Election Day!!

We have finally arrived at election day. As a reminder, everyone has four votes--three for your local councillors and one for your MP.

As a summary of our campaign, I copy below a letter we delivered ahead of the election. It sets out our three key promises for this election.

Whatever the result, it has been a pleasure meeting thousands of you over recent years. North End is a special area, and it deserves a Council that truly puts its residents first. We feel that the promises below demonstrate that Labour wants to put local residents first.

"Dear North End Resident,

As we enter the final days of the election, we wanted to write one last letter to you summing up our three, key promises for the area. We have been speaking to residents for several years now, and we developed these promises during those conversations. We have made sure that each promise is included in the local Labour manifesto.

Crime and anti-social behaviour: Despite being elected in 2006 under a mandate to cut crime in the Borough, the Tory administration has not delivered on their promises. Crime in your local ward was up 2% in 2008/09 compared to the prior year. This compares to a decrease in crime in London and the UK overall. The Tory Council has failed to put extra money into policing for North End throughout the whole of that last 4 years, and they have voted against Labour proposals to do so on 4 occasions. We have promised to invest in 24/7 police patrols for North End. This is a proven way to reduce crime and is being done elsewhere in London.

Gibbs Green and West Kensington Estates: For a number of years, Labour councillors accused the Tory Council of trying to sell off the Gibbs Green and West Kensington Estates to developers. After years of stonewalling and denial, the Council has now confirms that this is the case. We are worried about the future of the families who live there, over 80% of whom signed a petition opposing the demolition. We are campaigning to make sure their interests are protected. We are also worried about the impact of the redevelopment on your local area, which would face years of construction noise and other nuisances. The Council and their property development partners want to triple the density of occupation in the area of the estates. The impact that would have on already overcrowded roads and services would be catastrophic. We promise to halt these plans and end the Council’s unhealthy relationship with developers.

Match Day Parking: Chelsea match days see much of the ward flooded with non-resident parking that can make life a misery for locals and their guests. We wrote to residents in March letting them know that we had secured the inclusion of this issue in the local Labour manifesto. We were pleased to see that the Tories later sent a similar letter in April, but we are worried that after four years in charge of local parking they are not treating the issue with sufficient urgency. We promise to urgently review match day parking with a view to improving conditions for local residents. This problem has been allowed to continue for too long.

Our manifesto promises to achieve these measures while still supporting Council Tax cuts. We will fund this by selling the Council’s costly propaganda organ, H&F News, cutting other Council publicity and ending the vain £34m plans to refurbish the perfectly adequate Town Hall.

Kind regards,

Max, Matt and Daryl"

3 days to go

We are in the last day of a very busy long weekend campaigning around North End, with three days to go until election day. It is clear that there are still many undecided voters, and this is looking like it will be the closest election for decades, at the local, parliamentary and indeed national level. This is making the campaign very interesting, and the large number of new volunteers to help in these final days is evidence that the close election is grabbing peoples' attention.

While campaigning yesterday, our canvass team saw the police make an arrest on Barons Court Road. In addition, in the past month one of our activists has seen two attempts to steal his bike foiled only by good fortune. This is a reminder of one of the key promises of our campaign. Crime in North End was up over 2% in 2008/09 compared to the year before. North End needs investment from the Council for 24/7 police patrols to combat these rising numbers of crimes. Our manifesto has promised these in the North End area and all the other wards in the borough. The cost of these can be met by cutting Council waste, most notably the shameful Council propaganda organ that your Council Tax pays for. We feel that extra police is a better investment of your hard-earned money than Council self-promotion.