Peter has been selected as the Green Candidate for the Liberton/Gilmerton By-election taking place on the 9th September 2010

Peter said: “We need to protect vital public services, and only Greens have consistently opposed cuts to these services. Electing a Green Councillor will send a clear signal that public services are valuable and must be defended.

“The Council must tackle inequality in Edinburgh and prioritise quality of life over short term thinking. We can make Edinburgh the best place to live in the UK, and that means putting people first.”

Peter  is a community activist. Originally from Belfast, he has lived in Edinburgh for 10 years and has worked in public affairs and the voluntary sector. He has been active in the Portobello Transition Town – PEDAL since its creation, and has a particular interest in community ownership and land reform.

While at University, Peter was President of the People and Planet Society and was elected to take a year out of his degree to act as Vice President of the Students’ Association (EUSA). He was instrumental in the introduction of measures promoting Fair Trade that increased UK Fair Trade coffee consumption by 2% and to promote ethical investment of Edinburgh University’s resources.

Peter lives in Portobello with his partner, Maggie, and is currently  Co-Convener of the Edinburgh Green Party. Previously he worked in campaigns and communications, including four years working for Mark Ballard MSP. Peter has recently become Chair of Transition Scotland Support, an organisation devoted to supporting Scotland’s Transition Towns movement.

Greens’ Planning spokesperson Cllr. Steve Burgess said;

“This was an inappropriate development for the Old Town, demolishing listed buildings to make way for a 5-star hotel and a conference centre. Local people have had a long struggle against these proposals and they should be congratulated for standing firm.

“When UNESCO visited Edinburgh recently one of the concerns they reported was about the extent to which the local community had been consulted about the Caltongate proposals. I hope now a proposal for this important site will be developed that is far more suitable.”

Robin was born in 1940 in Thurso, Caithness, and is a graduate of both Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities. He taught English in Kenya, then Modern Studies at Boroughmuir before entering Parliament. He took part in the 1959 Aldermaston March against nuclear weapons, and joined the Ecology Party (as the Green Party was then) in 1985, the same day the French secret service sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour. He has been enthusiastically involved for what seems like every day of his life since.

He has served as the Scottish Green Party’s Principal Speaker and then Co-Convenor until 2008. He sits on Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee, and supports many of the Parliament’s Cross Party Groups, particularly the CPG Renewables and Energy Efficiency, CPG Architecture, CPG Learning Disability, and the CPG Children and Young People.

Between 2000 and 2003 Robin served as Rector of Edinburgh University, and between 2005 and 2008 as Rector of Aberdeen University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and both President and a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society for the Arts.

Robin is a patron or a member of the Board of five arts organisations: Communicado; Sounds of the Future; the Savoy Theatre; the Aberdeen University Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the Forth Children’s Theatre, and previously served on the boards of WHALE Arts and the Traverse Theatre.

He is a keen musician, playing the guitar and the trumpet, including with the Scottish Parliament’s Brass Ensemble. He is a moderate Munro-bagger, and has run five Edinburgh marathons as well as the Glasgow and London marathons.

Green Scotland: Making it Happen

Edinburgh is proud to be hosting this years Scottish Green Party Conference. It’s the biggest Green gathering of the year, with activists and members from every corner of Scotland.

Join us to hear:

• Former MEP and now the UK’s first ever Green MP, Caroline Lucas
• Robin Harper, with his final conference address as a MSP
• Green co-leader, Patrick Harvie
• Leading land reform campaigner, Andy Wightman

Book Now!

New Members Discount 50%.

Book Now! Members Booking Form

Book before 22nd October to avoid surchage

Exhibitors & Observers

The Scottish Green Party welcomes like-minded organisations and individuals as observers, hosts of fringe meetings or exhibitors. See here for further information and bookings.

The call by Green Councillor Steve Burgess to make representation to HM Government came at this morning’s meeting of the Council’s Transport Infrastructure & Environment Committee and after an amendment received cross-party backing [2].

Cllr Burgess, the Greens’ Environment spokesperson said; ” A large oil spill in the Forth Estuary, devastating our local environment and economy is unthinkable. So it’s vital that the Council makes this view known to the UK Government in the strongest possible terms.

“Particularly given what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s outrageous that the new UK Government has seen fit to bow to oil-industry pressure to stop the ban on ship-to-ship transfers coming into force.

“There was widespread national opposition to this back in 2007 and nothing’s changed except that there’s a new Government at Westminster whose environmental credentials are clearly suspect.”

“Unfortunately, my proposal that the Council Leader write to the Prime Minister was not supported by the LibDem led Administration. Perhaps the Leader would have been more comfortable writing to her party colleague the Deputy PM. However it’s good that there will now at least be a representation made to UK Ministers.”

NOTES:

1. Following a proposal by SPT Marine Services in 2005 to begin ship to ship transfers of oil in the Forth, environmental concerns about potential oil spills and a campaign led eventually to opposition to the proposal in the Scottish Parliament in 2007. In April 2010, before the general election, regulations (reserved to Westminster) were laid before Parliament to ban ship-to-ship transfers outside harbours in UK waters. The new laws were due to come into force in October. However, following industry pressure the coalition UK Government has announced that the regulations are being put on hold while a new consultation is launched.

2 . CEC Transport, Infrastructure & Environment Committee , July 27; Item 8.10 Ship to Ship Transfers of Oil in the Forth

- motion by Councillor Burgess (as amended by the LibDem/SNP Administration to delete that the Council Leader would not write to the Prime Minister)

With the first agenda for the Scottish Green Party Conference having been recently released, we devoted this meeting to discussion of these motions, and how they might be improved.   Members were able to to move freely between open space discussions on;

• Incineration of Medicines
• Homeopathy
• Alcohol and Public Health
• The SGP Constitution
• Political Cooperation
• Palestine/Israel

The chance to discuss motions with other members led to some great ideas. Members can now, if they wish, submit amendments to motions before early September.

Don’t worry if you missed this meeting, any Scottish Green Party member can propose amendments – you can find all the motions and details on the SGP Members Site.

Conference

Motions and amendments will be discussed and voted on by the  Scottish Green Party conference in the autumn.  This years conference takes place in Edinburgh, on the 6th & 7th November 2010.  There’s substantial discount for booking early, and a generous half price offer for new members – so do book before the 31st of July!

Next Meeting

And finally, a reminder that there’s no branch meeting in August. The next branch meeting will take place from 7.30pm on the 23rd September 2010, at the Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace.

Peter is a community activist. Originally from Belfast, he has lived in Edinburgh for 10 years and has worked in public affairs and the voluntary sector. He has been active in the Portobello Transition Town – PEDAL since its creation, and has a particular interest in community ownership and land reform.

Peter has recently become Chair of Transition Scotland Support, an organisation devoted to supporting Scotland’s Transition Towns movement.

Read more about Peter McColl>