Please help me to raise £500 to run my campaign to become an Independent Councillor  for the Kingston Independent Residents' Group in Canbury Ward in Kingston. I will use the money to produce newsletters, information for residents and targeted election material and generally to generate support for my independent voice on the council. Please make a donation, however small.  Please note that all donations over the threshold of £50 will need to be checked against the electoral register to ensure they are permissible.

I believe that it is time that councils were run by independent local people in residents’ interests. I care passionately about my community, and I believe that it is only when people care enough to stand up and do something that change happens. On May 3rd, we can make a start. 

Please support me if you care about the future of The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, about Canbury Ward and the wonderful green areas of Richmond Park, Bushy Park and The River Thames surrounding it, or if you simply believe that this country needs independent people representing residents' interests and challenging decisions in local government. 

Too often local elections are dominated by party-political issues and national and regional agendas. In Kingston, the current council administration has been acting in the interests of the Greater London Authority and property developers by agreeing a massive development strategy despite vast numbers of objections and the fact that local infrastructure is nowhere near adequate to support predicted population growth. In addition, developments being built are neither affordable to local people who need homes nor appropriate in the neighbourhoods that they are already starting to dominate.

I have spent the last five years attempting to hold Kingston council to account from the outside. I have fought for positive changes in Canbury Ward and throughout the Borough and I have rallied support against the council's plans to turn the Borough in to one big Opportunity Area for high rise development.  I have witnessed how council decisions are being made behind closed doors, and how all kinds of tricks and procedural ruses are employed to get decisions through the checks and balances that are supposed to exist to protect democracy. Lack of transparency and secrecy abound, and weak recommendations are waved through committees with no proper scrutiny as political interests reign supreme.

I now know that you cannot get very far working on the outside, and that, to make a real difference for the residents of Kingston, I need to get inside the chamber.

CONTACT ME

If you are not able to donate to my campaign, but would like to help me in other ways, please contact me. I would be grateful for any support you can give me:

Caroline Shah Scott - CarolineShah@ShahScott.com