Twin Towns for Wandsworth and Merton?

This section of our site has been set-up to kick-start our project to find twin towns for Wandsworth and Merton – on this page we’ve set out the justification for the project, our plans and how you can get involved. In addition, we’ve documented some of our ideas thus far on a separate page, linked here.

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Summary

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The background to our project…

Wandsworth and Merton currently have no outlet to express the European outlook of many of the people who live there: an unusually high proportion were born elsewhere in Europe, and there are strong concentrations of French and Polish residents in particular. 
In the 2016 referendum, both boroughs gave one of the strongest votes to Remain, outnumbering the Leave vote by close to three to one.

Building up ties with a like-minded community on the European Continent would increase mutual understanding and show common purpose as city-dwellers across Europe face major challenges in the years ahead. An active new partnership would raise the profile of the boroughs and show that local people reject any isolationist strand within Brexit. 
Providing a focus for European outreach will enrich learning in local schools and colleges. Twinning will provide a valuable new context for dialogue and debate, and for cooperation and possible exchange visits in the context of cultural and sporting opportunities.


Depending on the location of the new twin, a range of local businesses stand to gain from sharing knowledge and opening doors to potential new customers. 
So long as twinning catches the imagination of local voluntary groups, prepared to drive forward the relationship, all these benefits should come at minimal cost to council budgets.

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Wandsworth Twinning in the past

We are very proud of these connections, which represent an important part of our shared history that should be commemorated long into the future – you will even find a ‘Place Wandsworth’ complete with classic phone booth! But Villers-Plouich has always been a small settlement with a current population of about 400. Whereas Schiedam is now an enthusiastic participant in the EuroTowns network, and has all but forgotten about Wandsworth (… as much our fault as theirs, to be fair). So perhaps we should now be thinking about our shared interest with parts of another capital city: a Berlin borough perhaps, or part of greater Paris?

Merton twinning

The Borough of Merton is currently twinned with the city of Irving in Texas, but not with a European city. That’s… really all we know about the relationship. There is not much in the way of resources to be found about it on-line or through local channels, beyond a reference by Irving’s Chamber of Commerce. If you can provide us with more infomration about the provenance of the link please let us know!

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Our Plan of Action!

• Secure support from local political parties, not just groups on the Councils. We need to focus on the common objective of enriching life in Wandsworth and Merton.
• Develop the business case: Identify and justify running cost implications for Council or other local bodies, and returns from any up-front capital investment
• Reach out to counterparts in Schiedam; and ensuring that the symbolic connection to Villers-Plouich endures, in the case of Wandsworth.
• In the case of Merton, determine with members of the European Movement on the best borough for our twinning project, and contact our counterparts in that city to discuss further steps and potential opportunities.
• Also explore opportunities for new partnerships for Wandsworth, including the potential for twinning with a Berlin borough, given the city-level link in place since 2020; and seek advice and support from relevant Embassies in opening doors
• Engage with other local players including schools and colleges, community organisations, and business groups
• Learn from experience of the Richmond in Europe movement, who have an exciting festival of civic events with both of their European twin towns planned for 2025 and Leeds for Europe, who have recently visited both Lille and Dortmund.
• Set up a nascent Town Twinning Committee for Wandsworth and Merton to tap local enthusiasm and coordinate community-led activities to support new partnership(s)