Conservative Plan for Watford Spring 2021.Pdf
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Watford Conservatives A CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR WATFORD An ambitious fresh start for our town SPRING 2021 A PLAN TO RESTORE PRIDE AND HOPE IN OUR TOWN AND THE SURROUNDING DISTRICT When you were growing up in the town or when you moved to Watford, did you ever imagine you would find yourself living in just another over-developed suburb of London? After 20 years of the current Liberal Democrat administrations in Watford and neighbouring Three Rivers, that is what is happening. Watford has traditionally been a pleasant county market town. It is still a great place to live, but it is changing – and not always for the better. Over the past two decades, it has become more urban – more like Croydon than Croxley. And all the while our local taxes keep going up and the quality of local services keep going down. The local Liberal Democrats can’t even run a basic rubbish collection effectively. The service is getting worse and worse. If they can’t even empty the bins frequently, how can they get anything else right? Yet there is so much that needs to be done. We need more local jobs. Local affordable housing needs expanding. The local parking crisis needs sorting out. Local transport must get better. We need safer streets. We need to restore local pride – not turn ourselves into a suburb of London, abandoning our landmark Town Hall and possibly losing our local football club from the heart of the area. We need a fresh start. That is what we in this plan are offering. We hope you will support us. A CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR WATFORD LOCAL HOUSING, DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORT 4 & INFRASTRUCTURE The Lib Dem Over-Development Disaster: Let’s Protect the Character of Our Area 4 Affordable Housing Shortage: Let’s Take A New Approach 7 Parking Neglect: Let’s Plan Better for Local Needs 8 Infrastructure Crisis: Let’s Make Sure We Have The Doctors and Schools We Need 9 Poor Transport Infrastructure: Let’s Improve Public Transport and Planning 10 LOCAL JOBS 12 Local Businesses Under Pressure: Let’s Support Small Businesses Who Create Jobs 12 and Prosperity Locally LOCAL GOVERNMENT 13 No More Tax Increases: Let’s Design A Better Budget 13 Waste Collection Crisis: Let’s Get the Basics Right 14 Wasting Money: Let’s Look After Our Resources 15 LOCAL ENVIRONMENT 16 Protecting Our Local Environment: Let’s Act Locally to Improve Our Quality of Life 16 LOCAL SAFETY AND POLICING 17 Our Streets: Let’s Make Safety a Top Priority 17 Our Police: Let’s Help Them Help Us More 18 LOCAL HEALTH 19 Opportunities for Local Health Services: Let’s Back the Watford General Hospital 19 Redevelopment Plan The Hidden Health Crisis: Let’s Focus on Mental Health Support 20 LOCAL PRIDE IN OUR HERITAGE AND HISTORY 21 Abandoning Our Town Hall: Let’s Instead Be Proud of Our Architecture 21 Watford’s History, Heritage and Cultural Richness: Let’s Understand our History 22 and Celebrate Our Local Heritage Hornets “To Move” Fear: Let’s Fight to Keep Watford Football Club at Home 23 A CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR WATFORD LOCAL HOUSING, DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE The Lib Dem Over- Development Disaster: Let's protect the character of our area Som e l oc a l dev e l op men t i s and mor e t al l of f i ces ar ound th e n ece s s a r y a n d c a n s er v e t he n eeds Wat f or d J unct ion s t at i on and of l o c a l p e op l e . Af f or da bl e new Cl ar endon R oad. Thes e pl ans will h om e s a r e r e q u i r e d, but a n y dr amat i cal l y change t he s ky line o f d ev e l op me n t needs t o be i n k eeping t he t own and hav e been at t ack ed b y wi t h t h e l oc a l a r e a . s ome as a ‘ mi ni -Manhat t an’ . T h e c on s t r u c t i on of a hi gh-r is e Al l t oo of t en, huge dev el opmen t s o f t ow e r bl o c k of 28 s t or e y s i s out o f s mal l f l at s ar e appr ov ed wi t h lit t le ch ar a c t e r f or ou r a r e a . T he S t or no pr ov i s i on f or car par ki ng. T h e A l b a n s Roa d a r e a w i l l be t ot a lly L i ber al D emocr at s ’ ex cus e i s th at a d i s f i g u r e d by a de v el opmen t t ha t t r ai n s t at i on i s cl os e by ! As ma ny wi l l s e e e l e v en n ew t ow e r bloc k s . It y oung coupl es i n t hes e f l at s w ill i s al r e a dy be i ng c ha n g ed by c u r r ent hav e chi l dr en, what pr ov i s i on fo r d ev e l op me n t s . f ami l y accommodat i on i s bei ng made? I n addi t i o n , t h e Li ber a l De moc r a t C ou n c i l i s de t er mi ned t o bui ld mor e Wher e wi l l t hei r v i s i t or s , f r i end s PAGE 4 SPRING 2021 A CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR WATFORD and family park? Where will they go to the doctors, dentists or school? Planning would be easier to manage, and over-development easier to resist, if Watford’s local plan was up to date. But it is well overdue, making the Council vulnerable to planning appeals. Watford’s planning incompetence is leading to disaster and needs to be stopped before it is too late. The same is true in Three Rivers District where repeated delays in publishing the local plan is giving rise to suspicions of a cover-up. The District Council is so desperate to attract developers into the South Oxhey area that it ‘let them off’ paying the amount that should really have been due to the local community in Watford Rural Parish area, including Carpenders Park and Oxhey Hall. It is not good enough for these local Liberal Democrat administrations to just blame central government targets. H a ve y o u n o t i ced t h at o n t h e one h a n d t he L i b er al D em ocr at s s ay t h e y h a v e n o power t o cont r ol loc al pla nn i n g a n d ever yt h i ng i s t h e go ve r n m e n t ’s f aul t b ut t h en ca m pa i g n a gains t any ch anges t o n a t ion a l pl a n ni ng l aws as t h ey don ’ t w a n t t o l o s e l ocal co nt r ol? W h ic h o n e d o you t h i nk i t r eally is ? SPRING 2021 PAGE 5 A CONSERVATIVE PLAN FOR WATFORD Y e s , w e ’v e n ow r each ed t h e point We need bet t er pl ans f or Watf o r d wh er e : and t he s ur r oundi ng di s t r i ct . Liberal Democrats = Local Developers T h ey a l l o w i n ap p r op r i a t e d ev e l o p me n t an d w a s h t he i r ha nds of t h e c on s e qu en c e s of t he i r d eci s i o n s . B u t t hey c a nn ot s imp ly s h i r k t he i r r e s p on s i bi l i t i es t his way . We n e e d a p l an f or Wa t f or d a nd the s ur r o u n di n g d i s t r i c t t ha t f oc u s es on m aki n g g o o d us e of br ow nf i eld s i t es s o we c an p r ot e c t our g r een b el t a n d s t op ur ba n s p r a w l .