Thursday, May 7th Local Elections - Enfield RoadWatch Action Group

Some important guidelines for voting to save Crews Hill and the Green Belt:

a] If you are a Labour voter, forget party loyalty this time – it’s an unusual election

b) vote for candidates you trust to protect Crews Hill and the Green Belt

c) vote for candidates whose policies match your priorities for Enfield — even if they are not your usual party of choice.

d) vote Tory in Tory held seats

e) in the rest vote for candidates who have the best chance of beating Labour in your area:

in the east of the borough vote for the Community Independents where they have candidates and others elsewhere
In Labour held wards in the west vote Tory, Green or Lib Dem, whichever seems best placed to flip Labour.

f] do not vote randomly – that could allow a Labour victory because your votes will be split 4 ways.

To find out about your ward look at the last council election here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Enfield_London_Borough_Council_election

Why Crews Hill and Enfield’s countryside need your vote. Please think before you vote

Enfield RoadWatch is a non‑political community group that has spent more than a decade standing up for the borough’s countryside, green spaces, and the Golden Mile of Garden Centres at Crews Hill. Our purpose has always been simple: Brownfield first, and homes built in the right places — not at the expense of the countryside.

Yet Enfield’s Labour‑run council has put forward a vast stretch of Green Belt at Crews Hill and the countryside known as Chase Park for a possible 21,000‑home new town. This single proposal has shaken residents across the borough and has caused deep concern amongst the wider community. This proposal would permanently change the character of Enfield, remove a much‑loved asset, and threaten the garden centres, horticultural businesses, and hundreds of jobs that make Crews Hill unique.

As a community group, we have never supported any political party. But we do believe that residents (wherever you live in the borough) should understand the consequences of your vote at the upcoming local elections on Thursday, May 7. There is a real and serious danger that split votes amongst parties that oppose Green Belt development could allow the Labour group to remain in control – the very same Labour group, who put Crews Hill and Chase Park forward for development.

This is not a normal election. This is not a moment for party loyalty. This is a moment for tactical voting.

Tactical voting means disregarding party affiliation and choosing the candidate who:

a) you trust to represent your interests, and

b) whose policies align with your priorities — even if they are not your usual party of choice.

For the first time, several parties are contesting seats in each ward. Here is a snapshot of where political parties stand on the proposed 21,000‑home new town and on protecting Crews Hill and Enfield’s Green Belt:

Conservatives: Regardless of how the party has performed nationally, on a local level the Conservatives have consistently opposed Green Belt development in Enfield and have publicly committed to protecting Crews Hill and Whitewebbs . They have a track record to back this up. They also promise to do whatever they can to stop the proposed New Town. The Conservatives are the only party with enough candidates to remove the Labour Group from control.

Reform: The Greater London Authority Reform representative voted to build on the Green Belt in London. This will put the Green Belt, the countryside, and Crews Hill at risk. In key wards, a vote for Reform would likely take one away from the Conservatives and could allow a Labour candidate to win.

Labour : The current Labour Council has created a significant threat to the Green Belt and Crews Hill, having already initiated the process to release these areas through the Local Plan and by submitting the proposal for a 21,000‑home new town. This is all against the majority of the community and residents across the borough who have clearly and loudly said no to developing on our countryside and Crews Hill. Labour’s track record has been appalling on all these issues.

The Green Party: Supports the protection of green spaces, and it is a priority in their manifesto.

Enfield Community Independents: This group of committed independent candidates have also pledged to protect the Green Belt and could give Labour candidates a run for their money in the east of the borough.

Liberal Democrats: Their manifesto states that they will protect Green Belt land and green spaces by stopping unnecessary plans such as the proposed Crews Hill development and the sale of Whitewebbs..

Enfield RoadWatch will never tell you how to vote. But we will say this:

The future of Crews Hill and the countryside that defines Enfield will be shaped by the choices residents make at the ballot box.

This is a moment that will echo for generations. Once our countryside is gone, it is gone forever. Once thriving horticultural businesses are uprooted, they do not return. Once a precious landscape is lost, a community loses part of itself and its heritage.

Whatever your politics, whatever your background, we urge you all to vote with clear eyes, full information, and a deep understanding of what is at stake. This is not a time for party loyalty and contributing to a split vote!

You have to ask yourself – Is Crews Hill worth fighting for? Is our countryside worth fighting for?

If the answer is yes, then this election may be your last chance to protect it. Your vote will set the how the borough looks for the next generations. Use your vote wisely.

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Conservative party manifesto [click on the image]

Enfield Community Independents [click on the image]

Green Party manifesto [click on image]

.The Greens also provided the following statement about the Green Belt:

The Green Belt is vital to London. Its hills feed our streams. Its trees clean our air. Its views refresh our soul. And it cools the planet.

Enfield’s Green Belt is not optional. So we are against building a ‘new town’, actually a suburb, at Crews Hill and the leasing of Whitewebbs Park Golf Course to a football club. As the party of the environment we have, and seek, no other choice.

This is not to prioritise nature over people. Enfield needs more housing, especially council housing. But it should prioritise bringing more empty homes back into use. And it should build new homes on the many brownfield sites in our borough.

Labour Party manifesto [click on image]

Liberal Democrat manifesto [click on image

The Liberal Democrats also provided the following statement:

‘The Liberal Democrats will stop the destruction of our precious Green Belt at Crews Hill and reject any lease of Whitewebbs Park. These irreplaceable green spaces safeguard biodiversity, flood protection, recreation, and community wellbeing. Instead, we would deliver housing rapidly at Meridian Water – the council’s long-failed brownfield site where, despite owning the land for over a decade, delivery has been painfully slow and promises repeatedly broken.

Protect green spaces. Build on brownfield. Now.’

Reform UK manifesto [click on image]

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

TUSC also provided the following statement:

TUSC opposes the “new town” planned in Crews Hill. We oppose privatisation of public land as a matter of principle, and that includes Whitewebbs and Crews Hill. We always and everywhere oppose building unaffordable housing that only benefits private developers, and that goes for Crews Hill too.

It is true that Enfield has a huge housing crisis. Around 6,000 households are on the council house waiting list, living in temporary accommodation that costs Enfield Council around £60 million a year. But the answer to that is not to build unaffordable houses on precious greenfield land, or anywhere else for that matter. The answer is to build council homes, especially on public land. But that is not the plan for the new town.

Enfield Council has already been involved in a huge project of promised 10,000 homes, at Meridian Water, a brownfield site and council-owned land. TUSC members have been active in a campaign that demands 100% council homes at social rent there, that would house those on the waiting list.

In the council plans there are no social-rent homes available at Meridian Water, or the new town. Yet the council’s argument for the necessity of both projects is ‘the housing crisis’. It looks like it’s a perpetual excuse for the council in order to reward private developers with opportunities to make massive profits while never actually solving the problem.

Crews Hill garden centres, open green spaces, food-growing land and biodiversity must not be demolished for developers’ profits. We say, build council housing on many available brownfield sites in the borough (there are about 700 sites which could accommodate 40,000 homes, according to Better Homes Enfield), stop privatisation of land, keep green spaces open for all.

Enfield Dispatch provides good background on why this election is so important and will cover the campaign extensively.

Here is the Dispatch preview of what’s to come in the upcoming local election .

Dispatch reports that: as well as the Tories, the Liberal Democrats, Greens, Reform UK and Enfield Community Independents have all pledged to save the Green Belt from development should they win power in May. That leaves Labour as the only party pushing for Green Belt development.

Dispatch outlines what the parties are promising this year.

Please follow Dispatch for more informative articles as the elections draw closer.