party candidate for Talbot and Branksome Woods

Born and raised locally, and giving back to the community – give Amy Hardy-For Talbot & Branksome Woods your vote on September 11th

Like many people, I’ve faced my share of challenges. I’ve experienced homelessness, domestic violence, and the daily realities of living with a disability. But through it all, it was my neighbours and my community who helped me get through. That support meant everything.

Now I want to give something back.

I’m standing because I believe in protecting the vulnerable, keeping our area safe, and rebuilding a real sense of community – where no one is left behind and everyone feels they belong.

I live right here in the ward, and know these streets. If we haven’t met yet, I can’t wait to say hi!

This campaign isn’t just about politics. It’s about people. And I’m ready to fight for all of us.

Amy Hardy

The post Talbot and Branksome Wood By-Election appeared first on Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Green Party.

Green Party councillors have previously engaged with members of the motorists’ group and recognise the concerns behind the petition. We are determined to ensure these voices are properly considered in future policy decisions.

Cllr Kate Salmon stated “The council needs to listen to everyone, as the people who signed this petition are clearly voicing their frustration.”

Kate proposed a motion to refer the petition to the working group developing the Local Transport Plan. This ensures that the concerns will be incorporated into the consultation and engagement process as a valuable piece of evidence.

Recognising the potential for lengthy debate on a topic that is often unnecessarily divisive, Cllr Joe Salmon proposed a procedural motion to move directly to a vote. While this did not pass, our main motion succeeded with 51 votes for and 14 against.

We are pleased with this outcome, as it guarantees that residents’ views will contribute to shaping the next Local Transport Plan.

The post Travel Petition Response appeared first on Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Green Party.

Following discussions with residents and a recent litter pick, Sara has written to council leaders highlighting her concerns about disposable BBQs, inadequate facilities, and general neglect of public spaces.

“During the litter pick we found discarded BBQs with embers still glowing – this is a serious fire hazard, and action is needed,” she stated.

Accessibility remains a major issue, with East Cliff lacking suitable toilet facilities and proper beach access for disabled visitors. “I’ve been lobbying for a Changing Places toilet for 18 months – adequate facilities are essential as summer events ramp up, but we’ve not seen any progression which is getting frustrating.”

The long-disused East Cliff lift also remains in limbo, alongside deteriorating pathways, inadequate lighting, abscence of signage, lack of bins, poor condition of shelters, overgrown hedges, and parking concerns.

With a surge of tourists expected, Councillor Armstrong is urging swift action to manage litter, prevent anti-social behavior, and ensure public spaces are safe.

“Residents deserve to enjoy their coastline without unnecessary risks” she affirmed, calling for an urgent meeting with local officers to finalise a plan for maintaining a clean, accessible, and safe seafront.

The post Demanding a safer beach appeared first on Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Green Party.

But when those values are violated, when the foundations of human rights and international law are undermined – that friendship must be re-examined.

Bournemouth’s twinning with Netanya was once seen as symbolic: two coastal towns, celebrated for their natural beauty. A relationship suggesting shared values and mutual respect. But, as Gaza suffers catastrophic violence – with tens of thousands killed and entire communities starved, bombed, and displaced – we must ask:

What exactly are we aligning ourselves with?

Netanya was not built on empty land. It grew atop the ruins of the ethnically cleansed Palestinian village Umm Khalid, close to the site of the Tantura massacre in 1948, where over 200 Palestinian men were executed and the remaining survivors expelled.

One of those survivors – a young boy at the time who was born in Umm Khalid, now in his 80s – came to Bournemouth recently.

His presence was a living reminder that this is not ancient history, but an ongoing trauma. He, like so many in Bournemouth’s displaced Palestinian community, watches the unfolding genocide with pain and urgency.

This is not a political stance – this is a plea from those who survived one genocide, and from those watching another being inflicted on their families and friends. To remain twinned with Netanya is to disregard that plea, and to overlook the violent foundations on which the Netanya stands.

BCP Council has committed, in its Equality & Diversity Policy, to “tackling discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and fostering good relations between people.” It further pledges to “stand against all forms of hatred and abuse, including racism and oppression.”

