Peverell residents say “we’ve had enough” as Labour councillor Jeremy Goslin fights to keep his seat in a tight election battle.
With voters heading to the polls on Thursday, Plymouth Plus has been on the ground in Peverell speaking to residents about the issues shaping their vote.
Many locals were angry, frustrated and disappointed, saying they had previously voted Labour because they wanted change, but now feel let down by promises which they believe have not been delivered.
Several residents who spoke to Plymouth Plus said they had previously backed Cllr Goslin, with some even voting for him more than once. But just days before polling day, they are now questioning whether they can do so again.
Much of their frustration centres around Pounds House, the historic 1829 mansion in Central Park, which has served as a family home, wartime administration centre and community library.
During his 2018 election campaign, Jeremy Goslin made it the centrepiece of his pitch to Peverell voters. Calling it "a jewel in the crown of Central Park", he promised to "bring it back to its former glory with a complete refurbishment."
Despite this, Plymouth’s Labour run council sold the building at auction last year for just over £500,000, meaning it is now in private hands.
Prior to the sale, the council had already spent millions of public money on improvements to the building, including a full roof refurbishment and the installation of a ground source heat pump.
A resident who has lived in Peverell for over forty years told us:
"I believed Jeremy, but he has not delivered. Pounds House sold for a song, the ponds are a mess, the potholes are worse than I have ever known, and don't get me started on the parking."
The parking problem around Home Park on Argyle matchdays has frustrated Peverell residents for many years.
With streets becoming impassable, residents are unable to move freely in their own neighbourhood on match days.
In 2022, Jeremy Goslin heard those complaints and turned them into a campaign pledge.
He said he would introduce a match day parking scheme, but residents say nothing concrete was delivered until just weeks before polling day this coming Thursday.
On 17 April 2026, Labour council leader Tudor Evans instructed officers to begin a formal feasibility study into a residents’ parking scheme for areas affected by Plymouth Argyle match days, with a possible Peverell pilot to follow.
Days later, residents across Peverell received letters on official House of Commons headed notepaper from Labour MP Fred Thomas.
Postmarks seen by Plymouth Plus indicate that the letters were processed by Royal Mail in the days following the announcement.
MPs are entitled to use parliamentary stationery for constituency work, but some residents have questioned the timing so close to polling day.
"Fred Thomas MP sending taxpayer-funded letters to save Goslin. We won't fall for it."
Another resident added:
"Jeremy Goslin promised us match day parking, after four years all we have is a feasibility study and a letter from our MP asking us to be grateful."
The Labour run council's £4 million Central Park ponds project was intended as a flagship improvement for the ward. Nearly four years after work began, residents describe the site as a "shambles".
In December 2024, the newly upgraded ponds burst their banks during a period of heavy rainfall, flooding the surrounding area.
The council blamed the failure on exceptional weather, noting Plymouth received around 200mm of rain against a typical monthly average of 125mm.
Plymouth City Council was recently confirmed as the worst performing local authority in England for road repairs.
Department for Transport data showed that more than a quarter of the city's total road mileage requires attention, yet just one mile from a backlog of 136 was actually fixed in the relevant year.
The pothole repair budget was reduced from £746,310 in 2023/24 to £616,653 in 2024/25, even as road conditions continued to worsen across the city.
In Peverell, the impact is being felt in repair bills. Stadium Garage in Pennycross says it repairs up to eight vehicles a week for pothole related damage, with customers “always blaming potholes.”
Peverell was historically a safe Conservative ward. Residents voted Labour to bring change after fifteen years of Conservative control, and the ward now returns three Labour councillors. But the conversations this week suggest the calculation many voters made in 2018 and 2022 is being reconsidered.
Peverell is set to be a battleground seat on Thursday. Modelling by PollCheck puts Labour’s lead in the ward at just five percentage points, meaning Thursday’s vote could come down to a small number of residents deciding whether to stick with Labour or send a message at the ballot box.
The Peverell candidates are:
Jeremy Goslin (Labour) - Colin Wells (Conservative) - Stuart Bonar (Liberal Democrats) - Nicholas Casey (Green Party) - Luke Hudson (Reform UK) - Alison Stallard (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition)
Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm.
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