A documentary about Minster Marshes its importance and its wildlife will be released in the autumn. Click here to watch video trailer

campaign to stop sealink destroying the marshes

The National Grid Sealink will be the largest electricity converter station in Europe. They propose to site it on the Minster Marshes close to the Minster Stream and River Stour devastating a unique and irreplaceable natural habitat.

The development will be 28 meters tall (the height of a 10 storey building) covering a huge 9 hectares (22 acres), within meters of Hackling Marshes Site of Special Scientific interest, known for its Nightingales and red listed species.

Learn more about the Save Minster Marshes campaign go the website here.

The campaign now has the support of both of Thanet’s MPs, Roger gale and Polly Billington. And Ms Billington has made a joint statement with Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the MP for Suffolk coastal the northern end of the Sealink project, calling for the National Grid to think again about the environmental consequences of the scheme.

get involved

If you believe that Minster Marshes should be saved, that nature matters, that unique and sensitive habitats should be preserved make sure that you have registered so that your voice can be heard.

Relevant representations can be made using the online form which will be available on the website – minstermarshes.com – or by requesting a hard copy form via our project email address southeastanglialink@planninginspectorate.gov.uk or by calling 0303 444 5000.

But please note. This is ONLY if you haven’t already submitted a ‘relevant representation’. If you’ve already sent in your comments, they’ll be considered and you can’t add to them at this stage.

All completed registration forms must be received by the Planning Inspectorate before the close of the deadline at 23.59 on 18th August 2025.

Please note that if you wish to provide any attachments to your online relevant representation registration form, these must be sent to the above email address before the above deadline.

If you have any questions, please contact the Sea Link Case Team at the email address or contact number above.

The post SAVE MINSTER MARSHES: LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY! CONSULTATION CLOSES MONDAY 18TH AUGUST. appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

***CONSULTATION DEADLINE EXTENDED***

Today the Planning Inspectorate reopened the opportunity for people to register as Interested Parties for the Sea Link project because there was an error in the application.

The link will go live from Friday 18 July 2025 and closes at 23:59pm Monday 18 August 2025.

***IMPORTANT***

This is ONLY if you haven’t already submitted a ‘relevant representation’. If you’ve already sent in your comments, they’ll be considered and you can’t add to them at this stage.

Relevant representations can be made using the online form which will be available on the website – minstermarshes.com – from Friday 18 July 2025, or by requesting a hard copy form via our project email address southeastanglialink@planninginspectorate.gov.uk or by calling 0303 444 5000.

All completed registration forms must be received by the Planning Inspectorate before the close of the deadline.

Please note that if you wish to provide any attachments to your online relevant representation registration form, these must be sent to the above email address before the above deadline.

If you have any questions, please contact the Sea Link Case Team at the email address or contact number above.

The post SAVE MINSTER MARSHES: CONSULTATION DEADLINE EXTENDED appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanksi visited Ramsgate on March 23 to help the Thanet Green Party launch its county council election campaign.

Thanet Green Party, along with representatives from Dover and Deal Green Party, welcomed Zack to their launch at Ellington Park.

An energised positive campaign

“We’re running an energised, positive campaign across Thanet, aiming to get the first Green County Councillors elected in Thanet.

“People we’ve already spoken to on the doorstep are telling us that they’re tired of the old two party system that’s made little difference to their lives over the last few years and they want councillors who work hard all year, who listen to residents and who will prioritise what’s best for their communities.”

The post ELECTIONS: GREENS CAMPAIGNING HARD FOR THANET’S SEATS ON KENT COUNTY COUNCIL appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski (right) with Thanet Green Party councillor and KCC candidate Mike Garner

In an interview on BBC 5 Live, ahead of the Spring statement tomorrow, Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski said: “The government are looking to cut £5-6bn from disability benefits… they’re also talking today about taking infant school meals off the table.”

“So why are they looking to protect the wealth of multi-millionaires and billionaires at the same time as targeting or cutting money from those people who really desperately need it, or where there’s very clear evidence that this enriches and improves people’s lives?

“This is ultimately about political choices. And at every single possibility, it feels like this Labour government is taking the wrong political choices.” 

Follow Zack on Instagram @greenpartyzack

The post LABOUR’S PLANNED CUTS – MAKING THE POOREST PAY appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

I’m delighted to announce that I will be the Green Party’s candidate in my home town of Broadstairs for the KCC elections on Thursday May 1st.

I’ve been a hard-working District & Town Councillor in Broadstairs since 2019 & this year have also been Chair of the Town Council and the town’s Mayor and believe I’m well placed to best represent my hometown on Kent County Council. 

Among my priorities are:

Education – During the last year, I’ve visited many of the town’s schools and am familiar with many of the issues they face due, in part, to continued cuts in their budgets. I will be campaigning to make sure spending is both protected and increased.

