Ferndale Councillors successfully loby for new playgrounds

Your local councillors lobbied hard to get Lambeth Housing to fund the renovation of the Bowlands estate 'Kick About' area for young people, as well as the near by children's playground near Brittainia Close, SW4. These are now open.

Councillor Paul McGlone, pictured in the Kick About area on Saturday, says, "young people need places to play sport, and parents need open air play grounds to get kids playing in the fresh air. I hope Bowlands estate residents will help own these facilities as a community asset."

Lambeth Labour councillors freeze council tax for the next TWO years

Lambeth Labour councillors have voted to freeze council tax for the next TWO years to help local households cope with the economic recession.

Labour was elected in Lambeth two years ago promising that we would be “on your side”, with council tax increases kept below the level of wage inflation. During the previous four years, a Lib Dem and Conservative coalition forced council tax up 40% - the biggest increase in Lambeth’s history - that cost the average household an extra £1000 in council tax payments.

Labour’s two-year tax freeze is intended to help residents who are struggling to cope with the effects of the global recession. With rising fuel prices and many facing job losses, Labour wants to help families and individuals keep more of their money. The freeze will be delivered without cuts in frontline services. This is possible only because of the careful way Labour has managed the council’s finances over the past two years, restoring them to stability after the Tories and Lib Dems left the council with no money in the bank and millions of pounds in debt.

Larkhall Labour Councillor Pete Robbins is Chair of the Finance Committee, and said: "The one thing the council does that affects just about every household in Lambeth is set the council tax. With Labour, our council tax is already one of the lowest in the country. But Lambeth Labour is determined to stay on the side of ordinary people, so we will be freezing council tax for the next two years with no increase in people’s bills. We know that’s the best way we can help people manage through the economic downturn. And it’s a clear difference from the record-breaking 40% hikes we got from the Lib Dems.”

Lib Dem plans to savage Lambeth’s housing

Lambeth Labour has exposed secret Lib Dem plans to savage Lambeth’s housing service with £9 million of cuts. Their refusal to increase investment for the underfunded service means that, to balance the budget as the law demands, they would have to impose cuts on a scale never before seen in Lambeth.

The Lib Dem axe would sweep through housing, removing staff and frontline services and leaving it facing meltdown. The last time Lib Dems were running Lambeth’s housing service they were so incompetent they managed to cut services while making them cost more at the same time in a botched restructuring plan called ‘Reframing’. This time, they plan to make the same mistakes only on a far bigger scale.

When they were finally voted out of office in 2006, the Lib Dems left behind a toxic cocktail of a £7.78m annual overspend and no financial reserves in the bank. The council has already been forced to consider big rent rises to clear up the Lib Dem mess.

Labour’s leader Steve Reed commented: “Tenants in Lambeth would face a terrifying double whammy of cuts and rent rises if the Lib Dems were ever to grab back power. Alongside savage cuts to frontline services, tenants could see weekly bills rise to the level seen in other Lib Dem-run councils like Islington. The Lib Dems want to cover up the truth about their plans, but today Labour can expose exactly where the Lib Dem axe will fall.”

Here’s the nightmare that £9m Lib Dem cuts would mean:

• Half of all housing staff sacked
• Area offices closed down
• Rent collection staff reduced and rents left uncollected
• Pest control service scrapped
• Safety patrols slashed
• Call centre waiting times increased
• No window cleaning
• All concierges removed
• CCTV switched off
• External repairs and redecorations left undone
• Household repairs scrapped
• One in every three homes left without central heating or watertight doors, windows or roofs
• Rents skyrocketing to the level seen in Lib Dem-run Islington