Meet our candidates

Our general election candidates in Greenwich borough are Andy Hewett (Greenwich & Woolwich), Arthur Hayles (Eltham), and Marek Powley (Erith & Thamesmead). You can read more about them on the main Greenwich Green Party website.

For May’s council election, our first three candidates to be announced are all standing in Peninsula ward – east Greenwich, the Millennium Village and part of Charlton.

Darryl Chamberlain (Peninsula ward)

I was brought up next to the Woolwich Road flyover, and have lived in Greenwich and Charlton for most of my life. I’m standing because I hate seeing this area run down by a council which has become arrogant and which runs things for its own benefit, and not for the benefit of the people who live here. I worked for 10 years as a journalist on the BBC News website, before going freelance in 2009. In addition to campaigning for the Greens in Greenwich, I’m a Charlton Athletic season ticket holder (May’s going to be a big month for two reasons!) I also keep a blog, 853.

In my lifetime I’ve seen local businesses and services move out of the area. Labour, both nationally and locally, has favoured big business over local firms, retail parks over small shops, has presided over the near-wipeout of the local post office network. In its propaganda paper Greenwich Time, it paints a picture of smiling community activists and sparkling streets, but we know people feel they aren’t being listened to by a council which can’t even keep the roads clean. The Greens are for supporting local businesses,  local services, and helping the local environment.

There’s more to helping communities face the future than providing recycling bins. That’s why I joined the Greens, because they’re the only party that’ll defend local services and the environment.

Dave Sharman (Peninsula ward)

I was brought up in Lewisham, but worked for seven years in Nottingham and Sheffield. In 1984 I was planning a new course for Personnel Managers at Slough College. What sort of future would our mature students face? Clearly it needed to reflect long-term trends? Where were writers that addressed the future; and in that search I discovered the problem of ‘peak oil’ and ‘exponential growth’ in using up all our key resources. The planet was in a mess and is still living beyond its means. ‘The Seventh Enemy’ listed six destructive trends of staggering proportions, but seventh and most important was “apathy” – few of us were motivated to resist them!

The Green Party alone had considered these strategic issues and had holistic policies to match them. Other parties still believe in ‘greenwash’ policies – a compromise with our existing reality. Over time I have come to be suspicious of centralised approaches to government which are inflexible. The ‘small is beautiful’ philosophy puts the emphasis on decentralisation and local autonomy. It encourages the empowerment of local people rather than slow decision-making through bureaucratic procedures. .

The Greens seek to improve the quality of lives and use principles in supporting social justice, and helping the local environment. Both fairness and careful concern for the future are what I value in being green!

Marek Powley (Peninsula ward)

Candidate biography to come.