The Habs Politics Society were very fortunate to have Abhishek Sachdev visit as a conservative borough councillor of Hertsmere to explain the different tiers of council politics and their significance in UK Politics. He explained how councils were funded through business rates, council tax and government funding.
Afterwards, he described his specific role in the Hertsmere Council and the important issues that were discussed in meetings, such as planning and the environment. Students were given the opportunity to ask questions, most of which revolved around the difficulty to balance local public interest with the aims of the government, an example being Labour aiming to build 1.5 million new houses, whilst around 80% of Hertsmere is greenbelt and therefore the public do not want it to be built on – a conundrum for the current Labour Hertsmere council.
We were so grateful to Abhishek for an illuminating talk and shining an important light on council politics and the political decision making that takes places at local level.