10 Most Recent News Stories

Cover-up as housing losses spiral to £14 million

4.04.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Jul 2008

As losses spiral to more than £14 million, Lambeth's beleaguered Labour administration is engaged in a vast cover-up of the housing overspending scandal which has rocked the Council.

Liberal Democrat councillors have been attempting to discover exactly how the Council overspent by £6.5 million apparently by booking too much temporary housing for the homeless. The overspending, which represented a 60 per cent overspend on the entire housing and regeneration budget, was incredibly only discovered at the end of the 2007-08 financial year in April.

Now, Cabinet is to be told on Monday, the overspending is forecast to rocket by a further £7.6m in 2008-09.

Despite growing clamours for an open investigation, Labour councillors have vetoed Liberal Democrat demands for an urgent special Housing Scrutiny meeting.

A report, described by the council as "independent", has been carried out by the council's own finance officers after Labour Cabinet member for Finance Cllr Jim Dickson blocked proposals for an outside investigation and insisted on a private internal one. Even this heavily censored document is not not being published. It is so sensitive that Liberal Democrat leading members, who have a right to such information, are not being given a copy but are being made to read it in a Council office.

The next scheduled meeting of Housing Scrutiny due in October has been brought forward to September but the Temporary Housing Overspend will not be on the agenda - a report will simply be published in the papers.

The July Finance Review before Monday's Cabinet also reveals the Housing Revenue Account, which deals with management of Lambeth's own council housing stock, plunging into the red to the tune of £5.5m despite savage cuts and closures since Labour came into power in 2006.

"The temporary housing budget loss fiasco is a monumental Labour finance scandal, for which every council-tax payer in Lambeth will bear the consequences for many years to come," said Lib Dem finance spokesperson Cllr Gavin Dodsworth. "Residents are entitled to know the full facts of what has occurred and hold Labour councillors to account but the Cabinet are now running scared."

Read "Cover-up as housing losses spiral to £14 million".

Now Labour's Shock £6 Million Housing Loss

4.09.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th Jul 2008

Labour politicians are reeling after a whopping £6 million of local taxpayer's money went adrift in one of the biggest scandals to hit Lambeth's beleaguered Housing Department and which has been reported in the respected journal Inside Housing.

Not content with pushing ahead with the unpopular ALMO, or closing down area housing offices, or declining services and huge backlogs of repairs, Labour's Calamitous Cabinet has just delivered an enormous £6.4 Million deficit in the Housing Temporary Accommodation Budget.

This gigantic and shocking overspend was caused by Labour paying out to private landlords for temporary accommodation that was never used. This catastrophic Labour blunder comes at a time when the Government is reining-in on the grant given to Councils. This huge sum of money is now lost to the Council for ever.

It is not clear whether this is the final sum that has gone missing, or whether there are any aspects of fraud in addition to incompetence. Labour's Finance Chief Jim Dickson has launched an investigation and said that heads should roll. We wonder how comfortably his own head sits on his shoulders right now?

"Certainly there is some explaining to be done as to why this colossal overspend took a full year to be discovered," said Lib Dem Councillor Brian Palmer. "It doesn't sound like Labour has its eye on the ball, does it? And currently they are resisting all Lib Dem calls for a scrutiny meeting before October. So much for open Government!

"One thing is clear. Housing under Labour has turned into an unmitigated disaster zone.

"For the abandoned and disillusioned residents on Lambeth's neglected and crumbling estates and street properties it must seem like something worse," added Cllr Palmer.

"What on earth can Labour do next to pile on the misery?"

Read "Now Labour's Shock £6 Million Housing Loss".

LABOUR LAMBETH CARE CHARGES STILL HIGHEST IN COUNTRY - DESPITE U-TURN

1.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Jul 2008

Lambeth Lib Dems oppose Lambeth Labour's heartless care charges hike

Labour run Lambeth has been forced to back down on its plans to hike charges for services like home helps to £20 an hour.

But opposition Lib Dem Councillors have warned that this still means Lambeth has the highest hourly care charge anywhere in England at £17.50 an hour.

Lib Dem Councillor Rob Banks said: "Lambeth Labour were forced to agree to the Lib Dem proposal to the council meeting on July 9th calling for no further increase in care charges. But this is not good enough. We also wanted a cut in the charges to £10 an hour using some of the recent cash windfall that Lambeth council have been given by the Government."

He added: "Labour Lambeth may have backed down on any further increases for now, but they are still piling on the misery by having the highest care charges in England. They must look again at this and reduce the charges further".