To maintain a formal partnership with a city that is both a product and beneficiary of ethnic cleansing – and whose state continues to carry out apartheid and siege against a native population – is to betray those values.

It sends a message that our commitment to equality is conditional, that some lives and histories matter less than others. We cannot claim to stand against racism and oppression while we remain twinned with a city complicit in both.

The post Our Call to Suspend Bournemouth’s Twinning with Netanya appeared first on Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Green Party.

I feel like I let everyone down the other weekend. At the anti-racism event, I let frustration at sharing a platform with a Labour MP overshad¹ow the bigger picture. Instead of focusing on how to build an anti-fascist movement, I dwelled on Labour’s specific individual failings in isolation. This alone isn’t helpful, people like me with some degree of power and privilege are obligated to not just to talk about problems, but to identify root causes and actually help implement solutions.

Discussions at the event made it clear: racism and fascism stem from political choices—choices generations of politicians in this country still continue to make now despite the change in government.

Yet the session never got round to how we implement structural solutions like a wealth tax, clearing the asylum backlog, or funding ESOL programs. Instead the session ended with a call for volunteers to help with English Lessons, but without exploring why we’re still in this position despite Labour having a super majority and apparently being committed to fighting inequality, racism etc etc.

Many still believe Labour can be “pushed left,” despite its record. The truth of the matter is clearly different. A Muslim speaker put it bluntly when they said It’s hard to tell the difference between Labour and the others. When I was told my speech embarrassed Labour members, I had to wonder—if Reform members had been present, would criticism have stopped to avoid offending them?

The fact remains: Labour enables the far right, prioritising electoral gains over justice while refusing to challenge the systems that fuel racism. Fascism thrives when tolerated, but also when so-called opposition parties excuse, ignore, or even endorse its core ideas under a more palatable guise. Throughout history, liberal and centre-left parties have repeatedly failed to stop the rise of fascist movements—not because they lack power, but because they adopt similar policies in a more socially acceptable form.

Labour, like the Democrats in the U.S., positions itself as an opponent to the far right while ultimately reinforcing the same structures that fuel its rise. Instead of rejecting xenophobia outright, these parties demonise migrants in softer tones, package deportations as necessary for “security” rather than nationalistic spectacle, and ensure that a highly exploitable, precarious workforce remains at the mercy of global capital.

The key difference between Labour and its right-wing counterparts is not in policy substance, but in presentation—Labour may move more slowly, with more carefully chosen language, but it still enables the same injustices.This performative opposition creates cycles of disillusionment. When far-right threats become overt, people desperate to stop them will throw their support behind centre-left parties, seeing them as the lesser evil. Activists pour energy into these organisations, only to watch as nothing fundamentally changes. Injustices continue. Austerity deepens. Billionaires are protected while workers are pitted against each other.

Each time Labour fails to deliver when it finally has the chance, its support erodes, those activists become cynical and disengaged and the way is paved for the next surge of far-right momentum.In this way, Labour’s role is not to defeat fascism, but to neutralise meaningful resistance to it. Rather than moments like these sparking radical political movements, the anger and fear caused by rising fascism is funneled into supporting a party that stifles any real challenge to the system.

Labour does not act as a barrier to fascism; it acts as a pressure valve, releasing just enough outrage to keep the system stable while ensuring real change never materialises.Many will argue that Labour MPs like Neil Duncan Jordan are “good people” simply constrained by their party leadership. Even those MPs likely see themselves this way—struggling within an imperfect system, doing what they can.

Clearly the most effective and dangerous liars in politics are those who have convinced themselves first.If someone believes they are fighting for justice while consistently voting for policies and parties that deepen injustice, their self-perception does not excuse their complicity. The idea that Labour can be reformed from within is part of the collection of lies that keep us all shackled to a system designed to divide and exploit us.Ultimately I let people down by not stating the core truth clearly enough: real anti-fascism isn’t about making Labour supporters comfortable. It’s about dismantling the structures that enable fascism. And Labour cannot be part of that fight.

Councillor Joe Salmon

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