What are the Political Parties Offering You in the Local Elections

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A look at the manifestos in Hammersmith & Fulham

Voting for new councillors takes place on 7 May

April 29, 2026

Since its creation in the mid 1960s Hammersmith and Fulham has only ever really been a battle between Labour and the Conservatives.

The current Labour administration, led by Stephen Cowan, took control from the Tories in 2014, which had run the West London council since 2006.

Prior to that it had alternated between Labour and Tory rule other than the period from 1978 to 1986 when it was under no overall control.

The emerging national trend of multi-party politics may however see some surprises at the elections on 7 May, when all 50 council seats are up for grabs.

While polls have suggested a Labour hold is the most likely outcome it appears as if several wards may be hard-fought, with the Greens, Lib Dems and Reform expected to secure greater vote shares than in 2022.

The Conservatives, Labour and Reform are all standing 50 candidates, with the Liberal Democrats putting forward 43 and the Green Party 29. Two independents are also standing.

Ahead of the elections we have pulled out the main manifesto pledges from each of the major parties and have listed them below.

The Green Party said it does not have a local manifesto for Hammersmith and Fulham.

Reform UK was also contacted on several occasions but did not respond.

Conservatives

These are some of the key campaign priorities for the Conservatives in Hammersmith and Fulham. You can find out more here.

Crime and policing

• Restore ‘real policing’, with a focus on crime hotspots, a Special Constable recruitment drive, and the purchase of 50 more police officers from the Met
• Invest in ‘smart-policing’, by expanding the CCTV network, introducing new tools to tackle crime and safer street design, such as through 5G-enabled streetlights
• Restore order to public spaces with a crack-down on anti-social behaviour (ASB), a shoplifting taskforce to protect local businesses, and an extension of the Public Space Protection Orders to cover areas including town centres and high streets

Transport

• Make parking ‘affordable’ by reversing parking charge increases, introducing borough-wide permits for an additional fee and more EV charging spots
• Fix Hammersmith Bridge first by building a temporary crossing, with the Tories say could be built “within months” after permission is granted, and then by re-opening the existing structure
• Get the borough moving, with commitments including scoping out the feasibility of a Hammersmith Tunnel, no new low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), removing the King Street cycle lane and the Wandsworth Bridge Road parklets, and prioritising fixing potholes

Conserving our environment

• Maintain efficient waste services, with recycling bags available year-round and charges for removing garden waste to be rolled back
• Establish a programme to introduce energy efficient street lighting and transparent, regular publication of air quality monitoring data
• Make homes greener by continuing the programme installing double glazing on council-owned properties, retrofitting buildings and have a 100 per cent net zero emissions fleet of vehicles, plus commitments such as encouraging community energy projects

Reviving our high streets and public realm

• Establish a dedicated taskforce for each of the borough’s high streets
• Set up a High Street Renewal Fund, which can be applied to for improvements such as bins and lighting
• Scope out the potential for more al-fresco dining areas and semi-pedestrianisation

Health and social care

• Act as a vocal champion for the local hospitals and their receipt of Government funding
• Prioritise early years wellbeing and services through Family Hubs, which will be rolled out within the borough
• Maintain free home care

Skills and education

• Partner with industry and develop a “best-in-class local partnership with tech firms operating in West London”, ensuring readiness in schools as well as the expansion of activities such as coding clubs
• Work with schools to strengthen pathways in STEM and green industries
• Implement a mobile phone ban across borough schools, champion parental transparency and protect Free Schools

Housing

• Level up social housing via commitments including an audit of all housing maintenance and repair contracts, bringing down the number of voids, not offering accommodation to anyone entering the UK illegally and removing the right to social housing from residents consistently engaging in ASB
• Introduce a ‘New Deal for Leaseholders’ by ending large surprise bills for major works, ensuring good communication and value-for-money, and holding Leaseholder Forums in the areas where they live.
• Set up an Estates Small Schemes Fund for smaller-scale improvements

Planning

• Remove the requirements for 50 per cent affordable housing for new homes and for all new developments to be car free
• Protect green, open spaces from being built on and prioritise underused urban sites
• Rewrite the Local Plan to “explicitly favour gentle density and traditional designs for new developments”

Business

• Set up a pop-up shop programme to support local entrepreneurs and creatives
• Support the Bush and Lyric theatres and explore use of underused council-owned land for temporary arts purposes

Licensing

• Introduce a new local strategy for the night-time and hospitality industries, with particular support for high quality restaurants and entertainment venues
• Protect pubs and hospitality venues with a moratorium on turning them into housing
• Discourage the “proliferation” of fast-food outlets on high streets though encourage them around hubs such as Fulham Broadway

Finance, tax and administration

• Maintain council tax discount for veterans and introduce a similar discount for special constables, with the Council Tax Support scheme to be continued
• Cut the number of Cabinet and lead Member roles and allow technology “to drive savings”
• Increase attractiveness of the council as a place to work including through a graduate and apprenticeship scheme and work experience programme

Labour

The Labour group had yet to publish their full manifesto at the time of writing. Below we have listed a series of key pledges they have included in campaign literature.

• Help build new state-of-the-art hospital facilities
• Be the best value council in the country such as by providing free adult home care and cost-of-living support
• Introduce AI-enabled CCTV that identifies weapons and criminals
• Install new green schemes to bring down energy bills and cut emissions
• Offer every young local person a Pathway Bond career opportunity
• Deliver more than £8 million in new investment to improve the borough’s parks
• Build more than 10,000 genuinely affordable homes for local people
• Invest in the borough’s high streets
• Extend European partnerships to ensure young people can gain international work experience

Liberal Democrats

These are some of the key campaign priorities for the Liberal Democrats in Hammersmith and Fulham. You can find out more here.

Housing

• Build more homes, exceeding housing targets by at least 20 per cent each year and moving spending from temporary accommodation into council-owned properties
• End damp and mould in council homes, including by launching a borough-wide audit of conditions and compensating residents that have been failed
• Tackling the cladding scandal by supporting the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign’s 10 demands and ensuring no remediation costs are passed on to leaseholders or residents

Crime and safety

• Improve visibility including by keeping the 24/7 counter at Hammersmith Police Station open and opening additional policing hubs
• Tackle ASB with more funding for youth centres, investing in Turning Point programmes and addressing the “root causes” of ASB
• Properly investigate sexual offences by pressing the Mayor to fully fund and recruit dedicated rape and serious sexual offence investigators and supporting survivors with more effective investigations

Transport

• Support clean air initiatives such as LTNs “but only with genuine resident consent”, introduce a new borough-wide parking permit with discounts for residents more than 1 kilometre from a Tube station, and oppose tube fair hikes by the Mayor of London
• Safe and convenient cycling, with designated parking spaces for dockless bikes on every street and protected cycle lanes running east-west and north-south

Accountability and fair governance

• A “fair deal on the cost of living”, with support for residents with practical help regarding housing, benefits and services, opposing tube fare rises and campaigning for fairer bills from Thames Water
• Consult residents before major changes to streets, services or planning, transparent reporting on council performance and to publish commitments so residents can hold the local authority to account
• Publish an annual value-for-money audit, introduce open procurement, end ‘wasteful’ spending on consultants and temporary agency staff, reduce cost of temporary accommodation and give residents a say in local budget priorities

High streets and environment

• Hold Thames Water to account by demanding a halt on ‘unjustified’ price hikes, pushing for accountability on its debt, and campaigning for residents “to get value from their bills”
• Revive Hammersmith, Fulham and Shepherd’s Bush high streets, with measures including reliable cleaning and litter removal and support for independent businesses shopfront improvements.

Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter

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