Political parties across Southwark have published their manifesto pledges which detail how they would rule the council over the next four years if they were to win on May 7.
Across the 23 wards in Southwark, a total of 292 candidates are hoping to win one of the 63 seats available. Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives each have 63 candidates meaning there is a person contesting every seat in the borough. The Green Party has 61 nominees.
Reform UK has 35 candidates, while four independents are also contesting seats. One Communist League candidate and one Southwark Independent Socialists candidate will be running too. There is also one candidate standing for an organisation called Build – Homes, Infrastructure, A Future.
Labour’s control of Southwark Council spans two key periods beginning from the borough’s creation in 1965 to 2002, and again from 2010 onwards. However, there was no overall control of the council between 2002 and 2010, after the Lib Dems increased their number of councillors.
During the 2022 local election in Southwark, 52 Labour councillors were elected, while the Lib Dems won 11 seats – making them the largest and only elected opposition group on the council. Since the last local election in 2022, four councillors have defected to the Greens and three former Labour councillors now sit as independents.
Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, said Southwark is one of a number of boroughs which could potentially go to no overall control, though if it did it would probably still have Labour as the biggest party.
He told the BBC: “Southwark is strongly Labour-controlled but there’s a powerful Liberal Democrat presence in the north of the borough, which the Lib Dems will be hoping to push south a bit, whilst Greens will be hoping to win in the southern part of the borough from Labour.”
Prof Travers’ predictions for Southwark are backed up by further analysis from pollsters More in Common, which suggest Labour faces threats from both the Lib Dems and the Greens.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has compiled a list of key manifesto commitments from the main political parties and their top priorities for the borough, should they take power on Thursday:
Conservative Party
Crime and safety
- Double the number of Neighbourhood Watches from 200 to 400
- Establish new specialist youth clubs
- Work with police to ensure greater focus on crimes such as phone theft, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour
Housing
- Work with tenants’ associations to prioritise properties most in need of repair
- Support new housing development in appropriate locations, focusing on brownfield sites
- Work with partners such as the London Fire Brigade to ensure housing meets safety standards
Transport and environment
- Conduct evidence-led review on all Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) and traffic schemes
- More funding to tackle potholes and establish reporting service so residents can track progress
- Minimise parking restrictions near shops
- Establish dedicated phone line for reporting fly-tipping, graffiti and missed bin collections
- Resolve missed bin collections within 48 hours
- Work with environmental health and wildlife experts to address fox-related problems affecting residents
Local economy
- Expand Southwark Business Networks
- Hold regular meetings with local business owners
- Work with business groups to identify and remove unnecessary barriers to growth and investment
Schools
- Support high-performing schools that wish to expand
- Work pro-actively with schools facing falling enrolment
- Work with neighbouring London boroughs to establish a new SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) school on site of a school facing closure in Southwark
Green spaces
- Organise regular community clean-ups
- Protecting public access to parks by limiting excessive commercial use
Leisure and culture
- Work with local volunteers and the community to support new and existing community libraries
- Increase collaboration with local sporting organisations
- Support community groups and volunteers
Social care
- Work with community organisations and charities to establish social care hubs
- Review policies and procedures to ensure level of complaints for social care are reduced
- Ensure social care services are operating effectively and efficiently
- Remove barriers to accessing social care
Labour
Crime and safety
- Double the number of community wardens and expand the council’s night-time patrol service
- Implement new Neighbourhood Reporting for residents experiencing anti-social behaviour (ASB)
- Invest in more lighting and CCTV, secure more police, community warden patrols and redesign streets, bus stops and stations so women and girls feel safe
Housing
- Build 1,500 social rent homes in Southwark, of which 500 will be brand new council homes
- Build affordable homes which are rent-controlled for teachers, nurses and key workers
- Establish a brand new booking system with timed slots so residents know exactly when their repairs will take place
Transport and environment
- Tougher enforcement against fly-tippers
- Ensure e-bike providers supply more dedicated parking bays to declutter streets, while increasing enforcement funded by these operators where e-bikes are parked dangerously
- Continue campaigning for better accessibility at train stations, funding feasibility studies to progress investment
- Continue to invest in new crossings and cycle hangars and expanding walking and cycle routes
Local economy
- A new dedicated service to help 2,000 residents who face complex barriers such as health conditions, disabilities or difficult personal circumstances into a good job
- Work with landlords and residents to prevent closure of pubs, restaurants and nightclubs
Schools
- Guarantee work, education or training for every school leaver in Southwark
- Roll out a free breakfast club to every school in the borough
- Guarantee a School Street for every eligible school by 2030
Green spaces
- Raise £2.5million with communities to invest in local green projects
- Work to reduce flooding risks, extreme heat and other impacts of climate emergency
Leisure and culture
- Establish a new culture pass with local cultural institutions so residents can easily access theatres, galleries, sports clubs and nightclubs
- Invest £7.1million in 15 playgrounds across the borough and invest in sports centres
