Clapham Election – make sure you vote!
This Thursday residents of Clapham will be able to vote in the general election and the local Lambeth or Wandsworth Council elections (voting is open from 7am – 10pm). I was planning an impartial blog post and I’ve been struggling with it because it’s so hard to differentiate between the parties and I actually feel the existing council has done a good job. So instead, as this is a personal blog about Clapham, an area I live in, I have chosen to give a personal view in which I believe – and this post is strictly on a local level – Labour should continue to run the council for Lambeth and Clapham. If you’re not interested in my personal opinion, it’s probably best to stop reading now!
Most of Clapham is covered by Lambeth Council so I’m going to focus on this. Lambeth Council has done a good job addressing key issues locally over the years they’ve been in office. Importantly, they have addressed crime well, increased development correctly, frozen council tax in the recession and done many significant things for the local community. Below is my account of things as I see it, but I don’t claim to be an expert, so please add any extra info or corrections in the comments.
Crime
Firstly, the Labour Council has reduced crime rates for five consecutive years – this is what we expect from a local Council. I’ve been the victim of a violent mugging in Clapham and the local police force was exceptional. They addressed my attack immediately, helpfully and reassuringly. Labour are talking of increasing the size of the local police force by 25 extra officers while the Conservatives and Lib Dems do not support this. In areas like Clapham where the number of residents is huge, we need this extra number of officers to protect us. Without this extra support, attacks like mine will continue to happen to more people. Vitally, the Labour Council has engaged with the schools, colleges and youth centres to really speak out to the thousands of young people in Lambeth. To remove Labour now when they are running this successful youth scheme seems crazy.
Development
The Labour Council has protected a number of Clapham’s most important buildings like the Clapham Library. The other parties wanted to sell this off and they certainly didn’t have the grand development plans the Labour Council has begun to improve the leisure centre and look of Clapham High Street. The Conservatives and Lib Dems are promising “leisure development to be finished on time and to budget” which is a nonsense promise – Labour have already started it and they promise this too! If the other two parties had been in charge now, we wouldn’t have the same level of local development in the first place. The existing Labour Council is also putting into place plans to improve our damaged roads.
Frozen Council Tax
We all know Lambeth’s Council Tax is incredibly high compared to the rest of London because of the masses of local authority housing in the borough. However, in the recession the Labour Council froze the council tax for at least two years. This was the right decision.
Graffiti
Clapham (and indeed Lambeth) has a minor graffiti problem. The council has acknowledged this and is quick to remove it when impossible to prevent.
Community
The Mayor of Lambeth, Christopher Wellbelove, is one standout member of the Lambeth Labour team who has helped generate a local sense of community by making the local council approachable. He is also an extremely active councillor. Both attributes start at the top with Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed and seems to extend to many members of the existing council. Few councils across the country have such enthusiastic and passionate members.
Gay rights
To be blunt there are a lot of gay men and women in Clapham and you will either be one or may at least know someone here that is gay. The Conservative Party is not a gay friendly party in any way shape or form. Lib Dems have a better agenda for gay people’s rights, but Labour is incredibly supportive, making gay people’s lives in the UK much better.
Summary
So, whatever party you vote to elect in the general election, I would strongly advise that you continue to support the existing council – Labour – at a local level. I think it will be detrimental to the local community to remove a successful local council. Feel free to disagree, change my mind or share your views below…
9 Responses to “Clapham Election – make sure you vote!”
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| 1. | I TRAIN WITH TIM Personal Training | 1. | No Ben & Jerry's Festival this summer |
| 2. | Esca sandwiches - High Street | 2. | Still not enough decent shops |
| Clapham's new Leisure Centre | 3. | Litter on the Common | |
| 4. | Venn Street is now pedestrians only with a market every week! | ||
| 5. | The Black Lab for coffee and cake ... mmm |
I would totally support you in the above comments Jack.
Labour in Lambeth has not only transformed the borough but has brought much needed change to residents lives.
As a resident myself but also as a community leader active within the Clapham housing area, I can testify to many of the points above. I am born and raised in Lambeth, and can honestly say it is in the best condition it has been in a very long time. OK, some may say its not perfect but compared to previous administrations in previous years, residents on my estate have seen investment bring new windows and doors, better services as well as exceptionally supportive and active local councillors.
They make every effort to resolve issues by attending resident association meetings every month, to tackle often complex and difficult issues. I have also been struck by the way the local Labour councillors interact with residents and make themselves available. This for me is unlike anything we have ever seen in the borough.
Clapham and other areas have transformed under the leadership of Lambeth Labour. The ward i live in has the lowest crime rate throughout Lambeth, and the Weir Estate has practically no crime issues. Yes this is probably rare but I believe it goes to show the safer neighbourhood teams (SNT’s) are working and making a real difference.
Without the support and dedication of our councillor’s one of which being a cabinet member, I do not believe we would of seen the level of change and improvement we have had. It would certainly be a tragic and awful loss to see the hard work and commitment to improving our communities undone.
We have been delighted and privileged to have such hard working and reliable councillors in our area and I know this is the case across Lambeth where Labour councillors have worked hard to make things happen for local people.
