Labour Listening? You must be Joking!

2.01.00pm GMT Sun 20th Jan 2008

When Labour listen all they hear are the cash tills ringing

Labour-run Lambeth says it likes to listen. Trouble is that after pretending it's listening it just goes ahead and does what it wants. Not very democratic is it?

The Evening Standard's Motoring Correspondent and Herne Hill resident, David Williams, gave Listening Labour Lambeth a right old roasting in his column on the 4th January.

Herne Hill residents were recently consulted about a new Controlled Parking Zone and, according to him, only a small number of roads most affected wanted the proposed CPZ while the rest opposed ( 64% against ) because residents did not want all the hassle, the extra yellow lines, the extortionate fees and the resultant swarms of kindly parking attendants adding to Lambeth's swelling coffers of £2 Million a week. But, we are told, Listening Labour Lambeth is likely to press ahead anyway.

Meanwhile Labour claimed it was listening when they announced with a flourish that they were scrapping the unloved system of clamping cars for minor parking transgressions in April. We are all meant to be jolly grateful that soon, instead of paying a lousy £70 to have a car unclamped we will be able to pay Loads of Money Lambeth £200 instead. And you will still have to pay the fine plus a £40 a day storage charge - that's if you've found out any time soon where they've hidden the car.

And were they listening when, in an unprecedented move, tenants' leaders rejected the 7.23 per cent increase in Council house rents while at the same time closing local area housing offices, increasing estate parking charges and slashing estate support staff?

Was Labour listening when it spectacularly decided to ignore the clamour from Lambeth residents on the enormous housing waiting list when they decided not to house them but, instead, to embark upon an orgy of council property sales?

And was Labour Lambeth really listening when leisure facility users complained that swimming pools and leisure centres in the borough were either closed due to botched repairs or offered them sub-standard facilities while at the same time increasing charges by 25 per cent?

Seems to us that the only thing Labour Lambeth really listens to these days is the sound of cash registers working overtime.