- Back local artists by providing affordable workspaces and creative grants
Social care
- Continue to remove barriers for young people leaving care with practical support including travel, clothing, meals and childcare
- Building a new nursing home in Peckham
- Strengthen the quality, supply and sustainability of supported housing so residents with support needs can live well and independently
Liberal Democrats
Crime and safety
- Keep bicycles safe from theft by installing more cycle hangars and lockers and keep fees low
- Open five new youth clubs across the borough
- Guarantee that all council estates that ask for them will have working security doors by 2028
- Double the number of community safety wardens from 30 to 60 across Southwark and invest in street lighting
- Use more mobile CCTV units to help enforcement and gather information to help tackle crime, ASB and fly-tipping
Housing
- Make sure half of all new homes on private developments are genuinely affordable
- Appoint a new ‘affordable housing tsar’ who can challenge affordable housing plans from developers to maximise affordability
- Implement a 10-day disrepair enforcement guarantee for private leaseholders
- Provide a dedicated portal for residents to be able to report empty properties
Transport and environment
- Make every train station in the borough accessible for disabled people
- Invest in a tram for Southwark
- Roll out 25km of new cycle lanes and expand the Santander Cycle Hire Scheme further south into the borough
- Guarantee there is an Electric Vehicle (EV) charging point within 200 metres of every home
- Consider cash incentives for residents to recycle more
- Work with high street businesses and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to better manage commercial waste, remove clutter and integrate waste and recycling facilities into streets
Local economy
- Freeze council tax for the poorest households
- Launch a rates relief fund to support local businesses
- Expand the council’s cost of living fund so anyone can apply for a grant if they are in financial difficulty
Schools
- Work with schools, community centres, and places of worship to open them up after school so young people have a safe and warm space to socialise and study in the evenings
- Make sure there are more genuinely affordable family homes built so schools aren’t forced to close
- Open a new SEND school to support young people with additional needs
Green spaces
- Open eight new parks and green spaces across the borough
- Plant 130,000 more trees over the next four years
- Limit use of parks for commercial events during the summer months
- Make sure that all council play spaces, parks and green spaces are upgraded by 2030
Leisure and culture
- Build on existing strategies which support, protect and celebrate residents from all ethnic minority and faith backgrounds
- Develop an LGBTQ+ Action Plan to help tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and support LGBQT+ community spaces and venues
Social care
- Back Ed Davey’s national campaign to fix social care across the country
- Create a Child Poverty Office and offer free ‘baby boxes’ to new and expecting parents
Green Party
Crime and safety
- Improve street lighting in locations where residents feel unsafe
- Introduce High Street Task Forces to tackle issues like shoplifting
- Address serious violence and knife crime through high-intensity early intervention
Housing
- Demand at least 35 per cent affordable housing in all developments and prioritise sustainable buildings
- Build more council homes and support co-operative housing
- Take on rogue landlords by investing in enforcement and introducing strong landlord licensing
- Campaign for rent controls, secure tenancies and repair rights for private tenants
- Bring empty homes back into use more quickly and tax empty properties and second homes at the highest rate
Transport and environment
- Tackle fly-tipping with free bulky waste collections, free community skip days and stronger rules requiring landlords to empty properties between tenancies
- Make Southwark the first borough in inner London to recycle 50 per cent of its waste
- Introduce food waste collection for all properties in the borough
- Strengthen enforcement of fly-tipping and commercial waste dumping
- Pilot free bus travel for under-22s to support young people into work
- Campaign for more east-west bus routes and to reopen Camberwell train station
- More public drinking water points and more access to public toilets
Local economy
- Require landlords to bring empty shopfronts back into use
- Work with small businesses and BIDs to tackle issues like crime, cleaning and transport access
- Support job creation through affordable workspace hubs across the borough
Schools
- Support and promote youth centres and after-school clubs
- Establish a Southwark Baccalaureate, working with schools, colleges and local employers to give young people a 45-day placement alongside their studies
- Cut the costs of school uniforms by facilitating second-hand exchanges
- Seek funding to expand Free Healthy School Meals to all pupils
Green spaces
- Protect green spaces from over-development and over-commercialisation
- Bring derelict or unused green sites back into use as parks, rewilded nature
reserves, or community growing spaces - Protect and invest in Southwark’s 65 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation
Leisure and culture
- Expand Free Swim and Gym for all residents
- Provide discounted theatre, music and art for all Southwark residents by relaunching Southwark Presents Pass
- Make it easier for pubs, bars and restaurants to secure licences for cultural events
Social care
- Give fair parking permits to carers and campaign for a properly funded care service
- Work towards bringing care services and care homes in-house
- Bring all care homes to ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ ratings
- Prioritise disabled adaptations so older people can remain in their homes
Reform UK
Reform UK has not published a local manifesto for Southwark. The LDRS contacted Reform for details of what the party would do locally if it wins seats but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
However nationally the party has pledged to keep council tax low, and to place migrant detention centres in any areas that vote for the Green Party, while keeping them out of Reform-voting areas.
The party also said it wants to make it mandatory for schools to display the Union Flag and a picture of The King.
