Cllr John Whelan, Cllr Evans-Jacas and Streatham Parliamentary Candidate Rahoul Bhansali

Labour smears directed at a new Conservative councillor in Brixton who converted to the Tories collapsed in shame today, exposing Labour as the “nasty party” of South London.

Labour Leader of the Council Steve Reed alleged at a Lambeth Council meeting on October 21, and on his personal blog and Twitter account, that the Conservatives had allegedly “bought a seat on the Council” by promising Councilor Betty Evans-Jacas a huge increase in her allowances on the London Fire Authority. It was a false allegation with no evidence.

Today, the now Conservative-controlled London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority voted in new appointments scheme recognising proportionality between the parties without making any change in special responsibility allowances for Councillor Evans-Jacas.

In the meantime, ex Labour Lambeth Mayor Lloyd Leon, a stalwart community activist in Brixton since the 1980s, has reported the Leader of the Council to the Lambeth Standards Committee, which upholds standards in public life. Additionally, Fabian Wells, Chair, South London Black Business Association, has also publicly slammed Labour attempts to brand Cllr Evans-Jacas as a “scab,” which he says equates with the even more derogatory expression of “black leg.”

Conservative Leader in Lambeth Councillor John Whelan says: “Labour has lost all moral compass and lets itself down by making libelous and defamatory allegations that have no foundation.  I also fear that the Leader of the Council is out of touch with his elected members.  We can expect more of the remaining back bench Labour councillors to reconsider their futures in coming weeks.  Watch this virtual space.”

The events started on October 9 when Councillor Evans-Jacas resigned from the Labour Party and applied for the Conservative Whip.

“It sparked a ferocious attack on her by the Labour Party,” says Conservative Leader Councillor John Whelan.  “I have now seen the text of a letter written by former Labour Mayor Lloyd Leon expressing his disgust at this abuse which calls for disciplinary action by the Council through the Chief Monitoring Officer.  Lloyd recalls a previous occasion from the 1980s when a councillor changed allegiance — the political parties show respect and constraint.  Sadly, this is lacking in today’s Labour Party which has lost all sense of moral compass.”

Cllr John Whelan, Cllr Evans-Jacas and Streatham Parliamentary Candidate Rahoul Bhansali

A senior Labour councillor who represents the same ward as the Labour Leader of the Council Steve Reed has resigned the Labour Whip and joined the Conservative Group.  Councillor Betty Evans-Jacas, who represents Brixton Hill Ward, is also a Labour nominated member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and had been a member of the Labour Party for more than a decade.

She said: “I have written to my constituents in Brixton Hill explaining my decision to resign from the Labour Group in Lambeth.  After years of agonising over the failure of the leadership of the Labour Party in Lambeth to listen to the residents, faith organisations, and business of Brixton Hill and Lambeth as a whole, I have decided to become a member of the Conservative Party under David Cameron.  I believe that under his leadership, I will be able to fulfil all of my duties as a Brixton Hill ward councillor and have therefore applied to join the Conservative Group on Lambeth Council.”

Councillor John Whelan, Conservative Group Leader, said:  “We have no hesitation in welcoming Betty to David Cameron’s Conservative Party.  Betty is a woman of great integrity who is respected throughout the borough for her dedication to public service on Lambeth Council where she has been a consistently strong voice for the residents, faith groups, and small businesses of Brixton Hill.  I was privileged to serve with her for two years on the London Fire Authority where she impressed everyone with her concern for the safety of all Londoners.”

Streatham Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Rahoul Bhansali says:  “I look forward to working closely with Betty to fight for the interests of Brixton Hill and all Streatham residents.  Betty’s decision reflects what is happening across the constituency.  More and more voters who I speak to are disillusioned with Labour and see the Conservatives as the viable alternative.”

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.

“Building operates well as a library however its location is not ideal and suffers from low service numbers, high maintenance and high running costs. High running costs and poor location suggest this facility should be closed and relocated to Herne Hill…  This property would be ideal for sale for a private residential flat conversion.”

Labour councilors have previously proposed selling off the library-most recently in 1998-1999-but were defeated by a community campaign lead by Friends of Carnegie Library and supported by Conservative councilors.  When Labour lost office between 2002-2006 the new administration reversed Labour’s plans and improved the resources for the library.

Since gaining power in 2006 Labour has failed to fund Lambeth libraries adequately-several buildings closed last winter because of broken boilers.  A review of the libraries carried out in 2007 failed to solve any of the issues and nothing happened as a result.

Conservative Group Leader Councillor John Whelan says:  “Labour is once again considering selling off the Carnegie for yuppie flats.  This puts the future of the library in doubt and will hopefully produce an outcry in the local community as the plan to provide another library in Herne Hill is a pipedream.  Labour only cares about Brixton and Herne Hill is left off their shopping list for improvements in services.”

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.”

Councillor John Whelan, Conservative Group Leader, says:  “The report finds that the overall service is now weak but by contrast it adds several times that in 2006 Lambeth Housing (as Lambeth Living was then known) was performing adequately and demonstrating improvement.

“The biggest risk now is that it will take too long for the service to recover in time to reach the standard necessary to qualify for £250 million from the Government to meet the decent home standard by 2014.”

CLICK HERE if you would like to download key extracts from the new report.

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.

We can now show how Lambeth have used these suspensions to massively increase the number of tickets and tow-aways in the Clapham ‘C’ controlled parking zone, using figures obtained from Lambeth Council under the Freedom of Information Act.

Clapham campaigner Matthew Jupp said:  “This is just daylight robbery.  First they double the cost of parking permits, then they suspend the bays at short notice so residents who have gone on holiday come back to find their car towed away and end up hundreds of pounds out of pocket.”

2007  -  266 tickets  /  111 tow-aways
2008  -  959 tickets  /  231 tow-aways