Kieran Turner ~ Green Party Candidate for Todmorden Ward May 2024

Kieran and his wife have settled in Todmorden after falling for the area when choosing a place to get married. They were particularly interested in the many enthusiastic community organisations.
A long-term activist on Green issues, Kieran stood for the Green Party in the snap General Election in 2017. During the campaign he was impressed by the unselfishness of the topics raised by residents on the doorstep. He strongly feels that the best way to take forward the social and environmental issues that matter in Todmorden is to have a Green voice in Calderdale Council.
There is an urgent need to shake up local administration and introduce politics that listen, and respond to local residents. Local authorities need to move towards protecting, conserving, and improving our local assets, working together with the creativity and energy of the community, putting people first. They must use their resources to support such groups and local initiatives, and stop struggling to provide services that are all too often dictated by the commercial demands of large, national property developers and other commercial interests.
An important example in the Calder Valley is the amount spent on flood defence work. Whilst vital, this expenditure will never end while planning consent continues to be given to ill-advised swathes of concrete and poorly-sited new housing developments. Green Party examination of the local plan has revealed a tremendous amount of blighted brownfield wasteland that could be put to attractive and practical uses, which is ignored by property developers because it does not suit their greedy economies of scale.
If elected, Kieran would seek to work in an unprejudiced manner with all parties at the Council, ensuring that residents’ voices, together with Green ideas, were present in every subject area. He would prioritise great communications with Todmorden’s residents and organisations, and encourage as many people as possible to get involved and regain the influence in their local authority that is their right.