Labour: Delivering for Lambeth

Labour: Delivering on promises since the election

Just two months after Labour was selected to run Lambeth council the results are starting to show with real improvements for the people of the borough. A number of promises were made during the election campaign which Labour Councillors are eager to deliver. They fought their election on the slogan “We’re on your side” and they are busy proving that this was not just talk.

Since May the 4th the Labour Administration has:

• agreed £500m investment in Clapham Park Estate with control handed over to a housing association led by tenants
• agreed the first stage of plans to invest £200m Government money to expand and refurbish our existing secondary schools and build two new schools to solve the shortage of places
• won Ken Livingstone's backing for a £22m bid to improve Brixton Market
• blocked Lib Dem and Tory plans to sell off Clapham's leisure centre and swimming pool
• agreed £120million Government funding to improve homes on the Myatts Field Estate
• ended the Lib Dem sell-off of family-sized council homes that left people living in overcrowded flats
• persuaded Ken Livingstone to offer the Council a multi-million pound scheme to make Brixton town centre better for pedestrians and cyclists as well as improving traffic flow
• worked up a scheme to save Streatham's ice rink after the Lib Dems left it facing permanent closure
• stopped Lib Dem plans to sell off the community leisure facilities at the old Lilian Baylis School site in Kennington
• started discussions on building a third new secondary school that the Lib Dems had rejected
• pushed forward the introduction of 21 local police teams covering every part of the Borough

In addition to these achievements Labour has also been praised by external inspectors for the pre-election planning which has ensured such a smooth transition. Unlike four years ago when the Liberal Democrats and Tories took power, the council has not been blown off course by political witch-hunts in order to sack council officers

Councillor Mark Bennett, Labour’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety said:

“I am proud of what we have achieved in our first two months in power. Just one example is millions of pounds worth of investment we have already brought in just by talking to our partners in the GLA and at Government level. The Lib Dems simply did not want to talk to them for political reasons, and the people of Lambeth suffered as a result.

“I am absolutely determined to deliver on the manifesto commitments which got Labour elected in Lambeth. In opposition we promised the people of Lambeth ‘we’re on your side’. and in power we are behaving in exactly the same way. We are working for the people of Lambeth, not protecting the interests of the council.”

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