A referendum is being held in West Hampstead and Fortune Green to give local residents more power over development in our their community - and local Conservatives are urging people to vote YES.
The referendum on 9th July is to approve the West Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan - proposed by the West Hampstead Neighbourhood Development Forum.
The Plan gives legal standing to local residents' priorities for the area, whether that's providing more affordable housing, banning skyscrapers like Camden Labour's Liddell Road tower, creating local jobs, or preserving our green spaces.
Local communities have been given power over developments in their areas by a law passed by the Conservatives. The Localism Act 2011 allows communities to write Neighbourhood Plans, which give legal protection to the things that local people care about most. The Neighbourhood Plans have to be approved by a referendum of local people: ensuring you have a say in our community.
The Camden New Journal wrote this week, "Credit should be given to [Conservative] Eric Pickles, who engineered the Localism Act 2011." We're proud of Pickles's achievement and urge everyone to vote YES on 9th July.
Local Conservatives Ian Cohen and Andrew Parkinson have worked with the community to help write the Neighbourhood Plan since its beginning.
As a planing barrister, Andrew has used his professional expertise to help write the Plan and make its provisions as robust as possible.
As a local small business-owner and West Hampstead resident for fifty years, Ian has spoken to thousands of local residents and helped feed this into the Plan to ensure your views are represented.