A group has set up the ‘Knights Hill Ecological Peace Camp’ with makeshift tents on the old Lambeth College site at the junction of Chapel Road and Knight’s Hill.

Meanwhile, illegal squatters are living in a nearby abandoned care home on Knight’s Hill, which is owned by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM).

The Norwood Action Group (NAG) has said they should be moved on and local councillor John Whelan shareds NAG’s concern.

John wants action taken with some residents raising fears about the prospect of scenes outside St Paul’s Cathedral, where anti-capitalist protesters have pitched dozens of tents, being repeated in Norwood. He says: “NAG is right to link these two sites in West Norwood and I will be supporting them in trying to get these people out.

“My concern is that West Norwood has become some kind of St Paul’s and is fast becoming a magnet for this type of activity.”

The eco-camp site is located on privately owned land, but Lambeth Council does have powers to act on environmental problems such as rubbish, noise, smoke and human waste. Any concerns about rubbish and fires on the site should be reported to the Council on 020 7926 9000.

John (left) and the Veolia crew doing the rounds in West Norwood

Lambeth Conservative Group Leader John Whelan “wheelie binned” it for a day on October 30 to raise money for the children’s charity Barnardo’s. He volunteered for a shift as a bin man to raise money for the charity. And Lambeth’s waste contractor Veolia fixed for him to empty his own bin and those of his neighbours. They include two other West Norwood councillors—David Malone from Labour and Irene Kimm from the Conservatives.

Cllr Whelan has already raised £700 in sponsorship from friends, colleagues, and family for doing the round and has emerged with a new respect for the “professionalism” of Lambeth’s waste collectors. “The crew (see picture) were absolutely brilliant and incredibly caring,” he says. “Apart from one load of abuse from an impatient white van driver in Avenue Park Road which is a one way street, we only had compliments from the public. Or at least those residents of West Norwood who were awake at 0600 in the morning, or later on making their way to work.”

The fund raiser is part of a “team building “ task set by Cllr Whelan’s day time employer to send a team to run the Barnardo’s charity shop in Lambeth for a day on Thursday November 5. Already in the frame to visit the shop on Bonfire Day are local MP Kate Hoey, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Glyn Chambers, Borough Commander Chief Superintendent Nick Ephgrave, and the Mayor of Lambeth Councillor Christopher Wellbelove who will preside over the drawing of a raffle.

Labour bungling has subsequently delayed both schemes, meaning that two out of the borough’s three indoor pools could be shut for two years prior to 2010. Conservative Councillor Clare Whelan told the London Evening Standard: “I can’t believe that by now people aren’t swimming in a new pool in Clapham and Streatham. ”

So what went wrong?

Tesco-which promised to build a pool, ice rink, and homes in return for permission to build a store, halted the Streatham proposals in February 2009 and is in discussions with Labour Lambeth over a rethink. The leisure centre containing the Streatham pool was due to close last year. Tesco says no date has been set to re-tender the construction work.

Work on the Clapham pool, part of a £75 million development by the Cathedral Group, was meant to have started last January. The existing Clapham leisure centre is due to close in September.

Local residents and ward councillors asked the Council to remove the dustcart depot from Vale Street by this September, as the council had promised.

The Council’s decision?

It has decided to keep the dustcarts in Norwood for at least four more years and increase the likely frequency of truck visits on Saturdays.

In 2007, Lambeth Council gained temporary planning permission to site dustcarts at the Vale Street Depot.

Labour-controlled Lambeth and the local MP said this was only a stop-gap solution.  Residents and ward councillors strongly opposed having dustcarts on Vale Street at all, as we didn’t trust the council to remove them as promised.

Now, at a Planning Committee, the Council has confirmed its betrayal.

Gipsy Hill councillor Andrew Gibson says:  “The best way to get rid of the dustcarts from our residential area now is to bring about a change in control at Town Hall.  We have the opportunity to do that next May at the council election.  We must never forget Labour’s betrayal of Norwood.”

Cllr Clare Whelan, who helped set up its green programme, spoke out after Labour Lambeth failed to meet its commitment to reduce energy use and cut pollution.

Clare chaired a cross-party commission which studied how the council could become greener.  The commission made 45 recommendations in a report published in 2007, including calls for the creation of a business recycling collection service and encouraging council staff to cycle or use public transport to get to work.

But it has now emerged that almost two years after the commission reported its findings, less than a third of its recommendations have been implemented.

Cllr Whelan has said it is doubtful Lambeth will meet its pledge to cut its carbon footprint unless action is quickly taken.

She said:  “Climate change is a major issue and we really don’t have time to waste in attempting to tackle it.

“Yet the council is dithering over its commitment to implement the recommendations.  It is disappointing that just 14 out of 45 recommendations have been implemented so far.”

Lambeth Conservatives are calling for tough action to curb the growing menace from dangerous dogs

Lambeth Conservatives are calling on the Council to take tough action to curb the growing menace from dangerous dogs in parks and on some housing estates in the borough.

