Wandsworth Conservatives

Support for Boris Johnson has never been in doubt in this territory, but his arrival in Merton and Wandsworth on Monday was a truly great event.

Boris started his visit by joining an anti-Heathrow expansion protest with Justine Greening MP and a number of others including me right under the noisy flightpath at the Lennox Estate, Roehampton. We were not frustrated by any lack of deafening jumbo jets as we stood there with our banners - ”No to Heathrow Expansion”. A lot of local residents were there with us, very pleased to see that the future Mayor of London feels for their ears.

He then went on to visit one of Wandsworth’s highly successful “Hidden Homes”, valuable accommodation which has been created from unused spaces on the estates - former garages, pram sheds, drying areas etc. The current tenant of the property, who had previously been in a tower block with her young children, proudly showed her home to Boris. He was highly impressed by the innovative work of Wandsworth Council. We all wonder why the current  Mayor Livingstone can only pour scorn on the way these extra homes have been created.

Last, Boris went to a massive reception of supporters down by the River Thames at a Chinese restaurant in Battersea. The supporters were packed in to meet him, grasp his hand, and talk to him. The informal chat went on for about an hour before Boris spoke to the massed ranks, many standing in the overhead gallery. They cheered nearly every sentence as he spelt out his policies and his approach to change London from its present stagnant, tired and costly administration. He talked for about twenty minutes, and was then mobbed again as he moved towards the door to go home. Very many people there have since emailed and phoned me or stopped me in the street to say what a good night, what a lot of good serious policies, this man will make a great Mayor. Back Boris - join the Team. What do you think?    

You will have heard it before. Ken Livingstone and the Labour administration in London’s City Hall cost Londoners dearly. If you live in Merton, a quarter of your Council Tax goes to this Labour Mayor; if you live in Wandsworth, almost a half of your Council Tax goes to the Labour Mayor. Since Mayor Livingstone entered City Hall in 2000. he has increased the Council Tax by an extraordinary 153 per cent, while national inflation has yearly been  in low single figures.

This year, an election year, he has come up with a lower demand on our pockets, and his PR spin is that it will pay for more police officers. However, City Hall Conservatives have produced a ZERO increase which would deliver the same, or better protection.

The Conservative Group on the London Assembly has proposed “a budget for law and order”.  This includes an extra 500 warranted police officers on the beat to combat crime and gang warfare. This could be managed by diverting money from bureaucracy to front line services.  There would be no increase in the GLA part of Londoners’ council tax bills.

Conservative proposals are in stark contrast to those being put forward by Ken Livingstone.  

Our no-increase budget recognises the concerns Londoners have for rising violent crime.   In addition to the extra 500 warranted police officers we are also proposing 650 extra transport police, more safer neighbourhood teams, and increased use of CCTV.  In essence, we want less spin and more action in the fight against crime in London – and we demonstrate that this can be achieved without an automatic increase in the GLA tax.

That’s true Value for Money - and Boris Johnson and the rest of us are pledged to provide just that.

UPDATE 22nd February

Wandsworth Council has just announced a ZERO increase in the borough Council Tax for 2008/9. Unfortunately, taxpayers will however find their overall tax increasing - wholly because of the extra charge imposed by Mayor Livingstone. If only he could manage with the same skill and care for Londoners as Conservatives do.

I have spent some hours over the past two weeks visiting Underground stations and senior managers involved in the operations of the main services, the Northern and the District Lines, operating in Merton and Wandsworth, . Regularly, apart from my own experiences travelling on these lines, I hear from commuters that they have to endure crowded rush hour trains, long queues, and delays travelling to and from work. One of my priorities at the London Assembly and in Transport for London will be fairness and value for money for our commuters and more comfort and safety.

One of my visits was to the Tube Lines control centre of the engineering work on the Northern Line which runs north from Morden through stations up to Clapham South in the constituency. I emphasised to managers that vital station and escalator upgrades must be on time - and if possible happening before the due dates. Some stations like Morden have been improved, new escalators have been installed in Tooting, with Clapham South coming along shortly, but my demand to managers is that commuters must get much better service. The projections by Transport for London a few years ago were poor and barely took account of the massive growth in travellers, and these projections have been massively overtaken. I shall be watching the Northern Line management and improvements closely in coming months and years, and one key factor will be modern signalling to speed up trains and increase their numbers.

My other visit was to Earls’ Court and Fulham Broadway stations on the District Line on Wednesday evening when a Chelsea football match was being played at Stamford Bridge. Evening crowding on the busy Wimbledon-bound platforms at Earl’s Court is a constant problem for commuters, but this gets much worse some midweek evenings with the arrival of thousands of football fans. I, together with my colleague Elizabeth Howlett AM, watched with District Line managers as the delicate task went on, shepherding the hordes on and off trains. The platforms were very crowded as the build up progressed and it is vital that this is skilfully managed. Once again, I can see that the campaign must be for more capacity on trains, extra length, and modern signalling to allow more frequent trains to run. I shall be monitoring progress.

I am determined to work with the campaigns of my Parliamentary colleagues Justine Greening in Putney and Stephen Hammond in Wimbledon to improve the daily travelling experience of constituents.