A man from Colliers Wood is aiming to be picked by the Green Party as its candidate for the Mayor of London.

Taxi driver Tom Walsh has been a member of the Green Party for 13 years and is already well known in the area as chairman of the Colliers Wood Residents' Association (CWRA).

He has represented the interests of his community on a number of issues the most recent being the successful campaign to prevent a development on the Nissan site in Colliers Wood High Street.

However he will be up against stiff opposition in the race to secure the Green Party card.

London Assembly member and male principal speaker for the Green Party Darren Johnson will be standing again this year after being picked as the party's candidate for the 2000 election.

Mr Walsh will also be competing against Green Party home affairs speaker Hugo Charlton and London Assembly member Jenny Jones, who is the mayor's road safety ambassador.

But Mr Walsh, who lives in Park Road with his wife and two teenage children, believes he has a fighting chance by aiming to ensure Londoners currently disenchanted with politics will have a bigger role in the decision-making process.

He said: "I want to tell party members that if they choose me as their mayoral candidate, I will use these opportunities to address the disenchantment of the public as much as to publicise our policies.

"I believe Londoners do want to hear about our policies and our sustainable solution to London's problems, but they also need to know they have a role in those solutions."

The deadline for completed ballot papers is May 3 with the decision announced two days later.

This will give the victor a year to campaign against candidates from other parties for the GLA mayoral election in 2004.

April 30, 2003 11:30