ENDS

Note to editors: The Lib Dem motion on care charges to tonight's meeting of Lambeth Council has been amended by Labour, but the words "Council calls for the ruling out of any further increase in care charges to £20 an hour" remain in the amendment. A link can be found (on page 98 of the PDF) at

http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/Published/C00000142/M00006175/AI00005336/$09Motionsregisterwitham090708asat260608.docA.ps.pdf

Read "LABOUR LAMBETH CARE CHARGES STILL HIGHEST IN COUNTRY - DESPITE U-TURN".

Labour's Housing Dereliction Derby

1.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 19th Jun 2008

As Lambeth's Housing crisis deepens, as waiting lists for decent housing get longer, as repairs are put on hold, Labour's heartless response is to board up perfectly good homes and leave them empty. Worse than this, they are actually deliberately trashing many of them to make them uninhabitable.

There they stand, many of them in good residential roads, as stark and ugly reminders of Lambeth's failed Housing policy and of cruel neglect under Labour. Rather than spend a few hundred pounds to make them habitable, Labour would rather let the borough's neediest people remain on a housing waiting list for over half their lives.

Almost 1000 properties, according to official statistics, currently lie empty or void. Of these, amazingly, 357 need £500 or less spent on them to totally transform the life of a homeless family.

Quite apart from the strong moral argument, Liberal Democrats reckon that if these empty homes were actually let out they would be returning some £5 million a year to the Council in rents.

But the really destructive part of Labour's brutal and uncaring housing policy is that they actually smash-up perfectly good houses to prevent squatters moving in. An official Lambeth spokesperson denied this vehemently, however, saying that they only removed sinks and pipework in order to deter squatters.

Labour may try to nit-pick over words but the fact remains that at least 125 properties are currently squatted - the numbers always rise under Labour - so their dereliction derby of a policy doesn't seem to be working, either.

In fact the only winner here seems to be the dereliction of duty by Labour to house needy people on the ever-lengthening waiting list. And the sad fact is that if they actually got their act together and let out these empty properties to those waiting families, there would be no room for squatters to move in them.

And no expensive and lengthy court cases to bring to evict them again. And no even higher repair bills afterwards.

Homelessness in the 21st Century in one of the great capital cities of the world is nothing less than a national scandal. Lambeth under Labour is a classic example of an abject failure to tackle homelessness.

There is currently a freeze on all but essential repairs under Labour on the remaining 26,000 properties in its care. Some people on the waiting list, though, would simply be glad of a home - in whatever condition.

Read "Labour's Housing Dereliction Derby".

Labour should bottle-it more often

8.17.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 18th Jun 2008

Amazingly, in this day and age, there is a severe shortage of bottles available for turning into new bottles - and it's hard to think of a greener way of recycling than that.

Yet with so much co-mingled recycling going on, bottles are being contaminated with other rubbish and can only be used again as hardcore for roads and pavements. Not for making new bottles.

Lambeth has 40 recycling stations around the borough but nearly all now accept only co-mingled recycling rather than the once familiar bottle banks that separated green, brown and clear bottles at source.

Many residents dutifully recycling their bottles or encouraging their children to do so will be surprised and disappointed that so many bottles are either going into landfill or ending up as industrial hardcore because they are not pure enough for producing brand new bottles.

Liberal Democrats want to see more bottle banks back in use in Lambeth because it is greener and more sustainable to do so. Lambeth needs to be more much imaginative and needs to raise its game if it is to stand any chance of becoming London's Greenest Borough.

Councillor Brian Palmer said, "I'm appalled that Labour is bottling-it over the green agenda. If there is a shortage of bottles for recycling into new bottles, there is a simple solution. Bring back the bottle banks."

Read "Labour should bottle-it more often".

Labour's Criminal Record

10.16.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Jun 2008

Labour stands accused of failing residents in the fight against crime.

Official figures recently released saw three Lambeth wards appear in the list for the highest number of residential burglaries in London in 2007. The wards affected are St. Leonard's (in Streatham) with the highest at 15.96 offences per 1,000 population, followed by Herne Hill at 15.76 and Thurlow Park at 15.61.

Meanwhile a report in today's London Evening Standard shows that robbery levels have soared to a four year high after a Labour crackdown on street crime ran out of cash.Figures show that street robberies rose during the last 3 months of 2006 compared to the same period a year earlier.

Concern among members of the public is rising about drunken behaviour in the wake of Labour's relaxation of the drinking laws and there has been an 11 per cent year-on rise in vandalism.

The only degree of optimism - a slight fall in serious violence - is explained as a statistical aberration caused by different methods of collating the information. The number of fatal shootings in 2006 rose by eight per cent with a high percentage of black teenagers in Lambeth among the victims.

In the wake of these alarming figures police numbers in Lambeth remain under strength, there are plans to close local police stations in Clapham and Streatham and Labour-run Lambeth Council has sacked all its community crime wardens.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Crime Cllr Steve Bradley said, "These are bleak statistics which show that Labour is losing the war against crime. Labour likes to talk big about tackling crime and the fear of crime but the everyday reality of many people living in Lambeth is that crime destroys their quality of life."

