Days since Lambeth Labour Leader filed a blog - seven
Days since Lambeth Lib Dem Leader filed a blog - 69

It came home to me on Saturday at a busy 'surgery advice centre' what a lousy deal the residents of Lambeth Council-owned estates get from their landlord especially those who live on small estates without a big voice in the tenants movement.

You'd think that the seventh biggest social landlord in the country would have some world class players in its management team - a Beckham or two perhaps - especially in view of how much our Labour masters pay them. It's wrong to generalise, of course, because there are some rapidly eroding islands of good practice among the officer ranks - we just lost a really great area manager here in Norwood called Bayo. Yet it's hard to beat the tale Edna, Winifred and Sharon told me (names have been changed to protect the innocent and in any case my Mum's middle name was Winifred).

Winifred's flat has a new source of running water only it's not from Thames Water. It's pouring in from the flat above which has been 'sublet' by the tenant who is living somewhere else with his girlfriend and no doubt claiming benefit there. But when Winifred spotted two Lambeth housing officers they 'didn't want to know' because they were there to 'investigate' something else and said 'ring the office.' Not exactly the 'can do' style of management. Neither were they interested in hearing about the flat that has been empty for two years just along the corridor.

Edna's problem was rather different. The gasman came to inspect her boiler on Friday, but as he was only 'health and safety' he just switched the whole thing off and left saying - you've guessed it - 'ring the office' - because he didn't want to know. As a result, Edna now has no hot water until someone turns up from repairs in a week or two. The scandal is that the boiler is the same one installed when the property was built 30 years ago and is costing her a fortune to run. Yet I believed all that council junk about energy efficient heating systems that reduced the carbon footprint.

Last of all there was Sharon. Her problem is anti social youths making her life a misery and threatening anyone who tells them to stop making a racket including her pregnant daughter. And you've guessed it when she rang the office 'they didn't want to know.' All these residents tell me they never see the community police team heralded with lots of backslapping by Labour politicians who regularly write sanctimonious rubbish in the local newspaper about initiatives that make no difference to anyone. Now I happen to know that our local police team make a real effort, but without the active support of highly-paid council officers and intelligence from the housing service they can't make a decisive impact especially with the small minority of anti-social tenants.

How come all these good folk turned up at the surgery from the same estate? It may have had something to do with the community newsletter we put round as councillors the previous week-end. As far as we're concerned Sharon, Edna, and Winifred represent the good solid residents living on our estates who deserve a lot better than what Labour gives them. And we're actually going to do something about it by inviting them to our joint advice centre with the police next month as well as by goading the housing officers with our members' enquiries.

Labels: anti-social behaviour, housing, police, surgeries

Days since other Party Leaders in Lambeth updated their blogs:

Labour - eight days
Liberal Democrat - 61 days

The time has come to speak up for the small businesses in our high streets in Lambeth. Many of them are in danger of disappearing under the sheer weight of 'samey' brand names, fast food outlets, and the ubiquitous supermarkets. If the big biggest retailers had it all their own way in West Norwood, we'd only need three or four of them to sell everything, to everyone, everywhere.

Much to my surprise a leading bicycling community activist in my ward has apparently swallowed the gospel according to the supermarket chains. He writes in the local press that he sees little value in a flower stall that is apparently an inconvenience as far as one major retailer is concerned. But, there are other voices in our community that value 'flower power' since more than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for the flower stall by the cemetery gates to remain where it has been for the past 100 years. Cynics might say that people will sign any petition, but it does seem that the flower stall is regarded as a local treasure and highly valued by its customers.

A survey of my constituents in the neighbouring streets backed that priority with only a handful of people saying they wanted more supermarkets. Quite apart from anything else, the flower stall is a business that has been recognised for excellence by London's leading daily newspaper and is patronised by all sections of the community especially visitors to the cemetery. I should know, I go to enough funerals as leader of the Conservative Group on Lambeth Council.

In any case, West Norwood has already been 'supermarketed' with two supermarkets only a few metres from the old Jack Stamp's pub. Another one at Park Hall Road is even more convenient for residents such as my bicycling constituent and community activist - a self nominating profession which keeps the local newspapers busy for the price of a few beverages in local watering holes.

It is absolutely common ground that West Norwood's shopping offer could certainly do with improvement, but that means encouraging more independent retailers, such as the excellent fish shop, deli, fruit and veg sellers, photo shop, banks, and the existing supermarkets. Isn't it time someone took up the gauntlet for independent retailers?

Labels: blogging about blogging, community activists, small businesses

Herne Hill is an up and coming mini town centre straddling the border with Southwark where shopkeepers and residents have aspirations. Its energetic and well organised Herne Hill Forum acts as a local area assembly and sounding board with regular turnouts of 200 people or more.

Imagine the disappointment then that must have followed the re-election of two Labour councillors last May who despite their local profile don't appear to be anyone's first port of call when people need help. One of them is even a Cabinet member with a whacking special responsibility allowance who clearly needs to spend more time in the ward and less in the town hall balancing the books.

Instead it's the Conservatives who've been asked to help do something about the fact that shopkeepers think Lambeth Council seems to be hell bent on "driving the retailers out of business." So what do they say - loading and unloading for traders is becoming "impossible for all shops, bars and pubs in Railton Road; parking bays were meant to be sorted out last November but has still not been done four months later; CCTV cameras were supposed to prevent street crime in Herne Hill but only seem to issue parking tickets."

Having documented the grievances, we'll now monitor how quickly anyone from the Council responds. One of the complaints is in the old Flanders and Swann category of the 'Gas person cometh' - "a man came and started to paint some gray railings black, ran out of paint, and then never came back leaving the railings a piebald colour." Oddly enough that was the first point the Council officers responding to these complaints picked up on, probably because it doesn't require a statutory notice to fix it - just another pot of paint which is actually on sale less than 25 yards from the railings.

Labels: CCTV, Herne Hill, Herne Hill Forum, Parking, Shops