London.

LSE Professor Tony Travers has partnered with BBC London on a series of borough‑by‑borough vox pops examining how May’s local elections could unfold across the capital. This week, his comments on Croydon gained traction.

Whilst Travers suggests the current Conservative Mayor Jason Perry is well placed to retain the mayoralty by ‘uniting the centre‑right vote’ and that the council seats will be ‘fragmented across four or even five parties’, what he doesn’t note is that Reform is now onto its third mayoral candidate.

Their first pick was Sharon Carby but she had already passed away before the Party selected her for Croydon’s top job. The Party then chose Dan Milner‑Tebbutt but he resigned earlier this year, leaving Ben Flook as the official candidate set to be on ballot papers in a month’s time.

Even though the formal pre-election period has only just begun, campaigning in Hillingdon is already turning sharp. Andrew Retter, a former Conservative councillor now standing for Reform, was recently spotted removing a Tory leaflet from a private letterbox just before the resident answered the door.

Retter represented Harefield for 24 years before being deselected in 2014, and his move to Reform is likely to make him a familiar figure on local doorsteps once again. In a borough where both Conservatives and Reform expect to campaign hard, every vote – and leaflet – is being closely guarded.

While housebuilding across London has slowed dramatically, planning remains a live political issue in outer London boroughs – particularly in Kingston. This week, Kingston and Surbiton Conservatives criticised the Lib Dem‑run council for failing to adopt an up‑to‑date Local Plan.

They argue the delay has left Kingston, including parts of the green belt, “at the mercy of developers”. Nonetheless, the Lib Dems look set to hold on to their huge majority in Kingston with ease.