Politics: it's about putting in the hard yards

This is a recording of last week's Finchley and Golders Green Area Committee, which allocates funding to neighbourhood projects. Money is scarce, but things still need doing.

Out of an annual funding envelope of £125,000, I secured:

£6,000 for a consultation on expanding a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ). Residents first approached me about this in 2016. They suffer from commuters and local businesses parking outside their homes following the introduction of a CPZ in neighbouring streets, pushing those looking for all-day free parking onto theirs'.

£5,000 for a feasibility study into improving road safety at a busy residential roundabout. School children and the elderly are finding it difficult to cross the road. This was first brought to my attention 18 months ago. With a fair wind, something will get done in another 18 months.

£15,000 to implement a CPZ sub-zone in a residential cul-de-sac near East Finchley underground station. This is to stop people who live within the same CPZ from driving a short distance to park nearer to the station, thereby depriving others from parking outside their own homes. This was first raised with me three years ago, and two consultations later it's now finally going to get done.

Politics isn't just about the big ideas and soaring rhetoric of elections. It's also about improving the day-to-day lives of people and neighbourhoods: listening to residents, understanding competing points of view, finding a way forward and then fighting to get whatever money is available. It's about putting in the hard yards and delivering on promises.

It's not glamorous, but this is what politics really is.