Leader's statement

It is a unique privilege to have been elected as leader of Richmond upon Thames. It is an extraordinary place, fortunate in so many respects, but, above all, in the quality and decency of its people, in whose warmth and wisdom I find a daily inspiration. No borough has more talent or public spirit among its citizens of all ages. We face enormous challenges ahead, locally and nationally, but I am convinced that, if we work together as a community, we can overcome them and leave our Borough better and more united than we found it.

We will never forget who is the employee and who is the employer in the relationship between an elected authority and those who elect it. It is your Borough. You chose us to do a job. It is our duty to work for you and with you rather than against you. We will try to be worthy of the trust you have placed in us. Over the next four years this Council will work to deliver services that reflect the public’s priorities, not to impose the agenda of party politicians.

Delivering good services that represent value for money means spending every penny of tax payer’s money as carefully as if it were our own. And this is exactly what we will do. In particular, we will look after our streets by keeping them clean and in better repair and we will improve recycling. We will work to deliver the world class secondary schools that our young people deserve and bring sixth form choice to our Borough. We will defend our small shops and bring in fair parking policies for all. And we will support local police to make sure this is the safest borough in London.

None of this will be easy in the current economic climate. But we won’t pick your pockets to do it. We will work with the coalition government to freeze council tax next year and with the aim to achieve zero increase in 2012 - 2013. We have already cut senior councillors pay and will ruthlessly drive out inefficiency anywhere we find it. We are publishing all items of Council spending over £500 online so you, the public, can see where your money goes and help us ensure it is not wasted.

I want to make Richmond upon Thames a model for how councils can work with people to improve local areas for everyone. This will mean a new relationship between the Council and you as residents. We need to listen to each other and in particular the Council must listen to you. Over the next year in our ‘All in One’ pledge, we will contact every citizen to ask your priorities in your locality. No Council has done this before. There will be occasional difficult decisions, but we need to take them with eyes open, and nurture good will and involvement on all sides.

Richmond upon Thames is a remarkable place to live and work. Working together, we can improve it still further. I hope you will join with me as we look to bring our community together, develop local diversity and pride and sustain public services for an area that all of us can take pride in.

Cllr Nicholas True
Leader of the Council