Labour fail to tackle poor performance by Lambeth Council
An unrelenting attack on the scrutiny process, that allows faults and problems at the council to be probed, has been launched on Lambeth Council by one of its most experienced members. Conservative Councillor Clare Whelan, a member since 1990, launched a robust attack against the Labour administration who she accused of failing to question and challenge poor performance.
At the July council meeting she said: “Members who sit on these [scrutiny] committees should remember why they do so, it is to scrutinise and investigate the council and the administration’s policies on behalf of local residents and taxpayers.”
Cllr Whelan, who until recently sat on the Labour chaired Environment Scrutiny Committee, is highly critical of the committee’s failure to properly hold the administration to account and to reflect the concerns of the public. For example it took years for the committee to carry out a commission on dangerous dogs, even though everyone knew it was a real concern and problem for local residents. The commission should have taken only a few weeks – instead it was years between the commission being agreed and actually reporting – too late to make a real difference.
She adds: “Scrutiny is failing to deliver.”
