Statement from Lib Peck on the Housing Bill
The Lambeth Labour Group of Councillors fully opposes the Tory Government’s Housing and Planning Bill.
Labour, locally and nationally, have been lobbying to try and make the bill less destructive. I gave evidence of the Bill’s damaging impact to Lambeth at a Parliamentary committeehttp://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/communities-and-local-government-committee/news-parliament-2015/housing-associations-evidence-15-16/ in November 2015, and together with Cllr Matthew Bennett (Cabinet Member for Housing) we have met with several government ministers, leading housing associations and the mayor of London to make our views known. Our views on the Bill have been set out clearly by Cllr Bennett here; http://www.lambeth-labour.org.uk/tory_housing_bill_of_horrors. We are also working with the other London councils to see how we can make the best out of a very bad deal if the legislation goes through.
Housing is a top priority for Labour in Lambeth and London and we will continue to support constructive ways to improve provision across the region and develop more affordable solutions. Locally in Lambeth Labour is spending £450 million bringing our council flats and houses up to the Lambeth Housing Standard. Thousands of homes are now in far better condition than when we took back the council from the Tories and Lib Dems nearly 10 years ago. We are also building 1,000 new council rent homes by 2018, a policy consistently opposed by the Conservative and Green parties in Lambeth. Lambeth Labour has also done a lot of work to support residents who have been badly affected by Tory policies, like the bedroom tax, by supporting them to manage their finances better, move into more suitable properties and find training and work. Where Labour is in power, as it is at council level, I think you can see that we take action to support social housing and residents who live in it. Unfortunately, it is the Tories who are in charge at London and national level and there they use their power to shift resources from the poorest to the richest. We all work extremely hard to put Labour in power at every level and when we succeed to use that power to benefit ordinary people, particularly those who need help to improve their own situation.
None of your Labour representatives want to see this kind of social division and will continue to campaign and act to stop it – Where we can act to limit the impact on residents we will do so.
I will also ensure that details of your march are circulated amongst the Labour Group Members and further within the Labour movement.
Lib Peck,
Leader of Lambeth Council and Lambeth Labour Group
Empty rhetoric!
This paragraph “None of your Labour representatives want to see this kind of social division and will continue to campaign and act to stop it” is pure rubbish – this current administration has been doing precisely the opposite for a long time now.
They’ve destroyed the housing co-ops, they’re presiding over the social cleansing aka ‘regeneration’ of 10 estates, they’re selling off the town hall to developers, closing the libraries, & Cllr Ed Davie says “We obviously want to regenerate a run-down area but we don’t want to drive out local people who may have been there a long time and are a part of the integral character of the area. If you improve an area you drive up house prices: it’s a strange and unfortunate situation.” Unfortunate indeed, especially for those residents who are driven out. Nevertheless, Lib Peck’s administration is still driving out local people wherever they can get away with it. It’s only when campaigns gather enough strength to stop them that they pause – like Cressingham Gdns High Court ruling that Lambeth had ‘acted unlawfully’ when trying to steamroller through their plans to demolish the estate.
As for this sentence “I think you can see that we take action to support social housing and residents who live in it.” Really??? I certainly can’t see that and I don’t know anyone else who’s seen that – but I do know a lot of people who’ve seen this council doing precisely the opposite!
Below is an old press release about Lib Peck’s attendance at MIPIM. It summarises Lambeth’s appalling record on housing.
Ian T
PRESS RELEASE
MIPIM Property Developers Fair at London Olympia, October 15-17th
The above fair will be attended by property developers and speculators, estate agents, international investment bankers and politicians whose only purpose is to arrange deals to make a profit from the development of our homes and cities.
Their concerns are about privatisation and the pursuit of profit on a grand scale with no heed taken to the housing crisis and the overwhelming need to build millions of affordable social housing dwellings. Our cities are not for sale.
It is outrageous that Lib Peck, the leader of Lambeth Council, has agreed to speak at this meeting. Her session entitled ‘Affordable Housing: Is It Worth It?’ was only changed recently to ‘The Case for Investing in Affordable Housing’ through pressure from Housing Activists. It is essential to stand up for 100% social housing given the scale and seriousness of housing problems in the borough such as:
Over 20,000 people on the housing waiting list
Social Housing, outsourced to costly Lambeth Living and returned in-house to Lambeth Council due to inadequate provision of decent homes.
Over 3,000 new applications a year and only able to offer homes to less than half that number.
Selling council housing without replacing equivalent social housing stock.
PFI deals that lead to crippling debts, higher rents, unaffordable mortgages, poor repairs and negligent health and safety records.
Selling land to private developers with little provision for social housing.
The destruction of long-standing Housing Co-operatives as property values rise with tenants being evicted to make way for sales to private developers.
Transfer of housing stock to Housing Associations/private companies leading to rent rises and the loss of secure tenancies.
Estate demolitions and gentrification making life impossible for ordinary working class people on low incomes with whole communities facing eviction.
Threatened demolition and redevelopment of Leigham Court Sheltered housing scheme against the wishes of residents.
Rehousing evicted tenants outside the borough away from friends, family and community.
Cressingham Gardens estate threatened with ‘regeneration’ leading to the disruption of a settled community and the destruction of dwellings of highly valued architectural merit.
The people of Lambeth cannot believe that the leader of the council is attending this event and even proposing to signpost opportunities for MIPIM to invest in the huge Nine Elms development project. We call on Lib Peck to refuse to speak at it or to endorse any of the profiteering and privatisation values that it represents. Three Labour councils, Hammersmith & Fulham, Tower Hamlets and Lewisham have pulled out of MIPIM. Let Lambeth do the same.
There are alternatives and we call on Lib Peck to demand an emergency programme of council house building, rent controls and the decriminalisation of squatting.
Lambeth Housing Activists
Lambeth Unite Community
Radical Housing Network
Contact:
Ian Townson
0207 228 5459