Our bold, positive and ambitious vision for Sutton’s future
In May 1986, George Michael was at the top of the charts, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, the finishing touches were being put on the M25, and the Liberal Democrats took over Sutton Council for the first time.
Since then generations have trusted us time and time again to keep delivering real results for our borough. That’s no coincidence, we have always put what is best for the future of our borough first. We’ve shown over and over again what sustained, pragmatic, and locally-rooted liberalism can deliver for our community.
But we’re not looking backwards; we’re interested in the next forty years. We don’t just have a real record of delivery, but also a heartfelt promise of more, which is why we launched Sutton’s Economic Growth Plan last year. It represents our bold, ambitious vision for an even brighter future in Sutton, one that sets us apart from the other parties, and it’s why we’re asking for your support once more in May so that we can stay the course and keep laying the foundations of Sutton’s future.
Take our high streets. So many high streets across London are still struggling to recover from the economic shock of the pandemic and Liz Truss’ mini budget, but Sutton’s town centre tells a different story. Sutton has outpaced London as a whole in footfall recovery and in filling empty shops, which is testament to our proactive approach to local regeneration and support for small and medium-sized businesses. Our area’s resilience has only grown because we have always focused on working with and listening to residents and businesses to unlock opportunity.
That same belief in attracting big, meaningful investment is what’s behind another huge step we’re taking, the London Cancer Hub, which boosts Sutton’s economic prospects for generations to come. Whilst the Conservatives focus on the short-term, and lack any ambition for our borough, we’re pushing forward with this massive opportunity. Once fully operational, it will create thousands of local jobs in research, education, health and construction. But it’s so much more than that too, it will cement Sutton’s position as a global centre for cancer research and treatment.
We will always challenge those who lack ambition for our borough, and by extension, those who seem uninterested in improving local peoples’ lives. Nowhere is that more clear than with the housing crisis. More than 1,100 households are currently in temporary accommodation in our borough, and each one is a story of local families struggling and children growing up without the stability they deserve.
It’s why we’re committed to keep delivering genuinely affordable homes, especially through council-led building. The recent completion of new council homes on Beddington Lane, the nearly-complete homes at Beech Tree Place and the work we’ve just begun at Elm Grove shows that we are deadly serious about providing new, affordable, green housing so that local families can get out of temporary accommodation and so young people can dream once again of being able to buy a place in the borough they love, where they grew up.
Of course, none of this work stands still - and we’re once again facing the threat of a Labour Mayor and Labour government trying to take away our local control over planning. We’re fighting back, as ever, because our approach is different. We will keep defending local democratic accountability and the right of residents to shape the places where they live, work, and raise families.
Our bold, ambitious plan for Sutton’s future is what is at stake at this year’s local election. Everyone in Sutton will have to make a choice about the kind of future we want for our borough. Whilst the other parties are unambitious for our area, uninterested in tackling the problems local people face and focused only on standing still, we are unapologetically focused on delivering the future our borough deserves: more local jobs, world-leading research, and strong communities represented by councillors who put them first.
