In the first of a series of interviews with councillors for the Liverpool Greens, the local party’s press officer Stuart Borthwick sat down with Martyn Madeley, who represents residents in the Greenbank Park ward in the South of the city.
Martyn Madeley (Greenbank Park Ward)
Martyn Madeley is a busy man. Not content with representing Greenbank Park and working for a local materials analysis company, I am forced to meet him in a local café as he is deep in work on a run-down house he is renovating. “We’ve got to meet here, because I’ve had to temporarily put all of my chairs into the garden as some of them have got woodworm and I’m now replacing the flooring.”
Moving on to his role in his ward, Martyn talks about how his green principles influence both his activism and his work representing the local community. “I believe in making sustainable choices in everyday life, for example through the promotion of and support for active travel. In general, I joined the Green Party as I saw it as the only party prepared to devolve power to the local community. One of my key roles is to make sure the voices of residents are heard at council level. When it comes to decision-making in the Council chamber, I try to ensure that the council is led by the science and makes decisions that benefit the health and wellbeing of everyone in Liverpool.”
Martyn has represented the Greenbank Park ward since the 2023 retirement of long-standing Green councillor Lawrence Brown, who had represented the ward for over ten years. Since his election, Martyn has enjoyed engaging with a range of local issues, including ensuring that the owners of ‘HMOs’ (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) are responsible landlords, with Martyn believing that a thriving community requires a mixture of housing.
As a grassroots councillor, Martyn also acknowledges that addressing smaller issues such as parking can have a big impact on the lives of those in the local area. There is a particular issue with litter in the ward and sometimes skips and builders waste make the place look untidy, so Martyn liaises with landlords and Liverpool Streetscene (the Council’s refuse and recycling subsidiary) to address this. A quick recent win was at the University of Liverpool’s Halls of Residence on Greenbank Road where he split costs with the University to fund a new street bin. In general, Martyn says, “I am keen to work with the local Universities to ensure that there are good relations between students and locals.”
In discussing the area he represents, Martyn notes, “there are pockets of deprivation in what is sometimes seen as an affluent ward, so I try to ensure that those with disabilities and the elderly are empowered to lobby for improvements to their community”. Specifically, Martyn contacts groups of residents regularly and is keen to ensure that all communities and age groups are able to be included in local activities. In the South of his ward in Mossley Hill, Martyn is working with the local residents association regarding the a plan to build more than a hundred dwellings on the site of the old Carnatic Halls, “this involves liaising with the developer and lobbying them to ensure that the plan is suitable for the local community”. One success that Martyn has had is to ensure that the current plan includes public access, a new green space and cycle storage facility, linking in to his enthusiasm for active travel.
Elsewhere, Martyn has been able to use Neighbourhood Fund cash to support a local scheme to provide free books to children while also funding chess lessons in schools (with other local councillors). “I’ve provided funding and support for a poetry and music event at the Smithdown Social Arts Club. This involves poets reading their work to the accompaniment of local musicians. The event itself was really good, with the participants launching a compendium of poems in both print and as an audio book.”
Ending our chat, Martyn’s thoughts turned from the local with the global, expressing the view that local councillors can also have a role in international politics. In particular, Martyn is proud of his role in November 2023 when in partnership with other opposition leaders, he submitted a council motion to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and gave his first council speech on the issue. On this, Martyn says, “it is essential that every elected politician takes a stand strongly in support of international law. I am proud that Liverpool City Council took the decision to unanimously stand on the right side of history and send a clear message to our government, to our allies and to the people of Gaza.”
October 2024