Gia Borg-Darcy is the Chairman of the Kingston & Surbiton Conservative Association.
A local government that cannot provide the basics has no right to ask for more.
That is the problem with Kingston Council’s new draft Local Plan.
The Council wants to build nearly 20,000 homes by 2043. That is not just a Lib Dem Kingston target. It is a Labour London target, handed down. But targets without delivery are not leadership. They are a betrayal of the people who already live here.
First, density. 20,000 homes means 45,000 to 50,000 more people. Where will they go to school? Where will they see a GP? Where will they park?
In Kingston and Surbiton, our roads are already full. Try getting down Ditton Road, Kingsdowne Road, or Hook Road at school run. The Council’s answer? A six-month closure of Ditton Road for a cycle scheme, with no credible plan for the traffic it will displace. That is not progress. That is passing the problem onto residents.
Second, the environment. We are the Royal Borough. We have the Hogsmill, green spaces, and air we should be protecting.
Yet this Plan puts pressure on Metropolitan Open Land as in Hook or Chessington South and pushes more cars onto narrow residential streets. You cannot call yourself “green” while worsening air quality and congestion in the very neighbourhoods you claim to protect.
Third, infrastructure. A home is not just four walls. It needs a school place. A GP appointment. A train you can board. A sewer that works.
This Plan offers none of that. It relies on “developer contributions” that come too late, and vague promises. Kingston Hospital is already at capacity. Our trains from Surbiton and Kingston are standing room only – and often not even that. Thames Water has already warned of sewage capacity problems across South West London.
To add 20,000 homes without guaranteed schools, doctors, and roads is not planning. It is negligence.
The test is simple.
Is this Plan sound? No.
It is not justified by the evidence. It is not effective because the infrastructure isn’t funded. It is not consistent with the NPPF, which demands infrastructure first. And there has been little or no real public consultation.
Conservatives believe in building homes, and in meeting the home-owning aspirations of young people. We believe in building communities first.
Kingston Council must go back. Reduce the numbers to what can realistically be supported by local residents. Rule out building on green land. Publish a real Infrastructure Delivery Plan with dates and funding. And consult properly — not the sham meetings where residents are ignored.
The people of Kingston deserve a council that serves them, not one that serves a spreadsheet from Labour-run City Hall. Although recently even that does not make sense, as the LibDem Local Plan proposals don’t match up with the lower London Plan requirements. What are you doing Kingston Council?
Lib Dem-run Kingston’s draft Local Plan fails these basic tests, and should be rejected.