Cllr Bradley added, " If all the woolly initiatives and tough talk from Labour meant anything, Lambeth would be one of the safest places on earth. People tell me they want to see more police out on the streets making them feel safe - and so do we.

Cllr Bradley said, " As with so many things, people are discovering that Labour's record on crime is only so much hot air."

Read "Labour's Criminal Record".

Steve Bradley wins Vassall for the Lib Dems

12.46.35pm GMT Fri 21st Mar 2008

Steve Bradley has won the Vassall By-election for the Lib Dems

Steve Bradley has won the Vassall by-election held on Thursday 20 March 2008. He was elected with over 50% of the vote and with a 12% swing to the Liberal Democrats.

Newly elected Councillor Steve Bradley said, "I would like to thank people of Vassall for giving me the chance to be their representative at the Town Hall.

"The scale of Labour's defeat shows that they haven't addressed the issues that matter to people in Vassall - high crime, the neglect of the area and the high council tax increases.

"On the doorsteps, people said to me, 'It's time for a change.' And this result leads towards excellent results in May's GLA elections and in the next Lambeth Council elections in 2010. The message is clear - Labour are on the way out."

Councillor Ashley Lumsden, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Lambeth Council said, "I am delighted to welcome Cllr Steve Bradley to the Liberal Democrat Group at the Town Hall. He will make an excellent and hard-working representative for his area."

"Steve's tremendous success shows residents are giving Labour their marching orders. If the swing in Vassall was repeated across Lambeth then the Lib Dems would take 17 seats from Labour, run the council, hold the GLA seat and both MPs."

The final results are as follows:

Steve Bradley, Liberal Democrat 1,209 (50.4%)

Labour 859 (35.8%)

Conservative 206 (8.6%)

Green 109 (4.5%)

English Democrat 8 (0.3%)

Independent 7 (0.3%)

Turnout 25.9%

Read "Steve Bradley wins Vassall for the Lib Dems".

COMMENT: Out for the Count

12.32.00pm GMT Fri 21st Mar 2008

Election counts are a bit like coronations but with rather less bling and several candidates with the throne in mind. Like the most secretive parts of coronations, the public are excluded from the mysterious inner sanctum of the temple, or Town Hall, election agents are ushered up to a top table or high altar on the word of the high priest (or Election Officer) and mysterious things are spoken well out of earshot of the rest of us who have had mere supporting roles thus far.

The strangest thing is that politicians from opposing factions who might otherwise not pass the time of day with each other are totally transformed, showing all-too human emotions, nervousness, a kind of gallows humour and sometimes even exchanging unexpected pleasantries. For they are all in the same boat. Waiting for the axe to fall.

Some will be spared come the morning, some even promoted, others sent out into the wilderness, never to return. It's heady stuff waiting for futures to be decided and dreams to be shattered or brought on to mellow fruitfulness. Like phases of the moon and the tides that planetary body commands the fortunes of the political parties wax and wane, too.

Here in the faded art deco glory of Lambeth's Assembly Halls we can only sit and wait. The dye is cast - although we do not know it yet. All those weeks of planning, all those miles walked delivering messages to the people now count as nothing as we wait for the boxes to arrive, those ballot papers to be emptied out like so much litter, and then sorted with extreme care into coloured trays.

Red, yellow and blue. Party hacks watch with eagle eyes for errant papers. Fringe parties get anonymous looking grey trays - but no-one's looking there, and, short of a minor miracle, they are not going to overflow, either.

It's a two horse race, this one. The Easter Stakes. The Vassal Gold Cup. They are off.

Yes, it's a quick canter across Brixton Road, over the first hurdle at Myatt's Field North where the going is heavy after overnight rain, into Ackerman's - always a difficult one to negotiate this - now they're passing the grandstands over at the Knatchbull Road end, crossing the Brixton Road again, still it's neck and neck with everything to play for as they round Stockwell Park Crescent where the pace is quickening, and they'll soon be heading for the home straight........

But right now back to our commentator in the steward's enclosure.

Everyone forecast that it would be a close run thing. But the Labour super confident faces are slipping, their leader's beaming smile is now looking contrived like a piece of wall paper covering the cracks. Beads of sweat are appearing on the matinee idol's brow through all the make-up. It hasn't been a good week.

Worse is to come. Imperceptibly the orange bundles seem to be getting more numerous than the red ones. Are our eyes deceiving us? Will the contents of a late box upset the whole thing? The sages reading the runes say otherwise.

We hold our breath as the official roll of the votes cast is read out.

