Excuses, excuses from a council that won’t act
May 2005

Graffiti on Brixton Station

When Labour Councillor Toren Smith put in an enquiry to Lambeth Council officers about getting the graffiti cleared above Brixton Tube station, he was hoping to resolve the issue fairly quickly. He did not reckon with the grinding inefficiency that has become the hall mark of Liberal Democrat controlled Lambeth council.

On 7th March 2005, Cllr Smith asked who at the council was putting pressure on Network Rail and other property owners to clean up the huge amount of graffiti which has accumulated on and above the station. More than two months later, and despite repeated requests from Councillor Smith, nothing had been done to remove the graffiti.

Lambeth’s “Street Care” operation replied to Councillor Smith’s original enquiry with a list of excuses about why they would not act to clean up the bridge. When Councillor repeated his requests to officers for information about what was being done to clean up the daubings, he was simply referred to a previous response.

Graffiti above Sainsbury's

It was only when Labour GLA member Valerie Shawcross made representations to TfL that arrangements were made to clear the graffiti.

Labour Councillor Toren Smith said:

“I am so angry at the apathy and inaction of the council over this issue. They seemed to be putting more energy into making excuses that it would have taken to just contact TfL and get the graffiti cleaned up.”

“Since the Liberal Democrats took over at Lambeth a culture of inaction seems to have spread. My thanks go out to Val Shawcross for stepping in and doing the council’s job for them.”

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