Road Safety – As the number of serious accidents on the streets of Broadstairs increases, improving road safety is also a high priority for me.

Sarah Thorne Theatre – Another key issue for me is to stop KCC’s plans to sell the only theatre in Broadstairs, the Sarah Thorne. It’s a multi-use venue that, as well as attracting touring companies from around the country, enables local theatre and music groups to put on performances and cannot be sold for development.

If you have any questions for me or want to help the campaign your welcome to stop me if you see me in town, drop me an email at greenmikegarner@gmail.com or contact me via messenger. #getgreenselected #broadstairs #kentcountycouncil

I am happy and proud to announce that I will be standing in my Ramsgate, alongside Thea Barrett, as a Green Party candidate for the KCC elections on Thursday May 1st. Together we are a fabulous mix of experience and youth. 

I have already been working hard as a District & Town Councillor since 2019 and so will be a strong ‘voice’ representing residents in Ramsgate and Thanet as we move towards an East Kent unitary authority. 

Key priorities at county level include:

Key Services – Saving and expanding services, we cannot allow children’s, youth, health and care services to be cut. Every effort for example, must be made to keep the Pie Factory Youth Centre open and ensure GP provision increases. 

Road Safety – Making our roads safer, especially for pedestrians. Expanding 20mph zones, increasing safe crossing places and slowing traffic around schools and ‘accident hotspots’ is essential given our high crash data. 

Recycling, waste and rubbish – Improving access to waste and recycling for those without transport as well as the removal of rubbish along our highways. 

Economic Growth – Greater focus on small, medium size businesses and our town centres as they face great change, while increasing opportunities for our young to benefit from employment, further education or training. 

Environment – Seek ways to enhance our open spaces, verges and streets as well as seek and implement alternatives to the use of weedkiller containing glyphosate in our communities. 

If you would like further information or to discuss any issue, then please contact me via: greenbeckywing@gmail.com or via messenger.

The post SAVE THE DAY! KCC ELECTIONS 1ST MAY – OUR CANDIDATES appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Responding to last week’s “milestones” speech by the Prime Minister, Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay, said, 

“These milestones aren’t a clear route to real change. Today’s listicle, while pointing in the right direction on a handful of issues, is missing the wholesale ambition and drive that a government elected on a change agenda needs. 

We have a country reeling from severe flooding and facing more storms this weekend, a country where people are struggling to heat their homes this winter, and a country worried about finding the school places and doctor appointments that those they love need. 

Instead of listing out a few priorities, suggesting that these will be delivered at the expense of other important issues, we wanted today to see a gear change in this government where they accept that we need to ask the very richest to pay more tax so we could properly fund all our frontline public services.”

The post Starmer’s milestones not a route to real change, say Greens appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Poll finds majority want to prosecute polluters

Nobody really wants to swim through sewage so the result of a new poll is not a big surprise. But the huge majority of 83% in favour of legal action against polluting water companies shows the power of public feeling.

More than 8 in 10 Britons support the  setting of legally binding targets to reduce the amount of sewage spilled into waterways according to the latest Ipsos poll for the Financial Times.

More and more people are realising the scale of the of the sewage scandal, of how the privatised water companies looted the water industry, sinking the water companies under huge debts, paying out vast dividends while allowing vital infrastructure to collapse. In 2023 there were 464,056 sewage spills , according to the Environment Agency, a 54% increase on the previous year.

Since the industry was privatised in thre Tory fire sale of public assets more than 30 years ago investors have withdrawn £85.2bn from 10 water and sewage firms in England and Wales, analysis by the University of Greenwich suggests. That is £85.2 that has gone into investors ‘pockets’ rather being invested in the water industry we all  depend on.

Public services owned by the public for the public

The Green Party is the only party to pledge to return the water industry to public ownership. as Green Party candidate Steve Roberts put it, “Privatisation has failed. Dividends are paid to shareholders while infrastructure is run into the ground, we all know how privatisation of the water companies worked out. The Green Party is committed to the public ownership of public services, so they are run to serve us all, rather than to increase the wealth of shareholders.”

vote hope. vote change. vote green.

The post Majority want to use the law to stop the sewage. appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Steve Roberts lives in Broadstairs where he is a town councillor.  He began his career as a nurse and now works as a trainer in social care.

why you should vote for steve

“I’m Steve. I’ve lived in Broadstairs for over 9 years. I love Thanet, the beaches, the character and resilience of the community.  It’s a wonderful place but has many challenges. As your MP I’d work hard to address those and fight for what matters to Thanet and the country.

As a longstanding health and social care professional, I’m passionate about rebuilding an NHS free at point of delivery, defending it from creeping privatisation and joining it up properly with social care. The Green Party has just released its policy on the NHS and it’s transformational.

