Cleaner, safer and better neighbourhoods
The vast majority of people in Wandsworth are rightfully proud of where they live. We will work with our communities to maintain and improve the quality of life in our neighbourhoods by keeping them clean, green and safe for all to enjoy.
How are we doing it?
Making Wandsworth cleaner
We work as a team with our community to keep Wandsworth’s streets as clean as possible. As well cleaning busy town centres every day seven days a week, we take a pro-active approach on enforcement by handing out fines to the small minority of people who litter.
Find out about a day in the life of one of our enforcement officers and street cleaners.
Maintaining weekly bin collection
Did you know that around half of all councils collect refuse fortnightly? In Wandsworth we still collect your rubbish on a weekly basis because we know how important this is to residents. While we encourage as much recycling as possible, none of our rubbish goes to landfill. It is taken to our energy-from-waste incinerator in Belvedere where the heat generated is used to generate electricity which powers 13,000 homes.
Improving our roads
We are spending £5m this year improving our roads by fixing potholes and resurfacing where needed.
Delivering an excellent library service
We loan out nearly 1.5 million books each year across our 11 libraries. Although these days you don’t always have to physically go to a library to borrow a book. Once you are a member you can download e-books and music online.
Working with police to keep Wandsworth safe
We work closely with the police to keep Wandsworth one of the safest inner London boroughs. Our work ranges from helping engage communities to determine local priorities and supporting Neighbourhood Watch, through to diverting young people away from gangs.
Visit our community safety pages for more information.
Improving parks
We pride ourselves on the quality of parks in Wandsworth. In fact, we have more council-run parks and open spaces than any other borough in inner London. There are 32 parks that are available all year round, many of which offer free facilities such as outdoor gyms and games areas for basketball, netball, football and tennis. Each year we invest millions of pounds in maintaining and improving our parks.
Visit our parks pages to find out more about where our parks are and what free and paid-for facilities are provided.
Tackling air pollution
We have set up a task force to reduce air pollution. Our measures include lobbying the Mayor for an outright ban on diesel buses in Putney High Street, helping schools to develop School Travel Plans to reduce vehicles on the road and working with developers to manage construction safely and enhance street cleaning around development sites. We are championing car clubs and provide a free airTEXT messaging service warns residents when high pollution levels are forecast.
We are also making the borough more pedestrian-friendly including projects in Clapham Junction, Southfields, Putney and Earlsfield.
Opposing Heathrow expansion
We continue to strongly oppose the expansion of Heathrow Airport, believing that expansion would be detrimental to the quality of life in our borough.
Together with other local authorities, including Hillingdon, Richmond, Windsor and Maidenhead and Hammersmith & Fulham, we are legally challenging the Government’s decision to expand Heathrow Airport. We believe that the consultation was flawed and failed to accurately portray the impact of expansion when it comes to increasing air pollution and noise.
Car clubs
There are more car club members in Wandsworth than any other part of London, with 14,000 people signed up. We think they are important because they help to relieve congestion on our roads.
Find out more about car clubs.
Safer roads
Wandsworth is officially now a 20mph borough. The lower limit now applies in all of Wandsworth’s quieter residential backstreets and neighbourhoods and is designed to make local roads safer and also encourage other forms of sustainable transport like cycling and walking.
Planting new trees
We plant hundreds of new trees across our borough every year. It is part of a rolling programme to make our borough even greener.
Cycling
Did you know that Wandsworth has seen the highest increase in cycling usage in the whole of England and Wales?
We want Wandsworth to be a cycling-friendly borough which is why we brought the Santander Cycle Hire scheme here, with docking stations available across Battersea, Wandsworth Town and Putney.
Electronic cars
The number of electric charging points are being expanded across the borough with the aim of having at least at least one charging point in every residential street. Our plan is designed to make owning and running an electric car a much more attractive and viable option for many Wandsworth residents. Find out more about electric charging points in the borough.
Protecting pubs
We are protecting our favourite pubs from redevelopment by setting out planning guidance which recognises the historic, architectural and community value of pubs.
Replacing street lights
We are replacing 18,000 street lights with LED bulbs which are much more energy efficient – saving taxpayers £400,000 a year.
What we are doing next
- Ensuring that Wandsworth has the best-used network of libraries in London
- Opening a new library in Wandsworth Town in 2019, with others to follow in Northcote Road, Battersea Park Road, York gardens and Roehampton
- Improving Wandsworth Town Centre
- Piloting the use of lamp posts to provide electric car charging sockets
- Extending the network of free public wi-fi
- Replacing redundant phone kiosks with modern media hubs
- Appointing a Healthy Streets Champion to reduce street clutter, create safer streets and deliver more pocket parks
- Implementing safer cycling routes
- Increasing cycle parking facilities
- Working to extend cycle hire schemes
- Installing new water fountains in our major parks
- Carrying out a study on how to promote and improve the borough’s arts scene
- Lobbying for a Crossrail 2 route via Tooting
- Investing in additional mobile CCTV equipment to reduce traffic accidents
- Adopting a zero tolerance approach to graffiti
- Resisting police station front counter closures
- Campaigning against the closure of Lavender Hill police station
- Opposing the loss of 62 police officers in Wandsworth
- Working with police to tackle moped crime
- Installing speed warning devices in areas where residents call for action
- Reducing rat runs
- Improving safety by using cameras at accident hotspots
- Increasing recycling by reducing waste that goes to landfill
- Ensuring that none of our plastic waste finds its way to the ocean
- Reduce the amount of plastic waste from the Thames foreshore
- Adopting a zero-tolerance approach to littering and fly-tipping
- Promoting cafes in parks where there are none