Divisive politics won't help Enfield residents

Labour’s Ponders End councillor Niamh O’Brien criticises the approach taken so far by the new Conservative administration at Enfield Civic Centre

Niamh O’Brien was elected to represent Ponders End in May (credit Enfield Council)

People deserve a stake in their own communities, a voice in decisions that affect them.

For me, being a local councillor means helping them to do that – working with residents, fighting alongside them for the issues that they care about.

Whether it’s attending estate walkabouts, helping residents with casework, or sitting on big council committees, I am proud to show up for residents and to fight for Ponders End.

Since the election I’ve been working with residents on tackling a whole range of issues, including dangerous driving in Nags Head Road, antisocial behaviour in Ponders End Park, and securing resident parking in the Electric Quarter.

Ponders End is also home to a huge regeneration project, and I’m working with residents to ensure that everyone benefits.

This is why I wanted to be a local councillor; to do some good and make my home town an even better place to grow up.

I think we all know that in politics, and in life, we can’t always see eye-to-eye. When I’m out and about in Enfield – meeting community groups, local businesses, school leaders, faith communities – I know that we won’t always agree with our neighbours on everything.

But if my time as a councillor so far has taught me anything, it’s that even when we disagree, we mostly all want the same thing – the best for each other, and the best for Enfield.

That’s the Enfield I love.

But it’s not the spirit that I see reflected in how this Conservative administration speaks about our home, or how they speak about the difficult business of running a council.

Complicated, sensitive decisions around school closures affecting parents of Send [special educational needs] children? These were announced by the leader via TikTok and couched in political spin, denying headteachers the chance to speak to families themselves.

The administration’s own apparent miscommunication around new police hubs? An opportunity to call other local councillors “nasty” and “useless”. Councillors asking legitimate questions about potential cuts to local services? All “communists”, of course.

The list goes on.

But while the leader of the council is busy firing gutter-press pot shots, divvying out blame for the mistakes he’s not even made yet, residents are left wondering: does this administration actually care about the people its choices impact?

Our neighbours in Enfield don’t want divisive politics.

When I meet residents on the doorstep, at surgeries or my ward forum, they don’t want to talk about petty blame games played out in Facebook comments. They tell me they want families in Enfield to have somewhere secure to call home, clean parks to play in, great schools and local leisure centres. These are the priorities for people in Enfield.

Instead, this administration’s politics of division is too busy assigning blame to seek solutions. The politics of division says ‘them, not me’. It is more worried about distractions than decisions. It makes us more polarised, more suspicious of each other, and it certainly doesn’t deliver anything concrete or helpful for our communities.

So, if the Tory administration wants to play at divisive politics that’s their prerogative – but that’s not why I ran to be a local councillor.

And let’s be frank: it’s the reason no-one trusts politicians.

Labour councillor Niamh O’Brien was elected in May to represent Ponders End, alongside Aziz Yildiz of the Green Party. Ward residents can get in touch:
Call 020 4604 0733
Email cllr.niamh.o’[email protected]

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