Political Career
Lynch is active in community politics in Finchley. He is also a founder member of The Archer, a community newspaper for the N2 area, and he founded the East Finchley Traders Association. He was on the Administrative Committee of the Finchley Society and spent six years as a voluntary adviser with the East Finchley Advice Centre. Before becoming a member of the London Assembly, he worked for the No-Euro campaign. In addition, he is the founder of an independent newspaper, London Green News.
Within the Green Party, Lynch founded the Green Party Trade Union Group and the London Internationals Group. He Chairs the London-Irish Green Group and the London Green Party Animal Rights Group.
Lynch was fourth on the Green Party's list of candidates for the Top-Up (Additional Member System) seats at the 2000 London Assembly elections (11 seats elected by proportional representation). Three Green Assembly Members - Cllr. Darren Johnson AM, Cllr. Jenny Jones AM and Victor Anderson - were elected to Top-Up seats. In May 2003, Anderson resigned and was replaced by Lynch. In the 2004 London Assembly election, the Green vote share in the top-up seats election fell from 11.1% in 2000 to 8.37% in 2004, meaning that the party lost their third seat, held by Lynch, leaving Johnson and Jones as the remaining members of the London Assembly Green Group.
As an Assembly Member, Lynch was a member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee, the Planning and Spatial Development Committee, the Health Committee and the Standards Committee (of which he was Chair). He focused on health issues, the homeless, GM crops, fluoride, the aged, disability issues and animal rights. He campaigned successfully to save Cricklewood Homeless Centre and improved the then fledging Patients Forum of the London Ambulance Service. He organised conferences in City Hall on GM Crops and Non-animal Medical Research. He wrote four papers - Where Have All the Local Shops Gone?, Plastic not Fantastic (against plastic bag waste), Toilets Going to Waste (on the decline in public toilets) and Keep Off the Grass - the Loss of London's Playing Fields. In addition, he asked 157 formal questions to the Mayor on a wide range of issues.
In 2003, Lynch was the Green Party's candidate at the Brent East by-election, securing 3.1% of the vote (638 votes) and coming fourth. He was the party's parliamentary candidate for the Finchley and Golders Green constituency, where he came fourth with 1136 votes (2.6%) in the General Election of 2005.
Lynch was third on the Green Party's list of candidates for the Top-Up (Additional Member System) seats at the 2008 London Assembly elections., but the Green Party did not receive enough votes to elect a third Assembly member. He is again third on the Green Party list for the London Assembly election, 2012.
Read more about this topic: Noel Lynch
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