Lambeth Forum for Older People AGM - Wednesday 30th July 2008

Are you aged over 65? Do you live in Lambeth? Or do you represent an organisation that supports Older People? Do you want to have a say on important issues and hear from key people about what is happening in the borough?

Lambeth Forum for Older People is a membership organisation for older peoples' groups, and representatives of older people on other organisations. You are invited to an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Lambeth Forum for Older People at:

1.30 p.m. on Wednesday 30 July 2008, Room 8 Lambeth Town Hall

The Forum is being relaunched, and this will be a chance to elect new Officers. There will also be a presentation by Ms Jane Fowcett on 'Arts and Leisure'.

Local Labour councillors thrashed at inter-faith cricket torunament

Lambeth Labour councillors, including local Larkhall ward councillor Pete Robbins, bravely took part in the interfaith cricket tournament on Clapham Common on 12th July, organised by the Clapham and Stockwell Faith Forum. We were rewarded for our community spirit by a complete pasting from another team, due to an absence of any cricketing talent whatsoever, but a great day was had by all!

(Above, from l-r, back row: Pete Robbins, Imogen Walker, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Stephen Beer, Pete Bowyer. Front row: Pav Akhtar, Paul McGlone, Kingsley Abrams)

Young People Matter - 1st birthday celebration - 22nd August 2008

Young People Matter is a fantastic organisation that runs events for young people in Stockwell, Kennington and Clapham. Started by an inspirational young woman called Kemi Folarin, they have had several successful courses and events on Fenwick estate and Stockwell Gardens estate.

YPM will be celebrating their 1st year anniversary and would like to invite We Love Larkhall readers to their special birthday event on Friday 22nd August 2008, from 12 midday - 7pm, at Lambeth Academy, Elms Road, London SW4 9ET.

There will be music and dance, food and drink, basketball, a community BBQ and much more.

Summer sports in Larkhall Park - August 2008

See flyer below for details of daily events in Larkhall Park, supervised by Sports Action Zone, and running every week day during the summer holidays. There are lots of sports and activities for young people living in Stockwell and North Clapham, including football, cricket, basketball, tennis and rugby. Boys and girl welcome, aged 8 to 16.

Teenager Fatally Stabbed In Stockwell - 17th July

"I am sorry to report a fatal stabbing in Stockwell this evening (Thursday 17th July).

I understand police were called at around 19.00hrs, after a young male teenager was stabbed in Guildford Road, in Stockwell ward. The man was taken from the scene in an ambulance, suffering from wounds to his stomach, but died in hospital at 20.15hrs.

The victim is the 21st teenager to suffer a violent death in London this year. Local Larkhall councillors send their condolences to the young man's family."

- Cllr Pete Robbins, Labour Councillor for Larkhall ward



***UPDATE***

The victim is believed to be 18 yr old Frederick Moody. A 16 year old youth from Brixton has been arrested this morning (18th July) and is being held in custody.

Free Kids Playday in Larkhall Park - 6th August 2008

There is a free Playday in Larkhall Park on Wednesday August 6th, between 11am and 3pm, orgainsed by Lambeth Play Association. Lots of activities for children, young people to do - including dance, DJ workshops, climbing wall, Spider Mountain and arts and crafts.

Any questions please call LPA on 0207 733 5718

Lord Heseltine Loves Lambeth!

Last week the former Conservative politician, Sir Michael Heseltine, commented on the impressive improvements made by Lambeth. Speaking on the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Audit Commission, Lord Heseltine said: ‘Lambeth is on the list of those authorities that have emerged with credit having been under scrutiny. Remember how it was in the 70s? It’s quite extraordinary to see it today as a well-run council.’

Open letter from Cllr Steve Reed to Mayor Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Mayor of London

Greater London Authority

City Hall

The Queen's Walk

London SE1 2AA

Tuesday, 01 July 2008


Working together for the people of Lambeth

Dear Boris,

I would like to offer my congratulations on your election as Mayor of London. You will have the support of this Council, as well as my personal support as Leader, whenever we can work together to improve life for people in Lambeth.

Your influence over major regeneration programmes across our city is immense. Such programmes have the power not only to renew our city’s infrastructure and physical shape, but to create opportunities for social regeneration providing jobs and other opportunities to improve people’s chances in life. We want to work with you on a series of major regeneration opportunities in Lambeth, among them the redevelopment of Waterloo including the train station, Brixton including its world famous market, and transport projects including the cross-river tram. Lambeth is London’s most diverse borough. People come here to look for greater opportunity in life. But we can only give them all the chances they need with your help.

