Four years of Conservative decline — crumbling roads, a £58 million budget deficit, empty High Streets and a council that sold the Churchill Theatre for £500,000 and called it a success. Tories and Reform are two sides of the same failed coin. Harsha Puttaswamy and Joe Watchorn are the local team that will fight back.
Six priorities for Chelsfield
Tackle speeding hotspots, fix the red-rated roads, and push for cameras councils can actually use.
End the Conservative decline in our local shopping parades — starting with reversing Windsor Drive charges.
Pragmatic decisions made in consultation with residents — not dictated by developers.
Stop the sell-off of valued community assets before they deteriorate beyond recovery.
Bromley's adult care scored 56 out of 100. Council tax is at its maximum. We deserve better.
£58m deficit. £13m on a library move that wasn't needed. £500k for the Churchill Theatre. The numbers don't lie.
Speeding is the top concern raised by Chelsfield residents at the door, time and again. Families worry about children walking to school. Older residents feel unsafe. The Conservatives have had years to act — and have repeatedly chosen not to. Harsha and Joe's approach is different: practical, locally agreed interventions, not imposing a borough-wide ideological scheme. Targeted action, not one-size-fits-all policy.
We back speed calming measures on residential roads — but only where residents want them, designed in consultation with the community, and tailored to each street. We do not support blanket 20mph zones imposed across the ward. Our commitment is to work with residents and only act where there is local agreement.
Residents on Warren Road, Chelsfield Hill, The Highway and Court Road have raised repeated concerns about dangerous speeds. Garden walls have been knocked down. SAT NAV systems route through-traffic onto streets never designed for it. We will work street by street with residents to agree targeted calming measures — only where the community supports them.
Illegal street racing near Hewitts Farm roundabout has been raised with Council officers and police for years, with little effective response. This is not acceptable. Harsha and Joe will not let it be buried in statistics — we will keep pushing until action follows.
Chelsfield's excellent schools should be a source of pride — not daily gridlock and danger on nearby roads. We will work with residents and nearby schools on targeted solutions: clearer signage, camera enforcement at specific locations and times, restrictions on three-point turns, and a stronger push with school leaders to help parents follow local rules. No blanket bans — just practical fixes that work.
Harsha and Joe are campaigning for the Government to let councils install speed cameras where residents raise concerns, and reinvest every penny of fines locally — into roads, safer crossings and school travel schemes. This is not about punishing drivers. It is about protecting communities where police resources cannot keep pace with the problem.
Practical, locally agreed interventions — not imposing an ideological scheme on residents who did not ask for it. Speed calming only where residents want it. Camera powers that give councils the tools to act where police cannot. Targeted school street measures designed with the community, not handed down from above.
Harsha and Joe have actively campaigned on speeding — backing the Bromley Lib Dems petition to give councils speed camera powers. We raised this issue on the doorstep and in Council. We will not stop until Chelsfield's roads are genuinely safe for everyone who lives here.
Feeling safe in your own home and on your own street is not a luxury — it is a basic expectation. Residents across Chelsfield are reporting more vehicle theft, more attempted break-ins, and a growing sense that the pattern of offending is not being taken seriously. That must change.
Source: police.uk — Chelsfield ward crime data, April 2023 to February 2026. Data is provided by local police forces and may not reflect all crimes reported.
Car thefts and keyless entry attacks are increasing across the ward. Residents report repeat offences in the same streets and a frustrating lack of visible response. We will push hard for better use of local intelligence — so that repeat offenders and known hotspots are prioritised, not buried in broader crime statistics.
Chelsfield has seen patterns of attempted burglaries that suggest organised targeting of residential areas. Neighbourhood Watch groups are doing vital work — but they need to be properly connected to policing resources and ward councillors to make their intelligence count. The Conservatives have presided over a policing model that is invisible and reactive. We need a model that is visible and preventative.
More visible police and PCSO patrols in Chelsfield, especially at known hotspots and during periods of heightened risk. Better use of technology and local intelligence to tackle vehicle crime and repeat offenders. Closer working between ward councillors, residents' groups and Neighbourhood Watch — so that patterns of attempted burglaries and car thefts are taken seriously, not lost in the statistics.
