What the council parties stand for in Richmond on Thames

Leaflets told me that my council candidates are nice people pushing for local things, but not much more.

• I think every council has too huge costs for social care and some educational needs
• I think every council gets their cash from dodgy parking rules enforced by Capita.
• I don't see leaflets about how the system works or how the borough is doing better or worse than others.There is an internal document which looks sensible. Maybe AI searches could find out more about it. Account "notes" are apparently the things to look out for.
  richmond.gov.uk/media/epafe3cl/budget_book_2026_27.pdf
  
  

I did an AI search to find out more from a party political angle - details below, which the search partly got from
teddington.nub.news/news/local-news/here-is-what-each-party-is-promising-in-richmonds-local-elections-294610

The Green Party puts its more general policy leaflets online as a manifesto, which seems a good system 
rtgp.org.uk/local-manifesto/

Leaflets have got better over the years, with less nonsensical phrases like "fighting for local people" even if they avoid saying much about what the council does, and tend to promote the nimby interest. Here are some suggestions for improving the system:

1. in a TV news area, different councils could resign at different times until maybe a national law does it for them. The idea is that about two councils in an area have an election at the same time. That gievs bloggers and media a chance to cover what's-up; whether they're sane or whether there's a council that needs voting-out or a really good opposition that needs voting-in.
2. councillors to tell voters what they stand for, overall, with a diagram of how council money is rasised and spent
3. councillors to put footnotes in their leaflets to show people how to look things up online

Anyway this is what an AI seach says about the candidates in Richmond on Thames.

For the upcoming Richmond upon Thames local elections on May 7, 2026, the major political parties have released their manifestos, promising to transform the borough over the next four years. [1, 2]

The Liberal Democrats have held the council since 2018, and all 54 seats are up for election. [1]

Liberal Democrats (Current Administration)

The Liberal Democrats are campaigning on their record of financial support and environmental action. [1]

• Housing: Increase the pipeline of over 1,000 social and affordable homes by unlocking small sites and buying back former council homes.
• Cost of Living: Launch a new Anti-Poverty Strategy and continue providing council tax reductions.
• Environment: Oppose Heathrow expansion and the Thames Water river abstraction scheme, while maintaining support for free travel for under-22s.
• Community: Launch a new rough sleeper hub and invest in family hubs and leisure facilities. [1, 2]

Green Party (Opposition)

The Green Party focuses on environmental sustainability, housing, and transparent decision-making. [1, 2]

• Environment: Aim to become the greenest council in London, with a target to be carbon neutral as a borough by 2043.
• Housing: Improve housing standards, stand up to bad landlords, and create more social housing.
• Community: Put "community first" by increasing participation in council decisions and tackling antisocial behaviour. [1, 2]

Conservative Party (no seats after past incumbancy)

The Conservative party in Richmond is focusing on crime, safety, and economic management. [1]

• Safety: Prioritise local policing, "make the borough's streets safe again," and oppose 20mph speed restrictions on main roads.
• Community: Tackle antisocial behaviour and provide more support for young people's mental and physical health. [1]
• When last in office they inherited an independent schools counselling service to do just that as required by law in schools. They removed its grant and allocated it to a catholic adoption agency that had been barred from offering adoption services because it refused to work with gay couples.
• When last in office their leaflets emphasised "award winning social services", but the award was for Richmond and Wandsworth councils merging admin services, not for the quality of the services provided. Provision was from a hard-to-find web site called Richmond Care and Support which looked independent and did not have the money to provide help for people leaving hospital on certain dates. It was just had a phone line that a hospital could ring forever.
• I don't know why they were voted-out, but the fact they lost every single seat says something.

Labour Party

While a formal consolidated manifesto may not have been published, candidates are campaigning on improving housing and supporting residents, with a focus on: [1]

• Cost of Living: Supporting residents through the economic crisis.
• Housing: Increasing the supply of affordable housing. [1, 2]

Reform UK

• Community: Focus on Hiring 10,000 new police officers, increasing stop-and-search to take knives and drugs out of neighbourhoods, and immediate justice sentences for offenders. [1] 

Current Council Priorities (2022-2026)

The current council corporate plan focuses on three pillars, which likely influence the platform of the incumbent administration:

• A Greener Borough: Tackling climate change, increasing recycling, and protecting green spaces.
• A Safer Borough: Maintaining the lowest crime rate in London, with a focus on tackling violence against women and girls.
• A Fairer Borough: Supporting residents through the cost-of-living crisis and becoming a "Borough of Sanctuary". [1]

There are three independent candidates, two linked by area -

North Richmond - no website facebook or such found for Maggie Richens
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/135533/maggie-richens
North Richmond - no website facebook or such found for Goerge Spencer Richen
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/135534/william-george-spencer-richen

Barnes -
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/135995/ivan-avanessov has some detail and
links to 
https://www.avanessov.com/

which gives an idea of what he's like and how he might vote on a committee. An AI search on his source code says the he's taken a very siimple template and expanded it by hand to make teh web pages, backing-up his claim to be a real live person.