With the cost of privately owned and rented accommodation so high, it is important we ensure there is a greater supply of good quality housing in mixed communities so that families and individuals on average and lower incomes are not priced out of living in London. I look forward to hearing how you propose to ensure that affordable and social housing is available right across London and not corralled into a small number of boroughs like Lambeth given that you have now abandoned your predecessor’s target of 50% affordable housing in new developments in every borough.

Older people in Lambeth greatly value the opportunity the Freedom Pass gives them to travel around our city. Many were looking forward to the extension of the pass so that it can be used 24 hours a day. We cannot allow our older people to become isolated – it must be our moral duty to help people have a dignified retirement. I hope this benefit will not be lost, and will also ensure that changes in the funding arrangements do not unfairly penalise Lambeth. Under current proposals, Lambeth stands to lose up to £7 million funding while other wealthier boroughs, stands to gain. I would welcome your comments on this unreasonable development.

As well as seeking your support, we want to offer you our help. It is right that you have identified tackling violent youth crime, and knife crime in particular, as a focus for your period in office. You may be aware that earlier this year, Lambeth announced the country’s first comprehensive local strategy to tackle violent youth crime, with tougher enforcement on the streets and projects to tackle the social causes of violent youth crime. I believe we have much to offer each other as we seek to give back hope and opportunity to the most affected young people, and as we ensure that people living in London feel safer.

The people of Lambeth expect us to work together on their behalf. I look forward to an early meeting to discuss how best to make that happen.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Steve Reed
Leader of the Council London Borough of Lambeth

We Love Larkhall - sign up the e-newsletter!

The 'We Love Larkhall' monthly e-newsletter is now sent out to almost 500 residents of Larkhall ward, Stockwell, and North Clapham.

Every edition has lots of news and information from the local area, as well as details of meetings, planning applications, and councillor advice surgeries in and around Larkhall.

To see the latest version of the newsletter - click here. If you want to be added to the e-newsletter list then please email me at probbins@lambeth.gov.uk .

What's in a (road) name...?

An application has been made to assign one of the following names to a new access way leading from Clapham Road to the new development of four houses to the rear of 369 Clapham Road, London, SW4:

Willson Mews

Archer Mews

Research undertaken by the applicant has shown that Archer Willson built the house at 369 Clapham Road in the early 1800s as well as several other houses along Clapham Road.

Any 'We Love Larkhall' readers who know of any reason why the names should not be adopted then let us know!

Recent problems with green and orange sacks...?

Some local residents have contacted Larkhall councillors recently with problems around the delivery of sacks for recycling and garden waste recently.

Lambeth offers residents the opportunity to dispose of green (garden) waste using either bio-degradable or re-usable sacks. The service has been incredibly popular and has grown from 10,000 to 17,000 users with peak usage at the beginning of spring. Unfortunately a problem with Lambeth's bio-degradable sack supplier meant that sacks were not delivered earlier this year when expected. As a result Lambeth was unable to provide bio-degradable sacks on request at a key time of year.

The supplier problem has now been resolved and Lambeth is expecting a delivery of bio-degradable sacks which should last until Christmas. Additional delivery resources are being laid on so that new requests will now be dealt with within 7 days.

Many residents recycle using the orange sack service. As with the green waste service this has been very successful – enabling Lambeth to achieve over recycling rates of over 25%.

ALthough there have been no orange sack procurement problems we have had reports that residents are not receiving orange sacks within the timescales we usually meet, or even not reaching the residents at all – resulting in them having to request more sacks. We raised this with Lambeth Council, and they assured us that they have now put in place an additional delivery vehicle to catch up with any backlog.

Please let your councillors know if you experience any further problems - we are here to help.

Stockwell & Vassall Area Housing Forum - 7pm, Tuesday 15th July

Stockwell & Vassall Area Housing Forum is on Tuesday 15th July at 7pm. It will be held at the Stockwell Community Resource Centre, behind Stockwell tube.

The Area Housing Forum is a chance for Lambeth Living tenants to meet housing officers and elected tenant representatives to discuss Lambeth housing issues. The Forum is made up of representatives sent by estate Tenants and Residents Associations, but any tenant or leaseholder can attend. Larkhall councillors also attend whenever possible.