Our family has lived in Carshalton and Wallington for 42 years.

Full statement

Our children attended Stanley Park Primary School and then Greenshaw High School, where I taught for over 20 years. I have served on several governing bodies. I have been an active member of the Labour Party for over 40 years. My expertise is predominantly in Education but I have St Helier and the NHS as well as housing and social needs high on my list of priorities.
As a Labour candidate I am standing on our locally agreed policies and pledges:

1. We will focus on the cost of living not see you go further into debt. We will ensure all residents are aware of the cost of living improvements the Government is making and actively encourage take up.Locally we will provide secure, quality job opportunities and attract new business - especially cooperatives and mutual - into our borough and promote wider business commitment to the London Living Wage. We will also seek full implementation of the Employment Act and support enforcement where we are legally able. Poverty and the need for food banks should never be allowed to happen in Sutton.

2. We will support increased locally based Policing to tackle crime and support victims. We will invest in CCTV, better lighting and community safety hubs and work with the community to improve women’s safety locally.

3. We will provide secure affordable homes for our younger people who are priced out of the borough and build more genuinely affordable council housing in our borough.

4. We will commit to: Cleaner Streets. Cleaner Air. "Community Spring Cleans" and monitored local "pop up skips". We will look at ways to withdraw from the Beddington Incinerator and its waste disposal contract that the Lib Dems shockingly brought to this borough.

5. We will always fully consult residents over parking and traffic schemes and seek strong local consent. Future schemes should be resident petition driven, not a simple statistical exercise by Council officers.

6. We will protect our local environment. We will ensure the council plays a key role as part of the Declaration of a Climate Emergency and seeks funds to remediate the threat of flooding in lower lying areas of the borough such as near the River Wandle and Beverley Brook.

7. We will protect and improve and keep local our health and social care services. We welcome the reduction in local waiting lists and push for further big reductions in the next 4 years.We further welcome over £7m early investment at St Helier Hospital and will fight to keep all acute services at it.

8. We will provide Education and Inclusion for all. We support the excellence of our locally rooted primary and secondary schools that already provide places for more than 90% of Sutton pupils and will help support them to increase that. We support the demands of Sutton Parents campaigning for better SEND support and improved transport.

9. We will stop the decline in local arts, sports & culture and revitalise our High Streets with more “meanwhile use” and pop-up shops as well as support a strong post office network and our credit union to reduce lack of financial access. We will work with local shopkeepers to improve local shopfronts like Labour Merton Council has done. We will also work with the Mayor of London to review public transport links to improve accessibility including the option of more express Superloop bus services locally. We will seek to increase free access to sports facilities -especially swimming - for the less well off from both a cost of living and a public health perspective.

10. We will listen. We will consult. Too many people cannot get hold of their current Councillors. We will bring in a new listening and consultation strategy led by local residents and encourage local “resident juries” and a “People’s Question Time” to hold services to account. We will develop stronger more accountable local committees, with the opportunity for them to become proper local community councils, but only if residents petition and vote for them. We will press for revision to existing contracts so the Council treat employees fairly as part of a longer-term plan to in-source more services so the Council directly provides them again. We will ensure the Council’s own funds and investments are ethical and also fully comply with UK Law and International Law regarding all conflicts across the world & would seek divestment from any investments that do not.