The Liberal Democrats have won. And not by a neck. But several furlongs.

Read "COMMENT: Out for the Count".

FORMER LAMBETH LABOUR MAYOR BACKS LIB DEMS

6.07.00pm GMT Tue 11th Mar 2008

Former Labour Mayor Claudette Hewitt has joined the Lib Dems and is backing Steve Bradley in the Vassall by-election

Former Labour Councillor and recently a popular Mayor of Lambeth, Claudette Hewitt has left the Labour Party and joined the Liberal Democrats. She is backing candidate Steve Bradley for the Vassall by-election.

Claudette Hewitt, pictured with Steve Bradley outside Lambeth Town Hall, said "Labour have broken too many promises and taken local people for granted. Just look at the state of the housing in the area - it's terrible - and then they put up the rent so much."

"I've met Steve and I know all about his work for local people in Vassall. He is just the councillor needed in Vassall right now," she added.

Discussing her reasons for leaving the Labour Party, Claudette commented, "I've been unhappy with the local Labour party for some time. I feel they take people - especially black people - for granted. Their promises to get everyone involved just don't materialise - keeping the top jobs for themselves. Once they've got people signed up to Labour they just use them to look like they're diverse.

"They think black people will always vote Labour so they don't listen to our issues. Black people must see that they have a choice over who to vote for. I've made that choice and joined the Lib Dems and I urge people to vote Lib Dem too."

Welcoming Claudette to the campaign trail, Lib Dem Candidate for Vassall Steve Bradley added, "I am delighted to welcome Claudette to the Lib Dems - just at a time when the party is on the up and we are challenging hard in the by-election."

Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Lambeth Council, Cllr Ashley Lumsden added, "Claudette has already demonstrated her hard work and commitment to the Borough of Lambeth when she was a councillor and Mayor. We value her experience and skills working with local people across the borough. Her determination to meet people and listen to them will be a real asset to the local Lib Dem team in the run up to polling day."

Read "FORMER LAMBETH LABOUR MAYOR BACKS LIB DEMS".

Homes wrecked under Loony Labour

12.47.00pm GMT Tue 4th Mar 2008

Labour Lambeth are to wreck this home rather than see it brought back into use

Loony Labour-run Lambeth council has wrecked two homes in Streatham because money is not available to do them up - while not far away they have more than £100,000 of public money to spend converting three flats into a single house worth an estimated £1m.

Meanwhile Labour have been quietly ramping up their sell-off of council homes - at a single auction last week they raked in £3.4 million with the sale of flats and houses, having previously claimed they were halting the sale of council homes.

The contradictions in loony Labour's housing policy are shown first by the stark contrast between Lydhurst Ave and Kirkstall Rd, both in Streatham Hill. Numbers 6 to 8 Lydhurst Ave have been squatted for years but with the squatters removed the council has made the homes "totally uninhabitable to prevent resquatting". The council says funds are not available to carry out repairs, so they will just be left empty again - the answer, says the council, is to wreck them so that squatters will not reoccupy.

At 87 Kirkstall Rd, in the sought after Telford Park conservation area, a property divided into three flats, the squatters have been removed but the council has so much public money to burn that it is proposing to lavish an estimated £100K to turn it into a seven-bedroom house for rent by a single family - it says the house can accommodate 11 people. If restored the house is likely to be worth in the region of £1million.

Under the Lib Dem-led administration it was the policy to dispose of "uneconomic voids". Using a consistent financial formula empty and derelict properties were sold if the cost of bringing them back into use could not be justified - the proceeds were reinvested in the council's housing stock. If 87 Kirkstall Rd were sold for £800,000 it would bring an estimated 400 council homes up to the Decent Homes Standard by renewing unfit kitchens.

Labour's John Kazantzis boasted he was reversing that policy, claiming he was halting the sell-off of large family homes - but on February 14th Labour auctioned off 12 street properties for £3.4 million, including an eight-room three storey house in Saltoun Rd, Brixton sold for £695,000. That, even by Cllr Kazantzis's standards, is a family-sized home.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Jeremy Clyne, who represents Streatham Hill, has challenged the decision to deconvert 87 Kirkstall Rd into a single property by calling it in before a scrutiny committee, saying that the council has not even bothered to detail the demand for seven-bedroom/11 person properties.

"The best thing the council can do is to sell this enormous property without further delay to help fund the Decent Homes programme. The council needs the money desperately to meet its promises of decent kitchens and bathrooms."

"Housing under Cllr Kazantzis is a crazy world of hypocrisy and confusion - selling off big family homes at the same time as claiming to have halted such sales. And to wreck homes and leave them empty because funds are not available while still having enough to turn three flats into a £1 million house is the economics of the madhouse."

Read "Homes wrecked under Loony Labour".

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