October 2025
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Colliers Wood Liberal Democrats
Jenny Booth, Dr George Hadjiyiannakis and John Oliver are working hard all year round for the residents of Colliers Wood.
About us
Jenny Booth
Jenny bought her first home in Byegrove Road in Colliers Wood in 2001 and has lived in Merton ever since. Formerly a news journalist who worked at The Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and for 13 years at The Times, she now edits macroeconomic research for a small consultancy, writes theatre reviews for Time & Leisure magazine and has retrained as a gardener and garden designer at London’s environmental college, Capel Manor.
She appreciates the parks and green spaces in the borough and would like to use her expertise to ensure they are even more beautiful and useful for local people, and linked by a network of well-kept paths. Colliers Wood deserves a greater level of attention in its own right ‒ to help bring its High Street to life, to shield it from over-development through proper protections in the local plan, and to celebrate its amazing community spirit and its cultural heritage.
George Hadjiyiannakis
George is a recent graduate from City St George's University and now works as a Doctor at Croydon Hospital. He has lived in South West London since 2019 and moved to Merton in 2023. He is an active member of the Colliers Wood Parks & Green spaces group. He is a keen amateur athlete competing in running events and with London Otters the UK's largest LGBT+ rowing club. George is passionate about improving Merton's health holistically by ensuring access to local services and clean green spaces to allow everyone to live a healthier and happier life.
John Oliver
John has lived in Merton since 1986. He has been a councillor in West Barnes ward since 2022, but is now moving to Colliers Wood. He has a degree in Economics and is a retired Chartered Management Accountant, which he did for over 20 years. He is learning Russian and Urdu, and studying for an MA at SOAS. John is committed to helping his fellow residents with local issues that are important to them.
Our priorities for Colliers Wood
1) Tackling fly-tipping and litter across local streets and improving our local street scene
We want Colliers Wood to look its best and currently residents tell us there's a huge problem with fly-tipping and litter. We'll tackle fly-tipping hotspots, report broken signs and graffiti. We will introduce ‘community skips’ to bring free bulky waste disposal to a street nearer to you, while maintaining the current pop-up tips scheme.
2) Calling for real community policing
We want to see real community policing. We will continue to fight Labour's closure of our police station front counters and call for more police patrols in Colliers Wood.
3) Fighting the proposed Criterion planning application for 3 towers south of Britannia Point
The current planning application is unsuitable for our area and we oppose it. Colliers Wood Lib Dems will fight for a development on this site that prioritises residents' views, is high quality and provides affordable and permanent homes for people.
The reality of the situation around the planning application for 3 new towers on land south of Britannia Point is a sorry tale of failure by Merton Labour to stop developers being able to set the agenda at this site.
The local plan that Labour-run Merton Council pushed through in 2024 allows for towers up to 52 metres (approximately 15 storeys) on this site. There are supposed to be resident-led design guides for tall buildings and design criteria for this specific site, but Labour never got round to delivering them.
4) Protecting our local green spaces and calling for better play equipment in our parks
Much of the play equipment in our local parks is very old and in desperate need of replacing. We've been campaigning for years to get the council to prioritise our area and get the new play equipment local children deserve.
We back the Merton Lib Dems' ‘parks promise’ - a comprehensive plan to protect our green spaces.
5) Fighting for better local high streets
We want to see a better Colliers Wood High Street. One that is ambitious for the area, for a thriving local business environment with innovative local services.
6) Fixing our local pavements and roads
Some of our local roads are in desperate need to resurfacing and recent works by utility companies have made the situation even worse. We also recognise that many pavements are dangerous, especially to our less mobile residents. We will push for faster improvements to our local pavements and roads.
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