The house in a leafy street opposite a church was “decanted” in August 2009 of its former residents and boarded up but nothing happened about the proposed major repairs and just before Christmas squatters moved in with possessions stacked in two vans. They broke in, disabled the security alarm, and reconnected the electricity. Now the council faces determined opposition from the squatters and will have to spend thousands of pounds of tax payers money to evict the illegal occupants.

Lambeth lawyers have reacted quickly but that’s more than you can say for the housing department which is a by-word for incompetence and overspending with its housing revenue account £7 million in the red.

Conservative Group Leader Cllr John Whelan takes up the story.

“It beggars belief that the council ignored so many telephone calls, e-mails, and representations by local councillors,” says Cllr Whelan.

“The truth only emerged at a meeting with Labour MP for Streatham Keith Hill, the chairman of Lambeth Living, where it was stated by the Chief Executive of Lambeth Living a few days before the squatters struck that no decision had been made about proceeding with the repairs.”

In addition, the Council ignored several requests for the front garden of the property to be cleared of dumped rubbish.

Cllr Whelan (see picture) says: “In the end, I went round myself and spent 90 minutes tidying up the garden helped by the waste contractor Veolia who sent a vehicle to take away the garbage. What I’ll never know is why the residents were moved out four months before the repairs were finally authorised. The biggest losers are the two families that lived in the house who will have to wait ages to get back into their homes.”

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.

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-run Lambeth is to hire market research firm Ipsos Mori to conduct interviews with “looked-after” children and young people in the borough over the next three years at a cost of almost £317,000.

The surveys will be funded using cash from the council’s Looked After Children’s Educational Achievement Team, which works to “improve educational outcomes” for children in care between the ages of five and 16.  But the department is using ”efficiency savings” from elsewhere in its budget to fund the market research project.

Opposition Conservative leader, Councillor John Whelan, has slammed the expenditure.

He fumed:  “It beggars belief that Labour-run Lambeth is removing money from the budget from vulnerable kids in care of the council to pay for yet more surveys and questionnaires, most of which go straight in the bin or hamster tray.”

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.”

Conservative Candidate for Vauxhall, Glyn Chambers, instructed 50 primary school teachers in writing and speaking English, whilst others worked on projects to develop Rwanda’s private sector through building the capabilities of the business school and graduate career services.

Glyn, who is also a Governor of the Michael Tippett Special School in Lambeth, said:  “I have a passion for both education and international development and it was great to combine these two interests during my time in Rwanda.  As a country, Rwanda has been through violent and terrible times in recent decades. However, its people remain optimistic and friendly.”

“Rwanda has recently replaced French with English as its second official language, but local teachers are in need of experience in writing and particularly speaking English.  I was delighted to help them and hope they will be able to share everything from the technicalities of when to use more, less and fewer to the lyrics of ‘If you’re happy and you know it…’ with their own pupils.”

This is the third year in which a number of Conservative Parliamentarians, Candidates and researchers have visited Rwanda to assist in development projects.  In total, 90 volunteers joined this year’s project.  In addition to working on their individual projects, they participated in Umuganda, Rwanda’s monthly social action project in which all citizens participate, by helping to construct a new drainage ditch in a poor district of Kigali. There was also a cricket match against a local team (which the Rwandans won for third year running!).

Glyn added:  “At a time when the MPs’ expenses scandal has deeply concerned many people, it’s important that those of us involved in politics show a commitment to sacrifice our own time and money to make things better.  I believe that projects such as these are important for re-establishing the trust of the British people.”

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.”