Putney Wards Likely to Be Key to Control of Council

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Polls pointing to tight contest between Labour and the Conservatives

The election is being held on Thursday 7 May

April 15, 2026

Early polling suggests that the contest for control of Wandsworth Council is on a knife edge and that voters in the Putney area could have a decisive say on the eventual winner.

Two of the wards in which the margin of victory is expected to be the smallest are West Putney and West Hill and if one party was to take all six seats available, they would very likely be forming the next administration.

The following analysis is largely based on polling carried out by Pollcheck, an organisation unaligned to any political group that publishes ward level predictions. It uses historic voting, recent national polling and demographic data to project results at a local level. This methodology will not take account of specific local factors such as a councillor’s performance in office and particular issues which are important to local voters. The rise in support for the Greens and Reform has complicated the situation and made the challenge to pollsters, who have never had a record of complete accuracy, even greater so it should be cautioned that these projections are somewhat speculative.

Pollcheck is currently saying that the chance of control change is better than even. Its central projection is that Labour will get 30 seats out of 58 just one more than needed for a majority. However, the likely range of the number of councillors the party will have is 24-34.

Projected Ward Voting in SW15

Ward	Winner	Margin (pp)	Seats	Lab	Con	LD	Green	Ref	Others
West Putney	Con	2.9	3	37.9	40.8	7.2	3.5	10.7	0.0
West Hill	Lab	7.6	3	33.7	26.1	8.0	6.4	17.3	8.5
Thamesfield	Con	17.1	3	10.5	38.1	16.8	21.0	13.6	0.0
Southfields	Con	19.4	2	17.6	39.6	9.3	20.3	13.2	0.0
East Putney	Con	23.6	3	17.8	41.3	12.6	14.2	14.1	0.0
Roehampton	Lab	23.8	3	46.3	22.4	7.2	9.6	14.5	0.0

Source: Pollcheck

The two most marginal seats across the borough are St. Mary’s and Wandsworth Town were Pollcheck projects a slender lead for Labour which will deliver them two of the three seats available in each ward.

West Putney is the next most marginal with an expected difference in the vote between Labour and Conservative at just 2.9 percentage points. This is anticipated to give the Conservatives two of the three seats although they will clearly be targeting all three.

Labour took two of the three seats in West Putney in 2022 by the thinnest of margins but one was reclaimed for the Conservatives in a by-election in 2024 which was won by Nick Austin. Although currently designated as an Independent Member on the council web site, Cllr Austin is defending his seat as the Conservative candidate. Long-serving Steffi Sutters is stepping down as is the Labour councillor for the ward and current Mayor of Wandsworth Jeremy Ambache.

West Putney Candidates

• Shakeel Ahmad – Conservatives
• Nick Austin – Conservatives
• Joanna Louise Chidgey – Lib Dems
• Saida Daudova – Reform UK
• Umer Hayat Ghuman – Labour
• Robin Gordon Haddon – Reform UK
• Melanie Caroline Alexandra Hampton – Conservatives
• Noureen Khan – Labour
• Mark Timothy Lejman – Lib Dems
• Gloria Martin – Reform UK
• Christopher Edward Poole – Green Party
• Sarah Alexandra Thomas – Green Party
• Timothy David Hamilton Thomas – Lib Dems
• Ed Tomlinson – Labour

West Hill is also predicted to be a closely fought contest by Pollcheck. However, its projection of a vote share of just 8.5% for the independent candidate Malcolm Grimston suggests its model doesn’t accurately capture levels of personal support for individual councillors. Cllr Grimston topped the poll last time with nearly two thirds of the electorate picking him. If he manages anywhere near that level of performance this time around, Labour and the Conservatives will be fighting it out for the other two seats in the ward. Daniel Ghossain for the Tories and Angela Ireland for the Conservatives, are defending their seats. If the Conservatives take both seats in West Hill and the one in West Putney they don’t currently control, then the chances of a change in administration would rise significantly including the intriguing possibility of one dependent on the vote of Cllr Grimston.

