With the local elections approaching, major political parties in Kingston have published their manifestos, outlining their pledges to transform the borough over the next four years. Voters will head to the polls on May 7 to elect their local representatives for the South London borough until 2030. All 48 seats on Kingston Council are up for grabs across 19 wards. The Liberal Democrats have been in control for two terms since taking over from the Conservatives in 2018.
Candidate Lineup
The Lib Dems, Conservatives, and Labour are each fielding 48 candidates, while Reform UK has 42 candidates and the Green Party has 41. The Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) is putting forward 36 candidates, along with three from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and two Independent councillors. A full list of candidates by ward is available in a separate article.
Liberal Democrats
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
- 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 for low-carbon heating
- Complete conversion of streetlights to 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 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
- Improve CCTV
- Campaign for more neighbourhood policing
- Improve 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)
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 ensure repairs are completed first time and strengthen HMO planning controls
- Expand hardship support for quick access to help
Environment and Transport
- Invest £2 million 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
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 from 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 the Thames in Kingston
- Make waste disposal fair by ensuring nobody is penalised if they cannot 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 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 secure a permanent home back in the borough
Economy and Finance
- Introduce participatory budgeting to give communities a direct say in funding from developments and council resources
- 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
Environment and Transport
- Work for a solution to restore the Seething Wells filter beds and open them for local use
- 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
- Ensure roads are cycle friendly, including cracking down on illegal use of cycle lanes by mopeds
- Plan properly for the increase in electric vehicles, ensuring enough charging points
- Support scrapping 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 helping 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
Conservative Party
The Conservatives have not published a local manifesto for Kingston but have set out national priorities for the local elections. Key pledges include:
—
- Launch Cheap Power Plan to cut energy bills
- Scrap stamp duty on family homes
- Mandate police to stop e-bikes being ridden on pavements
- Fix potholes
- Hire 10,000 new police officers
- Triple stop and search 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
- Abolish business rates
- Back businesses and high streets
- Cut Britain's welfare bill
Reform UK
Reform UK has not published a local manifesto for Kingston. However, leader Nigel Farage promised at a rally in Leeds that if the party takes control of more authorities, it would ensure lower council tax rises. Nationally, Reform has proposed placing mass immigration detention centres in areas that voted Green, while keeping them out of Reform-voting areas. The party also wants schools to display the Union Flag and a picture of the King.