I grew up in an area of the borough where it was Tory Councillors and I can honestly say they did hardly anything and as my parents still live there, this is still the case and the estate my parents live on has rapidly deteriorated. Something that really disturbs me. When i compare it to the way and work of local councillors in Thornton and other surrounding areas, I know how fortunate we are to have them working for us. So much so, I believe there is only one place my vote can go. They have been around all year (not just at election time), supported individuals and associations.
We now have a promising future to build on for Lambeth and I for one, believe that Lambeth is in safe and capable hands with Labour.
Future Clapham is two years behind schedule – it should be open by now.
The freezing of Council Tax is to be applauded. Labour is not alone in London in doing this – twenty six other local authorities have also frozen Council tax, just ahead of May 6th. Funny that…
Areas that you have missed include the sham that is Lambeth Living, and more importantly, the complete uncertainty as to what a John Lewis council actually means.
The promised public consultation hasn’t happened – how can you vote for a party whose whole purpose is pinned down on a policy which it won’t elaborate upon? You’re voting with your eyes closed.
I’m not sure what the alternative is. The LibDems will probably need the support of Lambeth Tories to form an administration. This is no bad thing – the Tories in Lambeth are incredibly wet. Still, as you rightfully point out, they are aligned nationally to a party with some serious questions still hanging over them regarding equality.
The Lambeth picture is incredibly depressing. Little choice – either a right wing Labour cabinet whose sole purpose is to fight elections, or the LibDems (and their friends) who didn’t exactly achieve a great deal for the borough during ’02 – ’06.
I wouldn’t exactly call Lambeth Living all bad, yes it isn’t working but we must remember two things..
1) Its still relatively young and is top heavy
2) The people of this borough (as far as the results showed) voted for it.
As someone who works very closely with Lambeth Living
Lambeth Living has failed to deliver what its promised and clearly is in need of a major shake up and an overhaul but it as far as my estate has brought some level of improvement to residents lives. Largely thanks to the work of the residents association and local councillors but it has brought some degree of change. I am told there is to be a major shake up and I am optimistic to hear that Lambeth Labour have sat up and taken notice giving them an ultimatum. They need to sort out the wheat from the chaff and make it work but we as residents must also play our part.
Lambeth has moved on from the days of being one of the worst to one of the fast improving councils and London Boroughs. There are some exciting times ahead with promising developments for leisure and development. Would this of happened under anyone else, we will never know.
We should be proud of our borough and we must all take responsibility for improving it. Its so easy to criticise and bash it over the headas has been the case in by-gone years, but we must acknowledge and play a part in make change happen.
Jason – wasn’t the delay of Future Clapham caused by the recession putting a stopper on funding? If that’s true then no party could have predicted or done much to change the delay, surely? I’ve always found the council quite open, but you are more experienced than I at dealing with them.
Dave – that’s the thing, I’m excited about the positive changes already being made to our area. They seem much bigger than other boroughs at the moment, and all are very community led developments.
FYI… this might be of interest to some: http://www.voterpower.org.uk and this article about Clapham Park Project: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/04/clapham-park-estate-tactical-voting
The two year delay on Future Clapham was caused by the very nature of the business deal – allowing the Cathedral Group to control leisure in Clapham. The private developer signed the deal, and then ran out of money.
Once funds became flowing once again, Cathedral Group called all the shots, closing Clapham Manor with only two weeks notice. It was a perfect storm (or quite the opposite for swimmers…)
A similar private capital finance on local authority leisure projects in Streatham meant that the SW16 pool had no money for repairs. Meanwhile Brixton was also closed at the same time, to secure funding during a tight time frame.
All three pools, all closed, and all related to allowing private capital to control the leisure agenda.
Not Lambeth Labour’s finest legacy.
Theres just no pleasing some people!
Mmm… Your vote counts, and so do these #hyperlocal matters. All administrations need to be held to account. To wave the Rah Rah Lambeth Flag and let such crucial issues as the meltdown of housing and leisure go unaccounted, would make a farce of local democracy.
I don’t think I have ever come across such a negative pessimist! At the end of the day its happening and much of it is in progress. Take it for what it is, embrace it and live with it!
I can not condemn my local councillors or the Labour council as they have done right for the the residents of this area and the many years I have grown up in this borough they have done far more than anyone else!
I agree with most of your comments and I think the post election results show that Labour has done an excellent job to date. There is always room for more improvement though but I can remember 5 years ago how terrible Clapham and Lambeth in general looked under the Lib dem/conservative coalition. The streets were constantly littered, street cleaning appeared to be deprioritised as the council focused on cost savings, while spending money on new offices. There was also that fiasco of the missing millions.It was also sad that Lambeth ended up being reduced to a failing 1 star authority and became the laughing stock of London. All of that was turned around with the labour administration and new chief executive in 2006 and it went on to become the most improved borough in the UK for two years running and a 3 star authority. Because of the unique nature of the Borough a conservative approach would be difficult to implement in Lambeth. You will have to displace thousands of low-medium income families and individuals and replace them with wealthy home county city types, which is the policy that Wandsworth Council’s conservative administration has so ruthlessly implemented over the years in places like Battersea, Putney, Balham and Wandsworth. That approach succeeded at a time it was perfectly acceptable to do such things (i.e. during the Thatcher/Major years). Not sure that attempting that kind of social engineering would work in lambeth or would be acceptable in this day and age. The level of diversity and high tolerance levels of Lambeth is one of its key attractions. You need a local administration that is sympathetic to everyone both rich, average and low income.