West Hill Candidates

• Daniel Blaszczyk – Reform UK
• Eleanor Doody – Lib Dems
• Charlie Drakesmith – Conservatives
• AJ Durrant – Reform UK
• Emily Evans – Reform UK
• Daniel Ghossain – Conservatives
• Patrick William Gilbert – Lib Dems
• Malcolm Charles Grimston – Independent
• Angela Mary Ireland – Labour
• Duncan James Anton Lyons – Lib Dems
• Sam Manley – Labour
• Harry Roth – Labour
• Jason Whiffin – Green Party
• Madeline Woolf – Conservatives
• Sian Susan Wright – Green Party

Other wards in the SW15 area are projected to be less closely fought than West Hill and West Putney. The Conservatives took Thamesfield ward with a clear majority at a low point for their party in 2022. Although their vote share is anticipated to fall this time out as Reform make an impact, this is expected to be less than the Greens take from Labour in the ward.

Thamesfield Candidates

• Bruno Alves Carreiro – Reform UK
• Anthony Ashurst – Labour
• Ethan Kane Foster Brooks – Conservatives
• Adam Davison – Reform UK
• Nicola Elliott – Green Party
• Fredrick Oboledefe Emojevbe – Labour
• Tim Harrison – Reform UK
• Josh Hughes – Lib Dems
• James Owen Ashton Jones – Lib Dems
• Jessie Lee – Labour
• Robert Morritt – Conservatives
• Salvatore Murtas – Conservatives
• Fraser Pitt – Green Party
• Kate Robinson – Green Party
• James Richard Usher Wilson – Lib Dems

A similar pattern to Thamesfield is expected in the two-seat Southfields ward and three-seat East Putney. The Conservatives won both seats in Southfields in 2022 by less than 100 votes but this time out a more comfortable win is projected as any fall in vote share is offset by a bigger loss for Labour. Labour took a surprise second place in East Putney in 2022 but that result is not expected to be repeated and former council leader Ravi Govindia should be returning with his party’s two other candidates.

Southfields

• Fergus Foord – Lib Dems
• Ruby Hawkes – Green Party
• Guy Derek Ralph Humphries – Conservatives
• Megs Jacobs – Labour
• Kester Joseph Leek – Green Party
• Iliyan Mladenov – Reform UK
• Emmeline Elizabeth Owens – Conservatives
• Clive Adrian Sexton – Reform UK
• Peter James Godfrey Watts – Labour
• Sue Wixley – Lib Dems

East Putney

• Jessica Anderson – Reform UK
• Gabriel Byng Barton-Singer – Lib Dems
• Rebecca Daisy Alana Barton-Singer – Lib Dems
• Ali Bath – Reform UK
• Shanaj Begum – Green Party
• Nicki Breeze – Lib Dems
• George Crivelli – Conservatives
• Jasmin Glynne – Labour
• Ravi Govindia – Conservatives
• Maisie Jenkinson – Green Party
• Hana Manthorpe – Green Party
• Susan Jane Muncey – Reform UK
• Dermot John Neligan – Labour
• Deen Ossman – Conservatives
• Joe Lewis Smallman – Labour

In Roehampton, Labour is expected to increase its existing majority (if not its share of the vote) as Reform takes support away from the Conservatives. This would return the three sitting councillors.

Roehampton Candidates

• Hugh Palmer Brown – Lib Dems
• Anjusha Chaughule – Conservatives
• Jane Cooper – Conservatives
• Ben Francis – Reform UK
• Thomas Guyatt – Lib Dems
• Graeme Paul Henderson – Labour
• Helena Kanaan – Conservatives
• Ivo Nyoh Kuka – Independent
• Samuel James McKenna – Lib Dems
• Jay Bailey Northrop-Maltby – Green Party
• Reema Siddiqui – Reform UK
• Matthew George Tiller – Labour
• Tommy Tsherit – Green Party
• Terry Washington – Reform UK
• Jenny May Yates – Labour

Register to vote  

The elections will take place on Thursday 7 May. Residents who have not yet registered to vote have until  midnight on  Monday 20 April to do so at www.gov.uk/registertovote 

Can’t get to the polling station?  

Anyone who is registered to vote can apply to have their ballot paper sent to them in the post. The deadline to apply for a postal vote, or to send written notification of changes to an existing postal or proxy arrangement, is 5pm on Tuesday 21 April. 

Residents who wish to apply for someone to vote on their behalf, must submit a new proxy vote application. The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is  5pm on Tuesday 28 April.  

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