David Floyd talks to Woodhouse ward candidate Charli Thompson

A group of people celebrating and holding political banners — Green leader Zack Polanski with Barnet activists (Credit – Anna Mahtani)

The Green Party is riding high in national polls but, while former Labour councillor Linda Lusingu became its first representative at the town hall in February, it has never had a councillor elected in Barnet.

Charli Thompson is one of the party’s candidates in Woodhouse ward, understood locally to be the party’s prime target. Discussing the change the party hopes to bring to the borough she says: “We want to make decision making in the council much more open and give a lot more power to residents to have a say in what happens in Barnet.”

“We just feel that the other parties are not willing to shake things up and actually really change things. They’re quite happy to manage the status quo and tinker around the edges but we really want to do things differently.”

Many will find the radical talk appealing but is it really possible when the council is so cash strapped? Thompson thinks so. Particularly in one of her key focus areas. She says: “In adult social care, I can certainly say that a lot can be improved within existing budgets.”

An improved approach to care, she explains, “will be about shaping provision around people’s needs and having flexibility in that”.

“At the moment, it just doesn’t work. And actually, it’s leading to further crises and it’s costing more money.”

Barnet Greens have a strong track record of both highlighting gaps in housing provision and opposing new developments, with Thompson herself a major figure in campaigning against the Great North Leisure Park development.

Is there a route to getting the kind of housing that the Green feel local residents want? Thompson says: “There’s a housing crisis for affordable homes, particularly social and council homes.”

The problem with current plans is: “They’re saying, this is what we’re going to give you. And we know that these types of developments end up, a lot of them not sold, sitting empty, bought by investors from other countries. They’re not housing people, local people.”

“We know that there’s a need to build, but not at the scale and the type that is being built at the moment.”

In recent weeks, the Greens have faced controversy and criticism (including from the Jewish Greens group) after a motion was put to the party’s conference declaring Zionism to be racism.

Thompson condemns antisemitic attacks in the borough: “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community. There’s been some horrendous attacks recently on the Jewish community in Barnet and it’s really scary.”

However, she is uncomfortable when addressing the issue of the controversial motion: “We have a broad Jewish constituency within our membership. We have Zionist Jews in our membership and we have anti-Zionist Jews in our membership.

“The motion that you’re talking about wasn’t debated at the last conference. And it will be debated at some point. And our party is a democratic party.”

As polling day approaches, does Thompson think the Greens will end up leading the council? “I mean, I’d love to say yes.

“But I think realistically, we would love to see a good number of Green councillors elected. We would love to be able to hold whoever leads the council to account from within the chamber.”

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