Lambeth's Lib Dems create a greener, cleaner and more pleasant borough

9.03.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 1st May 2006

The last Labour administration in Lambeth left behind dirty streets, sprayed with graffiti, littered with uncollected rubbish and dumped cars. The borough's parks and open spaces were neglected. As well as leaving a financial mess when they lost power Labour left Lambeth looking a mess.

Four years later Liberal Democrat councillors have succeeded in getting big improvements in Lambeth.

The Liberal Democrats have moved Lambeth from being one of the dirtiest London boroughs to becoming the fourth cleanest out of 28 (as measured by the rigorous Capital Standards criteria introduced in 2003/04). This is because the Lib Dems got Lambeth to spend £60,000 a year on removing chewing gum, with a full-time Gumbusters team tasked with clearing away the gum. Last winter the Lib Dems also got Lambeth to introduce an street recycling service to collected 100 tonnes of leaves.

Rubbish collection is now more reliable than the lottery local residents had under Labour as to whether the binmen took their rubbish away. The number of missed refuse collections this year are running at 82 per 100,000, compared with more than 600 per 100,000 under Labour. The number of dumped cars littering the streets has been reduced - and as a result the Fire Brigade has noticed a significant drop in non-accidental refuse fires, with a 37 per cent reduction in the number of fires, from 486 in 1999/00 to 305 in 2004/05. The Lib Dems have also got Lambeth to seize and destroy a number of vehicles used for flytipping.

As a result of work by the Lib Dems Lambeth has been taking a more robust approach on prosecuting illegal street traders whose proceeds often pay for organised crime, the drugs trade, etc. These efforts have been particularly successful along the South Bank, where goods are confiscated.

The Lib Dems put Lambeth's parks at the top of their agenda over the last four years. This meant addressing 31 years of neglect from a Labour Group that saw parks as a means of making money rather than a place for Lambeth's residents to relax and play. Between 1998 and 2002 Labour happily sold off Lambeth's open space, and lost Lambeth residents money while doing so: the Albert Embankment Gardens open space went to developers for £625,000 - the value of replacement buildings on the site was around £12 million.

In contrast the Lib Dems have been investing in Lambeth's parks and open spaces. An extra £640,000 a year has been put into the parks annual repairs and maintenance budget. A further £10,200,984 has been spent on improving the parks and open spaces. Some of the individual parks and open spaces which have benefited are: -

Brixton Windmill Gardens £116,150

Loughborough Park £45,000

Tate Gardens £67,000

Brockwell Park £1,244,670

Ruskin Park £37,428

Milkwood Road £477,140

Clapham Common £1,525,000

Grafton Square £53,870

Larkhall Park £996,020

Lansdowne Gardens £700

Stockwell Gardens £3,690

Archbishops Park £1,229,000

Jubilee Gardens £28,000

Lambeth Walk £181,808

Spring Gardens £198,480

Lambeth High Street £198,000

Kennington Park £437,423

Vauxhall Park £99,000

Bonnington Square £30,000

Harleyford Road £18,000

Kennington Oval £40,000

St Mark's Church £2,500

Myatt's Field £733,870

Lorn Road £11,000

Slade Gardens £35,836

On top of that £1,416,428 has been spent on children's play equipment in the borough's parks.

"Over the past four years we have waged war on graffiti and dumped cars, making Lambeth a cleaner place to live in," said Cllr Andrew Sawdon. "We have also invested money in improving our parks and green spaces, ensuring they have better facilities."

"A good start has been made," continued Cllr Sawdon. "But we want to do better. The streets could still be cleaner, and there is more that can be done for our parks."