The Liberal Democrats believe policing works best when officers are visible, properly resourced and embedded in the communities they serve. We will campaign for additional PCSOs in Chelsfield and push back against any reduction in frontline policing that leaves residents feeling abandoned. Neighbourhood policing is not a nice-to-have — it is the foundation of community safety.
Neighbourhood Watch groups in Chelsfield are active and alert. Harsha and Joe will work to ensure their intelligence reaches the right people — ward councillors, local police and the Council — so that patterns are identified early and acted on, not dismissed. Residents who report crime should feel heard, not ignored.
Across Bromley, High Streets are declining. While other town centres recovered after the pandemic, ours continue to fall behind. The Conservatives have no regeneration plan, no strategy to attract businesses, and no vision for what Bromley's High Streets should become — just a series of bad decisions that make things worse for residents and traders alike.
Residents and local businesses made their opposition to Windsor Drive parking charges crystal clear. The Conservatives pushed them through anyway — to raise an estimated £15,000 a year. That is not a revenue strategy. It is a statement of priorities: short-term income over local traders, residents' convenience and community character. And now Tory councillors are reportedly considering extending parking charges to Warren Road too.
Tory councillors are now proposing to extend parking charges to Warren Road — a quiet residential road. If they will do it to Windsor Drive, they will do it everywhere. Harsha and Joe will fight every attempt to price residents out of their own neighbourhood.
The decision to introduce parking charges on Windsor Drive was opposed by residents, traders and the Liberal Democrats at every Council committee stage. The projected income? Around £15,000 a year. The cost? Damage to independent traders already operating on thin margins, and a message to residents that their convenience matters less than a rounding error in the Council's budget. The Liberal Democrats will fight to have these charges reversed.
The Conservatives sold the Churchill Theatre — a Bromley landmark with genuine community and cultural value — for just £500,000. The question residents are entitled to ask is: what was it actually worth? Was a proper independent valuation carried out? And was this really the best outcome for Bromley — or just the easiest one? Harsha and Joe will demand full transparency on the sale and its terms.
The Walnuts shopping centre redevelopment has been drifting for over six years. Proposal after proposal has stalled, leaving traders and residents in limbo and the town centre blighted by uncertainty. We want to commend the Nuts to the Walnuts (NTTW) residents group for standing firm against nefarious Tory designs that would have seen the site transformed for developer profit with little regard for the community. Residents deserve a say — and they deserve a plan that works for Orpington, not just for investors.
Work with residents groups — including NTTW — to develop a minimum viable, broadly agreed plan for any significant regeneration site before any planning application is endorsed by the Council. Champion a proper High Street regeneration strategy driven by residents, not developers. Push the Council to review its parking charge regimes around smaller shopping parades — the Windsor Drive approach must not become a template. Oppose any extension of parking charges to Warren Road or other local shopping streets.
Opposed Windsor Drive parking charges at every Council committee stage. We helped local residents take their parking petition to the Council through Bromley Liberal Democrat councillors. Called out the Churchill Theatre sale and the wasted library money. Harsha and Joe will not let Bromley's High Streets become an afterthought.
New homes are needed — but the right homes, in the right places, built in consultation with residents. The Liberal Democrats' position is clear: Brownfield First. Build on previously developed land before a single blade of Green Belt grass is touched. Bromley has enough brownfield sites to meet its housing needs without sacrificing the open spaces that define this part of London.
The green spaces around Derry Downs and Hayes Farm are not abstract planning designations. They are the fields and footpaths that Chelsfield residents walk, their children play in, and the reason many people chose to live here. Developers know this. They also know that years of Conservative under-delivery on housing targets has left the borough exposed — and they are exploiting that failure to force through proposals residents never wanted.
Planning law is clear: development on Green Belt land is inappropriate unless a developer can demonstrate "very special circumstances" — such as an acute housing need so severe it outweighs the harm to the land. In Bromley, no such circumstances exist while brownfield sites remain undeveloped. Yet years of Conservative failure to meet housing targets have indirectly encouraged developers to test the Green Belt boundary at places like Derry Downs and Hayes Farm — because a council that cannot show it is delivering homes elsewhere is vulnerable to exactly these applications. To make matters worse, some of the same Tory councillors who presided over this failure then publicly oppose the very proposals their own record made possible. That is not leadership. It is a performance.
