Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate Wants To Reopen Chiswick Police Station

Siobhan Benita says police must have a visible presence on local streets

Liberal Democrats Mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita would work to reopen the police station in Chiswick if elected next May.

Speaking to Chiswickw4.com during a visit to meet local members,she said that she believed people needed to see the police in their community and know where they were if they needed to get hold of them.

If elected as Mayor of London on 7 May next year, she would ensure that there would be a visible police presence in every community. She believed all the police stations which had closed should be re-opened, including Chiswick.

The Liberal Democrats in the area say that membership has been increasing at the rate of 15 new members per month and stands at 450 in the Brentford and Isleworth constituency, doubled since the start of the year.

Criticising the current Mayor, Sadiq Khan, Ms Benita said that his record on fighting crime had been "most disappointing" and tackling the underlying causes of crime was the solution, not just enforcement.

Siobhan Benita, who is from New Malden, joined the Civil Service as a graduate "fast streamer" in the Department for Transport in 1996 and has worked in the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health as head of corporate management.

Benita, whose mother is Indian and whose father is from Cornwall, stood as an independent candidate in the 2012 Mayor of London election. She came fifth with 3.8% of the vote, within 8,000 votes (0.36%) of fourth-placed Liberal-Democrat candidate Brian Paddick.

In 2016 she joined the Liberal Democrats, shortly after the 2016 European Union referendum claiming it was the "only true pro-remain party".

In November 2018, she was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2020 London Mayoral election.

There was no Brexit deal that was good for London. "As the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Mayor of London I will fight with every ounce of energy I have to stop Brexit."

She did not believe Britain would have left the EU by the time of the Mayoral election, and "if however we do enter a world where we have left, then I think as Mayor I have to do all I can to keep London as European as possible.

"As Mayor, I will keep freedom of Movement in London. I will make sure we always have freedom of movement in our great city."

On the Third Runway - "We are firmly opposing the Heathrow expansion plan and if you are genuine about tackling the climate crisis there is no other position you can and should take"

On the cycle highway- "There is a strategic principle in that you do want to see more of these kind of schemes that allow people to get out their cars and in principle that is something that as Mayor I would encourage. But with any of these things it's getting the balance right between moving forward for the environment but not disproportionately disrupting the people who it will affect. From what I know of the scheme, of the cycleway 9, the original plans were not right, it's been revised but it's not ideal. I think as Mayor what I would do in issues like this would be to be listening to local people, working in partnership with local people and I don't think it was done in this instance.

"My ambition is for London to be the cleanest city on earth, but to do that you will have to put in place things that people will be unfamiliar with and find challenging, but the only way is to bring people with you, to give communities more of a say at the start of the initiative."

Siobhan Benita is also in favour of legalising cannabis, and says there is a clear correlation between the illegal drugs market and levels of violence.

"There is an urgency to remove the power from the drugs gangs. The current approach is not working, so it's fuelling much of the violence. Many other countries have brought this in, and it is possible."

She said that membership of the party had soared to nearly 24,000 in London.

"That’s three times the number at the last Mayoral election in 2012."

Ms Benita said she would return to Chiswick during her Mayoral canvass and would meet with local residents to discuss their concerns.

October 4, 2019