Councillors are negotiating with the City Council and British Waterways to allow a residents group to take over management of the land.

Cllr Dave Brookes said: “The site is currently an eyesore and attracts anti-social behaviour. It is a shame that it has been allowed to get into this state, but with some work it could be an enjoyable space for local residents and users of the towpath alike.”

Across England and Wales we gained 4 Council seats overall (18 holds, 8 gains and 4 losses), bringing our total to around 134 councillors on 44 councils. Greens fielded a total of 943 candidates (up 13% since last equivalent elections), with at least 1 candidate in 74% of all eligible boroughs. In the London mayoral elections, Green candidate Jenny Jones came a 3rd out of 7 candidates,beating the Lib Dem candidate. She gained 4.48% of first preference votes, squeezed in a close-run contest between Ken and Boris (Boris won, but only just).

In Scotland we now have 14 Green Councillors, including 5 Greens in Glasgow (more than the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats combined). In the North West

-congratulations to Sarah Jennings for holding her seat on Liverpool City Council in St Michael’s ward with 54% of the vote

-commiserations to Pat Cleary who narrowly missed out (again!) on gaining a seat in Birkenhead & Tranmere ward in Wirral, but he closed the gap even further, gaining a whopping 41% of the votes in that ward. Labour held the seat by a slim majority of 259 votes.

- Greens also came second in St Aidans ward (Carlisle) and in South Swinton ward (Salford) – well done to the candidates John Reardon and Joe O’Neill.!

 -well done John Coyne for coming 4th in the Liverpool Mayoral Election (out of 12 candidates), with the seat being won by Labour. Our vote share was 5.25%, beating the Conservatives and far-right parties, and saving our deposit.

Next year there will be County Council elections in Lancashire and Cumbria.

For more details about gains/holds/losses see the national Green Party website

Next meeting on Thursday  23rd May will however be at the Dukes Cinema for the Climate Caravan festival film at 7.30 followed by a drink in the bar.

“I am absolutely delighted with the news. Local people have always known that this was an immensely important woodland area and now it has been officially recognised. To have 74 people support the Tree Preservation Order was an incredible effort from local residents. And well done to the Council for recognising this and standing firm in the face of Bermuda-based developers.”

However the fight to save Freemans Wood is not over.

While the decision was unanimous this was only after Greens managed to face down the possibility of a legal challenge to the city council process of serving the TPO notices on the landowners and neighbours and a suggestion that it had  grounds for a high court appeal.

But we are not out of the woods yet .. the TPO does not prevent the developers applying for planning permission for Housng on the site [and it is a designated Brown field site.] The TPO mean that the trees are now a material consideration in any planning decision .

Green Councillors  will continue to  support local community members to ensure that  development of Freeman’s Wood is protected.

Please see reports and ways to support the campaign on this on

Virtual Lancaster,

Friends of Freeman’s wood,

Freeman’s Wood Facebook page.

The recent Full Council meeting was presented with argument and evidence by Greens (which referred to exempt ‘commercially confidential’ information and so cannot be published, natch) about the latest Canal Corridor proposals. However –  good news is that most councillors voted to defer a decision to approve the revised development agreement between Centros and the city council, overturning the decision at cabinet in March. And note this. The meeting minutes state that it was

‘Resolved:

(1) That all Councillors should have sight of the full agreement and other relevant

terms before making a decision.

(2) That the revised development agreement be referred to full Council for ratification

after it has been negotiated.’

The bad news first: unbelievably, the bins promised by British Waterways have still not been located on the towpath, even though it’s a matter of carrying them only 20m at most from where they currently sit. (The council is not allowed to go on to BW’s land to do this for health and safety reasons). We continue to try.

More happily, Sam and Andrew litter-picked Dry Dock, guerrilla-style, last month; and the towpath litter-pick on Easter Saturday was really well-supported by local people. Look over the north side of Ridge bridge (Ambleside Rd side) to see what a difference Han made! Thanks everyone who helped.