Proposed development at Derry Downs and Hayes Farm represents exactly the kind of Green Belt encroachment that Chelsfield residents have consistently opposed. These are not isolated fields — they are connected green spaces that form part of the character and ecology of this part of the borough. The Liberal Democrats will oppose any proposal to build on them while brownfield alternatives remain unexplored and undeveloped.
Bromley has brownfield and underused commercial sites that could provide thousands of homes without touching Green Belt land. The Conservative Council has failed to drive a coherent brownfield development strategy. Instead, it has allowed housing targets to slip for years — creating the very pressure that developers now use to justify Green Belt applications. The Liberal Democrats will insist the Council exhausts brownfield options before any Green Belt land is considered.
Too often, residents are consulted after plans have already hardened. By the time a public exhibition is held, the architects have been briefed and the developers have their business case. Harsha and Joe will push for community involvement from the very start of any planning process — before a single application is drawn up, not as a procedural afterthought once it is.
Champion Brownfield First as the organising principle of Bromley's housing strategy. Oppose development at Derry Downs, Hayes Farm and any other Green Belt site where viable brownfield alternatives exist. Insist that residents are genuinely involved before plans are submitted — not consulted on a fait accompli. Call out the Tory performance of opposing the very developers their own Council has given a platform to.
The right homes in the right places — genuinely affordable, properly designed, built on previously developed land first. Green Belt protection that is real, not theatrical. Planning decisions taken with communities, not over their heads. Developers who want to build in Bromley should work within a framework set by residents and councillors — not the other way round.
Open space is part of what makes Chelsfield and Bromley worth living in. It is not a spare site waiting for a more convenient use. But the Conservative pattern is one of neglect, sell-offs and decisions that treat parks and community assets as convenient solutions to their own financial mismanagement.
The volunteers at Priory Gardens work incredibly hard to maintain a space the Conservatives treated as surplus to requirements. That decision — a £4 million archive store in a park, against the explicitly stated wishes of thousands of residents — tells you everything about the Conservatives' relationship with local opinion. They don't just ignore it. They override it.
The Liberal Democrats opposed the archive store from the moment it was proposed in March 2025. We asked the obvious questions: Was this the closest suitable site? Had alternatives been properly investigated? Why were the Friends of Priory Gardens, who volunteer so much for this space, not listened to? The Conservatives had no good answers — and went ahead anyway.
The same script plays out repeatedly: assets are neglected, then the excuse is given that they must be sold or redeveloped. The Churchill Theatre was declared near-derelict. Priory Gardens was chosen for an archive that residents hadn't asked for. The Liberal Democrats will oppose every sell-off of valued community assets.
One third of the new Bromley Civic Centre remains unlet, costing the borough millions in lost rent and business rates year on year. This is not competent management of public money — it is a financial failure that is still ongoing.
Stop the decline in parks, open spaces and local community buildings. Oppose sell-offs of valued community assets. Push for early investment in upkeep — which is always cheaper than deferred repair and protects spaces for future generations.
Opposed the Priory Gardens archive store from the outset. Raised questions at every stage about decisions that treat community assets as expendable. Harsha and Joe will keep holding the line on green spaces, however convenient it might be for the Council to look the other way.
Despite claiming to manage Bromley's finances well, the Conservatives have overseen four consecutive near-maximum council tax rises since 2022. Residents are paying more and getting less. When rising tax is combined with declining roads, a struggling High Street and a poor care rating, the full picture of Conservative failure is impossible to ignore.
Adult social care is not an abstraction. It is the difference between dignity and difficulty for thousands of Bromley residents and their families. A council that raises taxes to near the maximum year after year while the regulator rates its care provision as "requires improvement" has its priorities badly wrong.
The Liberal Democrats will campaign to raise the standard of adult social care in Bromley, push for quicker access to services and hold the Council publicly accountable for its CQC rating. Bromley's large and growing older population deserves better than "requires improvement".
Too many residents are finding it harder to reach the services they rely on. Disabled residents, older people, those without digital access and families with complex needs are being left behind by a council that cuts corners rather than solves problems.
We will campaign for quicker GP appointments and fair access to NHS dentists across Bromley. Health services must meet local need. Residents in Chelsfield and across the borough deserve their fair share of NHS provision — we will raise concerns publicly until action follows.
