With the local elections around the corner, major parties in Kingston have published manifestos on how they pledge to transform the borough over the next four years.

Voters will head to the polls on May 7 to choose who they want to represent them in the South London borough until 2030.

All 48 seats on Kingston Council will be up for grabs across the 19 wards in the borough. The Lib Dems have run the council for two terms since taking over from the Conservatives in 2018.

The Lib Dems, Conservatives and Labour are each standing 48 candidates in the election, while Reform UK is standing 42 candidates and The Green Party has put forward 41 candidates.

Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) has put forward 36 candidates, while three candidates from The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and two Independent councillors are also standing.

Lib Dems

Below are some of the key policies the Lib Dems have pledged in Kingston. You can read its full manifesto on its website.

Housing and cost of living

• Deliver a major programme of new council homes
• Investigate launching a housing scheme for care workers
• Improve accessibility in council homes

Environment and transport

advertisement

• Protect and improve parks and green spaces, including Tolworth Court Farm
• Establish an effective mechanism to manage Kingston's stretch of the River Thames
• Work towards borough-wide carbon neutrality by 2038
• Develop the Kingston District Heat Network to provide low-carbon heating for buildings
• Complete the conversion of streetlights to the most efficient LEDs
• Oppose Heathrow expansion
• Work with TfL and neighbouring councils to improve public transport
• Encourage rail firms to provide more secure cycle parking at train stations
• Campaign for step-free access at all train stations
• Link up the Cycle Network
• Improve Villiers Road recycling centre

Communities

• Expand school places for children with special educational needs
• Provide a new residential children's home for children in care with complex needs
• Expand youth services
• Expand accommodation options for care leavers
• Campaign for better health facilities in Kingston
• Launch an equalities, diversity and inclusion advisory board covering all nine
• protected characteristics
• Improve the borough's library offer
• Expand community hubs programme so residents can access services and enjoy events
• Improve CCTV
• Campaign for more neighbourhood policing
• Improve the leisure offer in parks and green spaces

Economy and finance

• Support high streets and shopping parades to thrive
• Improve job opportunities
• Provide more apprenticeships
• Be responsible with Kingston's finances
• Protect services for generations to come

Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG)

Below are some of the key policies KIRG has pledged in Kingston. You can read the full manifesto on their website.

Housing and cost of living

• Prioritise bringing empty homes back into immediate use
• Invest in new council homes
• Negotiate harder with developers for affordable homes
• Freeze council rents
• Appoint a tenants champion to make sure repairs are completed first time and strengthen HMO planning controls
• Expand hardship support so residents can access help quickly

Environment and transport

• Invest £2million over four years to improve parks, outdoor spaces and playgrounds
• Fix potholes within 48 hours of reporting
• Reopen closed vehicle routes, with Crescent Road and King Charles Road as first priorities
• Review all Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)
• Ban Experimental Traffic Management Orders (ETMOs) – all residents must be consulted on new traffic schemes
• Increase cycle parking around key train stations
• Improve street lighting
• Tackle fly-tipping through enforcement
• Bring back the community mega skip
• Deploy mobile CCTV in crime hotspots

Communities

• Protect elderly and young people
• Establish a child poverty office
• Support families through initiatives like baby boxes for new parents
• Review recent increases to care charges and make no further charges
• Open four new youth clubs
• Fund 12 extra police officers
• Introduce community safety wardens

Economy and finance

• Freeze council tax for those in receipt of council tax reduction
• Complete a root-and-branch review of Kingston's finances
• Cut wasteful consultancy spending
• Reduce councillor allowances by 10 per cent
• Redirect savings to frontline services

Labour

Below are some of the key policies Labour has pledged in Kingston. You can read the full manifesto on its website.

advertisement

Housing and cost of living

• Tackle housing crisis locally
• End the sale of key assets
• Improve security for private tenants
• Reduce the number of people in temporary accommodation or rough sleeping
• Campaign for the housing department to improve services to prevent tenants with mental health issues sliding into homelessness
• Embrace the council's role as community developer
• Reduce the cost of living where possible for families

Environment and transport

• Advocate for affordable and accessible transport
• Make allotments available on estates and small parcels of council land
• Explore opening up the Hogsmill River to create a continuous trail from Old Malden to where it meets the Thames in Kingston
• Make waste disposal fair by ensuring nobody is penalised if they canot afford bulky waste collection
• Protect and maintain Kingston's green spaces and oppose unsuitable development

Communities

• Support planning powers to limit density of fast food and vape shops near schools
• Work closely with schools to support students' mental health
• Make eliminating child poverty a key focus
• Lobby for more investment in Best Start Family Hubs to provide families with early years support
• Ensure all playgrounds are brought up to standard with accessible facilities
• Work with schools and community groups to provide activities for young people
• Invest in social care to reverse cuts and provide extra care packages for working age and older people living independently
• Work with Kingstonian FC to ensure the club can secure a permanent home back in the borough

Economy and finance

• Introduce participatory budgeting to give communities a direct say in how funding from developments and council resources are invested
• Bid for funds to bring extra investment into Kingston
• Support independent shops and small businesses by attracting footfall and strengthening local trade
• Bring empty units back into use for businesses, activities, cooperatives or community enterprises
• Launch a programme of community wealth building that keeps investment and economic benefits circulating locally
• Work with partners to improve public spaces and markets

Green Party

Below are some of the key policies the Green Party has pledged in St Mark's and Seething Wells – the ward it is particularly targeting in Kingston. You can read the full pledges on its website.

Environment and transport

• Work for a solution to restore the Seething Wells filter beds and open them for use by local people
• Improve maintenance of parks and green spaces
• Require new developments to increase on-site biodiversity by a net of 15 per cent
• Call for tougher regulation of e-bike hire companies
• Push for improvements in air quality, particularly on routes to school, by extending School Streets
• Maintain bus routes
• Make walking routes safe
• Make sure roads are cycle friendly, including cracking down on the illegal use of cycle lanes by mopeds
• Plan properly for the increase in electric vehicles, making sure there are enough charging points to meet everyone's needs
• Support the scrapping of the Zone system for train travel

Communities

• Work with the Met Police to address concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour on streets and buses
• Campaign for greater police presence in the town centre
• Stop GP surgeries from being overloaded
• Advocate for greater support of local public health
• Support local pharmacists
• Press for the council to properly back community groups which help children with special educational needs
• Hold regular events to listen to young people's views and advocate for them
• Use consultations to genuinely find out what people think, rather than to rubber stamp council decisions

Conservatives

The national Conservatives party has set out key priorities for the local elections across the country. We have summarised these below, which you can read in full on its website.

Housing and cost of living

• Launch Cheap Power Plan to cut energy bills for families and businesses
• Scrap stamp duty on family homes

Environment and transport

• Mandate police to stop e-bikes being ridden on pavements
• Fix potholes

Communities

• Hire 10,000 new police officers
• Triple stop and search on people to take knives and drugs out of neighbourhoods
• Tell police they must stop drugs being smoked in public spaces
• Launch Immediate Justice sentences for offenders to repair damage
• Deliver better public services
• Run better schools

Economy and finance

• Abolish business rates
• Back businesses and high streets
• Cut Britain's welfare bill

Reform UK

Reform has not published a manifesto for Kingston. However, at a rally in Leeds in March, leader Nigel Farage promised that if his party took control of more authorities in May, it would ensure lower council tax rises than councils run by other parties.

Nationally, Reform has also said it will place mass immigration detention centres in areas where people voted for a Green Party council or a Green MP, while keeping them out of areas that vote Reform.

The party also said it would make it mandatory for schools to display the Union Flag and a picture of The King.