The Green Party believes should be public services in public hands – so I’d work to bring privatised companies back into public ownership, so profits can go into infrastructure and better services and not into shareholders’ pockets. This would stop water companies dumping sewage in our seas and only the Greens have the courage to commit to this.

I’d push for affordable, secure and comfortable homes for everyone – and it’s Green Party policy to insulate all new builds and retrofit insulation to older homes so we can keep bills down and reduce carbon emissions.

Fourteen years of Tory austerity have left this country in a parlous state, everything is in disrepair from health to education to the potholes in the roads. Greens oppose austerity as it only creates a declining spiral. We believe we must invest to thrive. We’d make corporations pay their fair share of tax, levy a 1% wealth tax on billionaires and tax unearned income from assets at the same rate as income tax.

Now isn’t the time for compromise. For real hope and real change vote Green.”

VOTE HOPE. VOTE CHANGE. VOTE GREEN.

The post Steve Roberts Green Party candidate for East Thanet appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

Across the country one of the biggest issues, if not the biggest, is the state of the National Health Service.  “Our NHS is at breaking point following 14 years of underfunding.” said Green Co-Leader Adrian Ramsey, “Patients are stuck in hospital corridors, people can’t see their GP or NHS dentist when they need to and staff are severely overstretched.

“Greens believe passionately in the NHS and we are the only party to be honest with the public that it’s going to cost money to nurse the NHS back to health after 14 years of Conservative damage.

“Not just by shifting a small pot around, but by asking the very richest in our society to pay a modest amount more in tax to fund the investment we need to nurse the NHS back to health.

“Our plans are credible, deliverable and fully funded.

“With the political will and a fairer, greener tax system we can offer real hope and real change for the NHS we all treasure.

“With more Greens in the next Parliament we will press the new government to take the action needed to restore our NHS.”

Heart breaking decline

Costed and funded

The full details of the funding for the plans will be presented in the Green Manifesto but speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme Adrian outlined the key ideas.  Firstly a “modest”wealth tax aimed at millionaires and billionaires, second a windfall tax on the vast profits currently being made by fossil fuels corporations and thirdly a change to capital gains tax to bring the tax paid on earnings from assets in to line with the tax paid on earnings from work.  The Greens estimate that these measures could bring in £50 billion by the end of the next parliament. Read the full press release HERE.

The post Green Plans to Nurse the NHS appeared first on Thanet Green Party.

The ‘Stop Burning Trees Coalition’ took to the streets this week (5th March) outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to demand an end to government funding for electricity generation by tree burning polluters.

Biomass energy generation has been touted as a green way of generating electricity from waste wood products. In practice it is anything but sustainable. Some years ago, an Ofgem Audit found that Discovery Park Commercial Biomass was burning wood harvested from old growth forests in Latvia and Estonia.

A recent Panorama programme has exposed this behaviour in the commercial biomass industry. Drax, which runs Britain’s biggest power station and  receives billions of pounds in green energy subsidies from UK taxpayers, is cutting down environmentally-important forests to produce wood pellets which are then classed as renewable. The BBC discovered that some of the wood comes from primary forests in Canada that have taken thousands of years to develop.

Absolutely insane

Ecologist Michelle Connolly said “It’s really a shame that British taxpayers are funding this destruction with their money. Logging natural forests and converting them into pellets to be burned for electricity, that is absolutely insane”.

Drax has already received £6bn in green energy subsidies, and is to receive even more to build a carbon capture and sequestration plant. If these sums had been instead used to build solar and wind farms these would have produced far more electricity for much less CO2 generation, and in the process reduce our electricity bills and improve our energy security.

The case for small scale biomass

Small scale biomass clearly has its place on farms, where extracting excess wood through good woodland management can both increase biodiversity of woodland, extract quality timber and use the remaining wood for biomass. Even better is to leave the remaining wood to decompose and add to the soil biome and mycorrhizal life of the woodland,  creating life for a diverse range of species in wood habitat piles.

Farmers with woodland could actually gain by using additional wood cuttings to create biochar (a charcoal-like wood product). Crumbled and put into the soil biochar increases soil carbon sequestration and improves soil structure and vitality.

The Green response

The Green Party supports and encourages practices like these that look at the whole solution for the benefit of people, biodiversity and the planet’s health, rather than provide public money to industries hiding behind the fig-leaf of greenwashing.

Steve Roberts, Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Thanet East commented that ‘It is shocking that timber from old growth forest is not only being burned to create energy, it is being shipped to Kent and burned on our doorstep. It is disgraceful that this practice has been funded by the UK government’.

When will the three main parties finally admit their support of Commercial Biomass was wrong?

The post Stop Burning Trees! Why burning wood to generate electricity is not sustainable. appeared first on Thanet Green Party.