Surely, experience over the last 20 years tells voters that both main parties could have done more to improve Barnet as a place to live and work.

GLA has failed lamentably to justify its continued existence and is just another layer of bureaucracy.

Maybe it’s time to vote for an alternative? For example, in the only election leaflet I have received so far, the prospective UKIP MP for Finchley Richard King states that he would protect our local libraries and hospital A&Es, address problems of rising crime and shortages of police on the beat and parking.

Local politicians need to put local people first, by significantly reducing business rates for small shops on our high streets, make parking free for 20 minutes, provide free parking at hospitals, give local residents more of a voice at council meetings, force the council to reduce the number of employees in top council jobs, and use the money to provide more council housing for first-time buyers who have lived in Barnet all their lives and raise the wages of lower paid workers such as street cleaners – where are they now?

Whoever gets elected needs to stand up for local communities and give more power to local residents.

Dr David Gutmann

Chairman of Torrington Park Residents’ Association