Council sells off “Clapham’s family silver”
Clapham residents and community leaders have expressed their outrage at the selling off of a well loved local landmark, the Old Fire Station. Two days after the Clapham Society had applied for the building to gain “listed” status, Lambeth’s Liberal Democrat/Tory controlled council has sold off the building to a private individual at an auction. The move has stunned local residents who have been putting forward imaginative uses for the building for the past two years. Ideas for converting the building into an information centre or an office for town centre staff have been ignored by the council which preferred to take the £500, 000 they were offered at the auction. Local residents and community leaders insist the Old Fire Station is worth well in excess of this and are angered by the rushed sell-off. Local councillors and community forums were not informed of the sell-off until the last minute and there was no consultation whatsoever with residents groups. Local Clapham Councillor Helen O’Malley commented: “Its outrageous that the council is selling off Clapham’s family silver like this. We have been campaigning to get the Old Fire Station to be converted so that it could be of real benefit to the local community. But now the Liberals and Tories have just sold it off for some quick cash.” “This kind of steam-rolling does not
bode well for the consultation on the Council’s regeneration strategy.
Will they be ignoring residents opinions on those hugely important issues
as well?”
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