All 50 seats in the West London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham will be contested on May 7, with Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, and Reform UK fielding candidates. The current Labour administration, led by Stephen Cowan, has held power since 2014, taking over from the Conservatives who had governed since 2006. Historically, the borough has alternated between Labour and Tory control, with a period of no overall control from 1978 to 1986. However, the rise of multi-party politics could bring surprises, with Greens, Lib Dems, and Reform expected to increase their vote shares. Below are the main manifesto pledges from each major party.
Conservatives
The Conservatives have outlined several key priorities for Hammersmith and Fulham.
Crime and Policing
- Restore 'real policing' with a focus on crime hotspots, a Special Constable recruitment drive, and purchasing 50 additional police officers from the Met.
- Invest in 'smart-policing' by expanding CCTV, introducing new crime-fighting tools, and safer street design, including 5G-enabled streetlights.
- Restore order to public spaces with a crackdown on anti-social behaviour (ASB), a shoplifting taskforce, and extending Public Space Protection Orders to cover town centres and high streets.
Transport
- Make parking affordable by reversing parking charge increases, introducing borough-wide permits for an extra fee, and adding more EV charging points.
- Fix Hammersmith Bridge first by building a temporary crossing, which they claim could be built "within months" after permission, then reopening the existing structure.
- Get the borough moving by scoping a Hammersmith Tunnel, opposing new low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), removing the King Street cycle lane and Wandsworth Bridge Road parklets, and prioritizing pothole repairs.
Environment
- Maintain efficient waste services with recycling bags available year-round and rolling back charges for garden waste removal.
- Introduce energy-efficient street lighting and publish air quality monitoring data transparently and regularly.
- Make homes greener by continuing double glazing installations on council properties, retrofitting buildings, achieving a 100% net zero emissions fleet, and encouraging community energy projects.
High Streets and Public Realm
- Establish a dedicated taskforce for each high street.
- Set up a High Street Renewal Fund for improvements like bins and lighting.
- Scope out more al-fresco dining areas and semi-pedestrianisation.
Health and Social Care
- Act as a vocal champion for local hospitals and their government funding.
- Prioritize early years wellbeing through Family Hubs rolled out across the borough.
- Maintain free home care.
Skills and Education
- Partner with industry to develop a "best-in-class local partnership with tech firms" in West London, ensuring school readiness and expanding coding clubs.
- Work with schools to strengthen STEM and green industry pathways.
- Implement a mobile phone ban in borough schools, champion parental transparency, and protect Free Schools.
Housing
- Level up social housing by auditing maintenance contracts, reducing voids, not offering accommodation to illegal entrants, and removing the right to social housing for persistent ASB offenders.
- Introduce a 'New Deal for Leaseholders' to end large surprise bills for major works, ensure good communication, and hold Leaseholder Forums.
- Set up an Estates Small Schemes Fund for smaller improvements.
Planning
- Remove requirements for 50% affordable housing in new homes and for all new developments to be car-free.
- Protect green spaces from development and prioritize underused urban sites.
- Rewrite the Local Plan to "explicitly favour gentle density and traditional designs."
Business and Licensing
- Set up a pop-up shop programme to support local entrepreneurs and creatives.
- Support the Bush and Lyric theatres and explore using underused council-owned land for temporary arts.
- Introduce a new strategy for night-time and hospitality industries, supporting high-quality restaurants and entertainment venues.
- Protect pubs with a moratorium on converting them into housing.
- Discourage proliferation of fast-food outlets on high streets but encourage them around hubs like Fulham Broadway.
Finance, Tax and Administration
- Maintain council tax discount for veterans and introduce a similar discount for special constables, continuing the Council Tax Support scheme.
- Cut the number of Cabinet and lead Member roles and use technology to drive savings.
- Increase council attractiveness as an employer through graduate and apprenticeship schemes and work experience programmes.
Labour
Labour had not published their full manifesto at the time of writing but have included these pledges in campaign literature:
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- Help build new state-of-the-art hospital facilities.
- Be the best value council in the country by providing free adult home care and cost-of-living support.
- Introduce AI-enabled CCTV that identifies weapons and criminals.
- Install new green schemes to reduce energy bills and cut emissions.
- Offer every young local person a Pathway Bond career opportunity.
- Deliver over £8 million in new investment to improve parks.
- Build more than 10,000 genuinely affordable homes for local people.
- Invest in high streets.
- Extend European partnerships to ensure young people can gain international work experience.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have outlined key priorities for Hammersmith and Fulham.
Housing
- Build more homes, exceeding housing targets by at least 20% each year, and shift spending from temporary accommodation into council-owned properties.
- End damp and mould in council homes by launching a borough-wide audit and compensating affected residents.
- Tackle the cladding scandal by supporting the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign's 10 demands and ensuring no remediation costs are passed to leaseholders or residents.
Crime and Safety
- Improve visibility by keeping the 24/7 counter at Hammersmith Police Station open and opening additional policing hubs.
- Tackle ASB with more funding for youth centres, investing in Turning Point programmes, and addressing root causes.
- Properly investigate sexual offences by pressing the Mayor to fund and recruit dedicated rape and serious sexual offence investigators, and support survivors with more effective investigations.
Transport
- Support clean air initiatives like LTNs but only with genuine resident consent.
- Introduce a new borough-wide parking permit with discounts for residents more than 1 km from a Tube station, and oppose Tube fare hikes by the Mayor.
- Provide safe and convenient cycling with designated parking spaces for dockless bikes on every street and protected cycle lanes running east-west and north-south.
Accountability and Fair Governance
- Offer a "fair deal on the cost of living" with practical help on housing, benefits, and services, opposing Tube fare rises and campaigning for fairer Thames Water bills.
- Consult residents before major changes to streets, services, or planning, and publish transparent council performance reports and commitments.
- Publish an annual value-for-money audit, introduce open procurement, end wasteful spending on consultants and agency staff, reduce temporary accommodation costs, and give residents a say in local budget priorities.
High Streets and Environment
- Hold Thames Water to account by demanding a halt on unjustified price hikes, pushing for accountability on its debt, and campaigning for value from bills.
- Revive Hammersmith, Fulham, and Shepherd's Bush high streets with reliable cleaning, litter removal, and support for independent businesses' shopfront improvements.
The Green Party said it does not have a local manifesto for Hammersmith and Fulham, and Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment.
