Southwark News is carrying out a unique project to encourage more people to vote in the council elections on May 5.
In a Gogglebox-style show, we are filming how four Southwark households react to what local politicians say about three key areas: housing, crime and education, and transport and the environment.
We are focusing on one part of the borough – Newington, near Elephant and Castle – which had the lowest voter turnout in the last elections in May 2018.
Southwark Soapbox: are low traffic neighbourhoods really worth the hassle?
For the third and final episode on climate and the environment, Green Party candidate Clare Wood came back again, Labour’s candidate Natasha Ennin defended her party’s record, and the Liberal Democrats’ James Gurling was looking to roll back the years in the fight for his old seat in the ward.
The Conservative Party were invited to send one of their candidates, but yet again did not respond to our repeated requests to join in.
We then showed the candidates’ answers to four households from a range of backgrounds in the ward to get their reactions: Ola, a mother of four and a Brandon Estate council tenant, Paula, also on the Brandon, Kym from the Newington Estate and her partner Les, from the Brandon Estate and Neil and Emma, leaseholders in Oyster Court.
Southwark Soapbox: should the council scrap the bulky waste charge to stop fly-tippers?
The focuses: low-traffic neighbourhoods, the council’s response to the climate emergency and the high level of fly-tipping in the borough.