Dear Neighbour
Over the last four years our borough has been led by our local Labour team.
These are challenging times but there’s much we’ve done: we’ve hired the best lawyers and health advisers in the country to join our fight to save Charing Cross Hospital. We’ve put the largest amount of council-funded police onto the streets in our borough’s history and we are the only administration in London to cut council tax over the last four years.
We know people sometimes think politicians are all the same and we understand why. But since our residents elected us into office in 2014 we have been striving to prove we’re different - by our deeds, not words.
Here on May 3 there is a real and stark choice. For many decades now our borough has only ever elected Labour or Conservative councillors.
The Conservatives are hoping you’ll forget what they did last time, so they can do it all again. So just a quick reminder of some of the things Conservative councillors did when they ran Hammersmith & Fulham just 4 years ago:
Over the last four years our borough has been led by our local Labour team.
These are challenging times but there’s much we’ve done: we’ve hired the best lawyers and health advisers in the country to join our fight to save Charing Cross Hospital. We’ve put the largest amount of council-funded police onto the streets in our borough’s history and we are the only administration in London to cut council tax over the last four years.
We know people sometimes think politicians are all the same and we understand why. But since our residents elected us into office in 2014 we have been striving to prove we’re different - by our deeds, not words.
Here on May 3 there is a real and stark choice. For many decades now our borough has only ever elected Labour or Conservative councillors.
The Conservatives are hoping you’ll forget what they did last time, so they can do it all again. So just a quick reminder of some of the things Conservative councillors did when they ran Hammersmith & Fulham just 4 years ago:
- They sold off council homes, sold off community centres and sold off youth clubs - all at knock-down prices during the biggest property boom in the post war period.
- They slashed funding to street cleaning and set about privatising our local parks e.g. here and here.
- They vastly increased council charges, putting parking fees up 55% and raising meals-on-wheels charges by £700 a year and cruelly cut services to our most vulnerable elderly citizens
- They took lavish hospitality from property speculators enjoying free meals, free entertainment and free sports tickets - all while sanctioning the building of vast numbers of luxury flats for overseas investors.
- Worst of all, the Conservatives backed plans to bulldoze Charing Cross Hospital and replace it with a small clinic.
We know that if we lose our hospital, our parks and our genuinely affordable homes, we will never get them back.
In 2014 the residents of our borough chose a different path.
Our Labour councillors remain determined to make our residents proud: starting with a tough approach to property developers negotiating a record £310 million for local people from them. We have sought to be ruthlessly efficient with taxpayers’ money by cutting £70 million of wasteful council spending. And we have built partnerships with residents, businesses and local institutions so we can get more things done together.
In 2014 the residents of our borough chose a different path.
Our Labour councillors remain determined to make our residents proud: starting with a tough approach to property developers negotiating a record £310 million for local people from them. We have sought to be ruthlessly efficient with taxpayers’ money by cutting £70 million of wasteful council spending. And we have built partnerships with residents, businesses and local institutions so we can get more things done together.
- As well as cutting council tax over the last four years, we have also frozen parking charges, slashed meals-on-wheels charges and reduced 85% of all council charges to our residents as featured on the BBC's Daily Politics programme
- As well as putting in extra police, we have invested in new CCTV and taken new measures to target and deter those at risk of getting involved with crime.
- We have made a huge investments to make our streets cleaner and improve the quality of our air and put in the largest amount electric car charging bays in the UK and delivered a new electric car club for our residents - As this BBC radio feature tells.
- We are building the largest number of genuinely affordable homes in 10 years.
- We're rejuvenating North End Road market as you can hear about here on BBC Radio London
- We are the only council in the country to abolish charges for adult social care as featured in this BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, You and Yours, and the Mail on Sunday.
- We're the first council to stop using bailiffs to collect council tax, have introduced a huge new support programme for food banks, have taken all children out of homeless B&B accommodation and are setting the high bar for ending rough sleeping
- We have a new ground-breaking Industrial Strategy in partnership with a local university which aspires to bring our residents the best possible jobs and business opportunities for decades to come - as this BBC News report tells.
- We are campaigning to let voters have a final vote on the Brexit deal Theresa May end up negotiating alongside the option to stay in the EU. Sign our petition here.
- And, of course, we are fighting to defend Charing Cross Hospital.
We are seeking to run a different kind of council, one that listens more and works with our residents to find smarter, more creative ways to take us forward. The Conservatives will just take us back.
The outcome of your vote on 3 May will have a huge impact on our borough and this neighbourhood for the next four years. There is so much to lose.
So please vote for all 3 Labour candidates. We promise we won’t let you down.
Best wishes
Cllr. Ben Coleman, Cllr. Alan De'Ath, Cllr, Sharon Holder
The outcome of your vote on 3 May will have a huge impact on our borough and this neighbourhood for the next four years. There is so much to lose.
So please vote for all 3 Labour candidates. We promise we won’t let you down.
Best wishes
Cllr. Ben Coleman, Cllr. Alan De'Ath, Cllr, Sharon Holder
