Under Labour-run Merton Council, there exists an unacceptable and shameful nine years of healthy living gap between people living in the most and least deprived areas of the borough, due in no small part to our poor air quality.
In setting their recent Budget, Labour Councillors had the opportunity to take action to tackle air quality. But instead they chose to continue with their policy of increasing Parking Charges for Wimbledon residents which will do nothing to improve the air that we breathe.
For this reason, Merton Conservative Councillors moved an amendment to the Budget to scrap the Parking Charge increases and create a fund to plant trees in and around our schools. Sadly, this fell, with opposition from Labour, backed up by the Merton Park Independents, effectively endorsing worse air quality.
By enabling local schools to plant trees we would be putting the wellbeing of our children first and helping us all - with happy, healthy children, who are not learning in schools surrounded by smog and pollution.
Instead, Labour continues with its mis-guided tax increase on parked cars. A discriminatory tax simply motivated by Labour wanting to wring more money out of Wimbledon.
To stop this stealth tax on those in our borough who don’t vote Labour - please sign up to our campaign online at: https://bit.ly/2HBH218
