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Lib Dems Tell Labour Lambeth to Follow Southwark with Rent Cuts
March 19, 2009 12:29 PM
Lambeth Lib Dem Leader, Cllr Ashley Lumsden, has demanded that Labour follows Southwark's lead in reducing rent increases for Council tenants.
Following a Government credit-crunch initiative designed to reduce rents nationally from 6.2% to 3.1% (announced on March 6th 2009) Lib Dem-run Southwark Council has announced that it will issue new rent demands of only 2.73% even though this means delaying the sending out of bills for its 40,000 tenants. Southwark's original increase was to have been 5.86% - again lower than the national average.
Lambeth Lib Dem Leader, Cllr Ashley Lumsden, has now demanded that Labour-run Lambeth should follow Southwark's shining example and lower rents to help people on low incomes weather the recession. In neighbouring Lambeth, council tenants are currently reeling over an eye-watering 17% rent increase, calculated as being an average of £12 per week.
Cllr Lumsden said, "Lib Dem Southwark is showing leadership in lowering rents that were already way lower than Lambeth's. I've called on Labour-run Lambeth to do the same. There is no reason why two neighbouring boroughs cannot act as one to help people over this recession."
Cllr Lumsden added, "As Labour-run Lambeth ducks and dives and dithers, people up and down the borough are telling me that they just don't know how Lambeth justifies a 17% increase in rent on top of a 65% per cent increase in heating charges."