Council tax is far too high in Merton, a candidate standing in next month’s council byelection has claimed.

Linda Taylor, the Conservative candidate for the Wimbledon Park ward election on May 3, said if elected she would carefully go through the council’s accounts to identify areas of inefficiency.

The former management consultant said: "When I handled a major contract in the public sector we were able to make huge efficiency savings without any reduction in frontline service.

"It’s a myth to think we can’t do things better and cheaper at the same time.

"Many people in Wimbledon Park live a stone’s throw from Wandsworth and are wondering why council tax is relatively so much higher in Merton."

Ms Taylor, who lives in Wimbledon Village, is also the chairman of Go South Go Task Force, which lobbies for south London to get more benefits from this year’s Olympic Games.

She has also campaigned against the closure of the Vineyard Hill GP surgery, in Vineyard Hill Road, which is set to lose a huge chunk of its funding from Sutton and Merton PCT.

And she said she would continue to lobby Transport for London (TfL) to make changes to Wimbledon Park Tube station in Arthur Road, including installing a lift and improving the electronic indicator boards.

She said: "TfL gave money for a lift in Southfields stations on the back of Olympics funding.

"They said no to Wimbledon Park but I am not going to leave it at that.

"I have set up an online petition to try to persuade London Underground of the real help this would provide to mums and the elderly."

To see the petition go to surveymonkey.com/s/ 29.gvrfv.

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