Labour Forces Tories To Invest In Tooting Town Centre

Labour Councillors in Tooting have been credited by a former Conservative councillor with pushing Wandsworth Council to improve Tooting town centre.

In a speech last week Cllr. Susan John-Richards, who sits as an independent after resigning from the Conservative group, admitted that she and fellow Tory councillors had no success with her own party in getting resources for Tooting town centre. She told a Council meeting that it was only when Labour made it a key political issue that the ruling Conservative group began to put money into improvements.

Labour’s demands for Tooting are:

1. More frequent street cleaning, and bring back pavement washing and chewing gum removal.
2. Abolish charges for the removal of bulky items and garden waste to reduce fly tipping.
3. Use Brightside to inform people about days and times for rubbish collections.
4. Use CCTV more effectively to catch fly-tippers.
5. Install more gates on alleyways to reduce fly-tipping and tackle anti-social behaviour.
6. Take away clutter from the town centre streets and pavements.
7. Begin doorstep collection of food and garden waste to increase re-cycling levels.
8. Promote Tooting as a good place for major stores to do business.
9. Make the town centre feel safer for shoppers and residents.
10. Improve parking for shoppers.


Since we have campaigned to raise the profile of Tooting the Council has:

* Introduced time banding so shops can only leave rubbish out a certain times. This has improved the look of the streets and is being rolled out across Wandsworth.
* Gated alleys to reduce crime and dumping of rubbish.
* Conducted a town centre survey to help promote Tooting to retail chains.
* Introduced CCTV to monitor fly-tipping and security on Church lane and parts of the Totterdown Estate.
* Re-introduced a Safer Neighbourhood Team to patrol the town centre.
* Proposed relocation of bus stops and removal of unnecessary signs and street furniture to make the streets less congested.
* Provided free Saturday Parking on Franciscan Road in the professional centre

Cllr. Nick Bowes, Labour’s councillor in Tooting Ward said: ‘There is still much to be done to make sure Tooting is firmly on the Council’s map but we have made progress.’

Rex Osborn, Labour Councillor for Graveney Ward said ‘This shows what a small but determined Labour Group can achieve. Without an effective opposition Wandsworth Conservatives would neglect the less well-off areas of the borough’