Backing Our Communities - Southwark Liberal Democrats

The cost of living crisis is breaking our communities. The Labour council have raised Council Tax every year to the maximum and increased business rates, threatening small independent businesses.

Meanwhile, the Labour government have raised taxes, failed to bring utility bills down and made huge cuts to welfare support.

Liberal Democrats will:

Freeze council tax for the poorest households who are struggling the most. We will do this by creating a fund to offset any council tax rises for those in receipt of council tax reduction payments
Expand the council’s cost of living fund so anyone can apply for a grant if they are in financial difficulty
Launch a rates relief fund to support local independent businesses and revive our high streets.

We are proud of Southwark’s voluntary community sector, who provide vital support for local people and are valuable partners for the council. We would support charities and community groups by:

Increasing grants to the sector to strengthen their sustainability
Using money collected from developers to fund social infrastructure such as community halls, playgrounds, and workspaces
Use the Voluntary Community Sector premises officer to help groups identify and move into premises.

The council can often feel inaccessible, and residents struggle to get a response when they have questions or ask for help. Liberal Democrats will:

Bring back neighbourhood community councils across Southwark to give local people much more say over how funding is spent in their areas and planning issues
Ensure that all enquiries are answered within 7 days, and commitments are followed through
Roll out one-stop-shops (similar to banking hubs) in every neighbourhood, open 7 days a week, so that council services are accessible to all when they need face to face help
Make sure that services are equally accessible to everyone who is digitally excluded and support digital upskilling for older people.

Southwark is proud to be a vibrant hub of diverse communities, which need our solidarity and support more than ever. Liberal Democrats will build on the existing strategies which support, protect and celebrate residents from all ethnic minority and faith backgrounds.

We will develop an LGBTQ+ Action Plan to do the same for the growing LGBTQ+ population in Southwark, to help tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and support LGBQT+ community spaces and venues.

We also back the London Liberal Democrats’ campaign for a disability champion at the Greater London Authority, and will make sure that accessibility – of our streets, buildings, and council services – is a top priority again.

Spotlight on: Making Southwark a great place to grow up

Liberal Democrats want to see a Southwark where children and families can thrive – reversing the trend under Labour where that has become increasingly difficult. We want all our young people to grow up in a borough that gives them maximum opportunities to flourish. Liberal Democrats will:

Increase investment in youth clubs – opening 5 new youth clubs across the borough
Make sure there are more genuinely affordable family homes built so that schools aren’t forced to close
Open a new, dedicated SEND school to support young people with additional needs, delivering millions of pounds of savings by the end of the council term.
Strengthen partnerships in the private and voluntary sectors across the borough to increase youth employment and apprenticeships – creating 50 additional apprenticeships with the council or through partners every year
Work with schools, community centres, and places of worship to open them up after school so young people have somewhere safe and warm to socialise and study in the evenings
Make sure that all council play spaces, parks and green spaces are upgraded by 2030
Open 8 new parks or green spaces, one in each neighbourhood
Create a Child Poverty Office and offer free “baby boxes” to new and expecting parents.

Backing our national campaigns

Care:

Caring is at the heart of the Liberal Democrats’ values. We all will either be caring for someone at home or require care at some point in our life. We back Ed Davey’s campaign to fix social care across the country, accelerating the delivery of wide-ranging reforms which Labour have kicked down the road.

Hospitality:

Southwark is a proud home to some of the best hospitality the country has to offer – from family-owned cafes to world renowned restaurants. Under the Tories and Labour, businesses like these have struggled, especially smaller businesses. We back the Liberal Democrat campaign to implement an emergency VAT cut on hospitality of 5%.

Education:

We would lend the council’s support to the national Liberal Democrat campaigns on education, including:

Putting a dedicated, qualified mental health professional in every school
Tripling the early years pupil premium
Creating a lifelong skills grant for education and training.