The Greenwich Labour Party have offered every child £150 to buy a bike if they retain power next month, while Reform want to abolish Greenwich’s status as a Borough of Sanctuary.

The five main political parties in the South London borough have now all revealed their plans if they come to power and control Greenwich Council following the local council elections on May 7.

Labour is expected to keep power in Greenwich, which has been a red stronghold in the capital for years. However, polling also predicts that the Greens will make massive gains in the borough, greatly reducing Labour’s current number of 47 of the 55 available council seats.

The Conservatives are also hoping to grow their number of councillors from 4, and Reform and the Lib Dems are hoping to make a foothold in Greenwich as well. Read more about all of their commitments below.

Labour

Below are some of the key policies and commitments Labour have made in Greenwich if they retain control of the council next month. You can read their full manifesto here.

Children and young people

• Offer a £150 voucher for every child and young person in the borough to help them buy a bike or scooter and safety equipment
• Provide affordable, accessible childcare and early years services for all families
• Expand the number of free childcare places available to working parents
• Deliver two new youth hubs, launch a new youth service and develop a £1.6m youth opportunity grant
• Invest £36.4m in SEND and disabilities provision and create a new £15m adult SEND learning centre

Housing

• Deliver 6,000 council, social rent and low rent homes over the next decade
• Build a new town in Thamesmead
• Provide access to ultra-fast broadband for council tenants
• Invest £278m in council housing to make the stock more energy efficient
• Introduce policies to prevent the the rise of excessive numbers of HMOs in any neighbourhood

Communities

• Continue to impose £1,000 fines on fly tippers and reward residents with £100 for information that leads to fly tippers being fined or prosecuted
• Double the number of Community Enforcement Officers on Greenwich streets
• Create a new community hub in Coldharbour
• Explore options for a new leisure centre and library in Thamesmead

Health

• Partnering with the NHS to create the first fully integrated health and social care service in England
• Investing over £200k to support unpaid carers
• Launch a new Dementia Hub
• Activity schemes including £1 midweek swims and £5 family swims at weekends
• Establish four neighbourhood health hubs

Finance

• Establish Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) across Greenwich
• Launch an apprenticeship scheme that will create hundreds of apprenticeships
• Create mandatory parking bays for delivery bikes in town centres and shopping parades
• Create an events programme in Eltham to increase footfall in the town centre
• Establish a fund to upgrade and repair the borough’s heritage sites

Transport and the environment

• Work with partners to deliver the DLR extension to Thamesmead
• Invest over £8m to resurface roads and fill potholes
• Create at least 200 dockless bike parking bays across the borough
• Install at least 2,000 EV chargers

Green

The Greens currently have two councillors in Greenwich and are hoping to make big gains with their promises. You can read their full manifesto here.

Housing

• Hold the council to account on home maintenance 
• Encourage affordable, quality home schemes 
• Ensure developers pay their fair share and commit to investing in local infrastructure

Environment

• Push for stronger rules to protect existing green spaces and create new ones, especially in areas that lack them
• Push the council to develop plans so that housing is ready for the impacts of increased flooding, heatwaves, freezing weather and gale-force winds
• Maximise solar power to reduce energy costs on council buildings 
• Make the council report how it is doing on its own zero carbon plan

Communities

• Bridge the gap between the council and communities by encouraging the creation of residents’ associations
• Preserve and develop community and youth centres and push for more advice hubs to help those in a crisis
• Tackle street cleaning and fly-tipping aggressively to ensure our neighbourhoods feel looked-after.

Crime

• Lobby for more visible police officers
• Push for better community support services for victims of crime
• Invest in youth services to keep young people out of crime

Transport

• Push the council to lobby TfL to extend the Superloop to run between Eltham and Woolwich, and undo the cuts to the 386 and 486 routes
•  Push for easier cross-river crossings by bike and press the council to make sure the foot tunnels are maintained
• Support plans to reduce car traffic in residential areas 

Business

• Open up empty council-owned spaces for community uses 
• Push for a renewed business support policy that promotes employment and entrepreneurship, prioritising businesses which contribute to the community. 
• Work with neighbouring boroughs and commercial organisations to find opportunities to boost our local economy and provide quality jobs 

Representation

• Promise better local representation as the Green party is not subject to a whipping system like other parties
• Hold regular ward surgeries to engage with residents on issues

Conservative

The Conservative opposition group has made six key commitments in Greenwich ahead of the election on May 7. You can read their full manifesto here.

Policing

• Campaign for more police officers on Greenwich streets
• Resist attempts to close local police bases
• Campaign for fairer deployment of mobile CCTV cameras

Housing

• Campaign for tougher planning policies to restrict the rise of HMOs and protect family homes
• Seek an increase in the inspection of existing HMOs to crackdown on rogue landlords
• Keep pressure on the council to improve the turnaround of repairs service

Transport

• Campaign for a local resident exemption to the East and West Greenwich LTNs
• Campaign against traffic and parking schemes that do not have widespread public support
• Pressure the council to improve its road maintenance

Environment

• Press the council to introduce stronger planning policies to prevent building on local green spaces
• Call for a new fund to support projects in Greenwich parks and open spaces

Littering

• Campaign for the council to introduce tougher penalties on fly tippers and littering
• Lobbying the council to increase street cleaning

Finance

• Continue to campaign against wasteful council spending
• Oppose Labour’s plans to introduce charges for garden waste collection
• Lobby the council to restore its 100 per cent Council Tax Support Scheme

Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems have outlined their plans ahead of May 7. They currently have no Greenwich councillors. You can read their full manifesto here.

Cost of living

• Keep council tax increases as low as possible
• Targeting help to those who need it most
• Building genuinely affordable housing to improve life for people living in Greenwich

Business

• Keep business rate increases as low as possible
• Support independent businesses and start-ups
• Promote affordable workspace and hubs for creative and green industries

Safer and cleaner Greenwich

• Tackling fly tippers and cleaning up litter
• Repair pavements and roads
• Campaign for visible neighbourhood policing

Communities

• Support youth clubs and toy libraries and increase out of school hours provision
• Safeguard libraries, leisure centres, parks and play areas 
• Ensure housing developers are paying for and building new community spaces and play areas 

Housing and transport

• Lobby for increased frequencies on bus routes
• Build homes safe from fire and flooding
• Retrofit substandard housing
• Prioritise family homes

Reform UK

Reform does not have individual manifestos for all the London boroughs in which it has candidates standing next month. Below are some of their plans if they make gains in Greenwich:

• Abolish Greenwich’s status as a Borough of Sanctuary which is a commitment to welcoming refugees, asylum seekers and migrants 
• Fight to stop inappropriate HMOs in Eltham Town and Avery Hill as well as in Mottingham and Coldharbour
• Ensuring value for council money by stopping rip off charges from private council contractors
• Campaigning to fix potholes across the borough
• Encourage more local infrastructure to be built while not building on the borough’s green spaces
• Tougher planning policies to ensure new housing is attractive and spacious for families