How buildings lose votes

So today is polling day and like many other Labour activists around the country I am on tenterhooks. We all know that with a Labour Government being in power for so long we have a tough campaign on our hands, just as the Conservatives did locally after Mrs Thatcher entered her third term.

The campaign to date has had its highs and lows for me - my bones ache from pounding the streets but at least this time round I've not been savaged by dogs (a lasting physical scar from my stint as a General Election candidate last year, which on reflection probably helped me get a few ‘sympathy' votes!)

Unsurprisingly, the issues are much more local on the doorstep this time round and having campaigned in Reading, London and Hertfordshire over recent weeks, I can certainly say that the same issues crop up time and time again - local services, council tax, street cleaning and new developments (house building, offices and the like) - developers take note.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest issues that can unite a community is that of new development in the local area, as many readers, alongside our 40 political staff at Green Issues, will only be too well aware of. Proposals can certainly spark up protest groups which can try to influence election candidates' views.

However, at the same time, developments that leave a lasting legacy for a community are also often flagged up at election time in a positive way. Take my home ward of Abbey in Reading for example, here councillors standing for election today have communicated to voters the benefits a new development of flats has brought to the community including a new pathway through a local park.