Councillor Clare Whelan, Environment Spokeswoman for the Conservative Group, says: “Some dog owners appear not to be able to control their dogs and a minority just don’t want to.

The police know it is an issue and it is their responsibility to enforce the Dangerous Dogs Act, but the Council can also do more.” The Conservatives are demanding immediate measures:

• Instead of cutting the number of Park Rangers they should be increased.
• Irresponsible dog owners should be fined and banned from keeping pets.
• Lambeth Living and other social housing providers could insist on micro-chipping as a condition of residents on their estates getting permission to keep a dog.
• The Council’s Anti Social Behaviour Unit must come down hard on irresponsible dog owners.

Councillor Whelan says: “We cannot have people being intimidated in this way. This isn’t ‘anti-dog’ and I am an animal lover myself. Most dog owners keep their dogs under control at all times and clean up after them. In fact it is often responsible dog owners who are making the complaints because they fear for their own pet’s safety.”

Cllr Clare Whelan talks about Labour’s plans to close the general waste depot in Vale Street, West Norwood.  The decision means that Lambeth residents will need to travel to Battersea from 1 April 2009.

Labour is wasting money nationally and locally in Lambeth

Labour Lambeth has rejected a lawful alternative Conservative budget that would have cut Council Tax by 1.5 per cent to help hard pressed residents hit by the government’s failure to manage the economy.

Building on the example shown by Mayor Boris at City Hall, the Conservative budget proposed wide ranging efficiency savings with the elimination of “non jobs,” cuts in the wasteful publicity budget, and reductions in allowances paid to Labour Cabinet members.

At the same time, the Conservative budget maintained front line services and care for the elderly, disabled and vulnerable children and offered help to small businesses struggling to survive under an uncaring Labour government.

“Our Budget for People included £2 million more for road and pavement repairs, more investment in libraries, parks, and open spaces and £150,000 more for the youth service,” says Conservative Group Leader Councillor John Whelan.

“The Labour budget by contrast offered little for libraries and parks and no extra expenditure on the youth service.  This comes on top of the highest rent rises in the country – 17 per cent – with the average Council Tax now £1,235.  Labour even voted against our proposal to pay small businesses working for the Council in 10 days instead of a month.”

Rosendale Road Shopping Parade will benefit from a new pavement after lobbying by Conservative councillors

Figures from the Taxpayers Alliance show that in 2007-2008 Lambeth Council employed 335 people on salaries of more that £50,000 – some of them with five weeks holiday a year – costing a total of £22 million without taking into account their generous final salary pensions and other benefits.

Councillor Whelan adds:  “Spending on “consultants and agency staff” is out of control at Lambeth Council, but the Labour budget has delayed taking any immediate action.  Typically, a department hires a temp from an agency to do the photocopying for the summer while permanent staff are on leave – two years later the agency temp is still there.”

The Conservative budget proposed scrapping the fortnightly “Lambeth propaganda sheet” Lambeth Life saving £400,000 a year.

“When Boris took office one of his first actions was to abolish Livingstone’s pet newspaper “The Londoner” and spend the money instead on planting new trees,” says Councillor Whelan.

“That hopefully will be the shape of things to come if Labour lose office in Lambeth at the next elections in 2010.”

Cllr Irene Kimm on the Rosendale Gardens Estate

Labour Lambeth let down tenants before it took power in 2006 by failing to tell them it planned to set up the deeply unpopular Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), now called Lambeth Living.

Setting up the ALMO cost £1 milion at a time when the housing service was already failing.  What followed was a flawed consultation and a rushed ballot.  And in the meantime:

• Neighbourhood housing offices have closed.
• Late night opening hours have been cut.
• Saturday opening has ceased.
• Garden maintenance is appalling.
• Repairs have been cut – failing contractors.

Cllr Irene Kimm, Lambeth’s Conservative housing spokeswoman, says:  “Labour has presided over cuts in the repairs service, lousy performance by outside contractors, while cleaning and garden maintenance is practically non existent.”

Residents in West Norwood have been badly let down by Lambeth Council and the local MP.

In 2006, Lambeth Council decided to site a dustcart depot in Vale Street, West Norwood.  This was supposedly temporary until September 2009, in order to create space for a much-needed new school in East Brixton and to allow time to build a permanent depot for the trucks.

Local residents and ward councillors strongly opposed this scheme.  The trucks are too large for the surrounding residential streets.  Councillors also said that once the trucks were moved that the council could not be trusted to remove them. However, the council pressed ahead, gaining planning permission after the local Labour MP submitted a last-minute letter in favour of siting the trucks here.

Recently, our worst fears proved correct. The council has announced that it has not yet created a permanent site, and indeed for now it will not even try to do so.  Unfortunately, little progress has been made in developing the new school.  It will therefore continue with the “temporary” site in Vale Street, possibly for up to four years, even though it admits that this will cost £1m – £1.5m per year more than a new single site elsewhere.  This is a betrayal.  Conservative councillors warned the council and the MP what would happen, but they would not listen.

The council still needs an extension to its planning permission to allow the trucks to remain here.  Please sign the petition below to oppose an extension of planning permission.