Residents and their families have repeatedly raised concerns about what happens when someone moves from NHS or hospital care into Council-run adult social care after surgery or a health episode. The handover process is too often confusing, poorly communicated and administratively burdensome — at exactly the moment when patients and families are most vulnerable. Harsha and Joe will push to fix the administrative failures in this transition: clearer communication, faster assessments, and a seamless pathway so that moving from NHS care into Council social care is as smooth and painless as possible for every resident.
Push for improved adult social care standards and faster access to health services. Challenge every approach that makes services harder to reach. Ensure local services remain genuinely accessible to everyone — not just those who are digitally connected or can navigate a complex system.
A 56/100 care rating in London's oldest-population borough. Four years of near-maximum council tax. Roads rated red by the Government. Service decline across the board. Residents paying more for less — year after year. That is the Conservative legacy in Bromley.
The Conservatives have spent years claiming financial competence. The numbers tell a different story. A £58 million structural deficit. Millions thrown at projects residents never asked for. A civic centre sitting a third empty. A theatre sold for less than the cost of a London house. This is not financial management — it is failure dressed up as administration.
"Tories and Reform are two sides of the same failing coin. Conservative councillors are already defecting to Reform. Their promises crumble under pressure. Chelsfield's real choice on 7 May is between hardworking Lib Dems and the chaos that comes with a Conservative & Reform UK coalition in the council."
Bromley's roads deteriorated so badly under Conservative management that the Council had to bring in an emergency contractor just to clear the potholes backlog — at council tax payers' expense. The Government then awarded Bromley a red rating — the worst possible — for road condition.
In a borough with London's largest and fastest-growing older population, the Care Quality Commission rated Bromley's adult social care as "requires improvement" — scoring just 56 out of 100. The Conservatives' response has been to raise council tax, not standards.
There is no Conservative plan for High Street regeneration. No strategy to attract offices or businesses. No vision for our town centres. Growing numbers of empty shops and offices are the direct result of years of Conservative neglect and drift.
The Conservatives chose to build a £4 million archive store in Priory Gardens, dismissing a 3,000-signature petition. They sold the Churchill Theatre site for £500,000. Community assets are being treated as financial conveniences — not public treasures.
Several Bromley Conservative Councillors have already defected to Reform UK. The Conservative Party has lurched right to chase Reform voters. Tories and Reform are two sides of the same coin — both full of promises to residents, both delivering chaos when in control.
In 2025, the number of people killed or seriously injured on Bromley's roads was more than double the Council's own target. Instead of acting on residents' repeated warnings about dangerous hotspots, the Conservatives have continued to ignore the problem.
The Reform UK candidate for Chelsfield, Julian Grainger, was himself a Conservative councillor for this ward in the past. He sat in the same council chamber, voted with the same Tory group, and supported the same decisions that residents are now being asked to reject. Reform UK is not an alternative to Conservative failure — it is Conservative failure with a new rosette. Tories and Reform are two faces of the same coin. Don't be fooled.
In the last local elections, the Liberal Democrats came second in Chelsfield with 29% of the vote. The Conservatives took 51%. With Conservative support now fragmenting — their own councillors crossing to Reform, and their record in tatters — this is the most winnable election in a generation. Labour and the Greens have not delivered a single leaflet in Chelsfield. They are paper candidates with no local plan, no presence and no campaign. A vote for them is a vote that cannot change anything. Only a vote for the Liberal Democrats can end Conservative control of this ward.
Reform UK was not born from nowhere. It grew directly from the internal chaos and ideological collapse of the Conservative Party. Tory councillors have defected to Reform. Tory voters are being courted by Reform. Their policies, their instincts and their contempt for proper local government are the same. Letting that internal Tory chaos enter Bromley Council — in any rosette — would be bad for every resident in Chelsfield. The Liberal Democrats are the one party standing between Chelsfield and another term of that failure.
Steady, constructive local leadership. Genuine consultation before decisions are made. Councillors who show up, stay in touch and work hard all year round — not just at election time. Harsha and Joe are committed to Chelsfield: they live here, they campaign here and they will serve here.
A £58 million deficit. Roads rated red. Adult social care scoring 56 out of 100. The High Street without a plan. Parks sold off. And a Conservative party haemorrhaging its own councillors to Reform. Chelsfield deserves better — and Harsha Puttaswamy and Joe Watchorn will fight for it every day.
Harsha, Joe and the Bromley Liberal Democrat team — out in Chelsfield rain or shine, all year round.
