Hyde Park Ward election statements

Local elections are taking place on Thursday 5th May, the results of which will decide who runs the City of Westminster. A total of 54 councillors are up for election, 3 for each of the 18 wards that make up the City (down from 60 councillors and 20 wards in the last elections).

For the Hyde Park Ward (stretching from the Hyde Park Estate up to Bishops Bridge Road), 3 councillors will be elected. Current councillors Heather Acton and Antonia Cox are standing for re-election, with Ian Adams stepping down and new candidate Zaheed Nizar standing in his place. They will be going up against candidates from Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

We asked each party to provide a manifesto statement.

Conservative

We all want to make Hyde Park Ward cleaner, greener and safer and will work with our City Inspectors and the Veolia team to keep up the fight against fly-tipping. Westminster runs the best residential waste collection service in London and has new zero-emission vehicles for rapid response weekend street cleaning. We will make sure we get this resource.

Westminster is introducing food waste collections this year, which will reflect the different collection arrangements in mansion blocks, individual family houses and Council-owned property. Collection and use of the waste will help reduce CO2 emissions.

We will continue to work with the police and the Business Improvement District teams to tackle aggressive begging, drug dealing and other crime and anti-social behaviour.

We will also make sure that efficient traffic management around Paddington is kept a priority as the new development completes and the Elizabeth Line comes into service.

Most importantly, we will listen to and involve residents in our efforts to reduce anti-social behaviour and rat-running through the Ward, enhancing our environment and improving pedestrian safety.

The full Westminster Conservative manifesto is available at this link.

Labour

Paul Dimoldenberg has been a Westminster Labour Councillor for over 30 years and is a former Leader of the Labour Group. Paul’s knowledge of the Council has enabled the Labour Action Team to ‘get things done’ for local residents.

Md Shamsed Chowdhury is experienced in the business and hospitality industries and keen to use his knowledge to support young people into work. A volunteer with a homeless charity, he is keen to ensure everyone has a decent home and feels safe on our streets.

Judith Southern trained to be a nursery nurse. She then worked as a bus driver before starting nurse training and working at Paddington Green Children’s Hospital. She has lived in Hyde Park Ward since 1985.

Our priorities for Hyde Park Ward are as follows:

• Freeze Council Tax for all residents until 2024.
• Keep our area safe with more police to tackle crime.
• Stop illegal rubbish dumping with heavy fines for offenders.
• Put residents first in the planning system.
• Stand up for better NHS services against cuts and sell-offs.
• Deliver cleaner air, and greener homes and transport.
• Stop the financial waste. No more £6m Marble Arch Mound disasters!

The full Westminster Labour manifesto is available at this link.

Liberal Democrats

The Westminster Liberal Democrats want to see the current council be held accountable for their disastrous management of our great city over the last term. We believe the Council should be focused on the priorities that matter for local residents – controlling traffic flow and cutting down on pollution, encouraging cycling, installing more EV charging stations, and exhibiting sound financial management. The Marble Arch Mound debacle is just the latest example that shows that we can no longer trust Westminster Conservatives to allocate funds wisely and to the benefit of local residents. As professionals in business and finance we can assure you the Council will properly vet future initiatives, and as your neighbours we look forward to listening and representing your concerns to achieve a better community for us all.

Green Party

There is no Green Party candidate for the Hyde Park Ward this elections.

Results – 2018

For general interest, the results of the same elections in 2018 were as follows:

Candidate	Party	Votes
Acton, Heather	Conservative Party	1093
Adams, Ian	Conservative Party	1100
Cox, Antonia	Conservative Party	1104
Hainsworth, Barbara	Labour Party	674
Horn, Alex	Green Party	239
Lumby, David	Labour Party	598
Morgan, Sian	Liberal Democrats	263
Moscovici, Valentine	Liberal Democrats	212
Southern, Judith	Labour Party	654
Yaghi, Roy	Liberal Democrats	201