July Liberal Democrat Council Wins!
Win: Better housing repairs for council residents
Lambeth is one of the worst councils in Britain for repairs - leaving people suffering terrible problems for years. One reason is that many repairs aren’t done properly first, second even third time. Contractors get paid regardless. Tenants and leaseholders take time off work to let contractors in, but too often the work is shoddy. It’s a waste of time and money.
The Lambeth Liberal Democrats proposed that contractors only get paid when the tenant agrees that the repair has been completed properly.
The other parties voted for our motion, meaning that this will now be implemented as part of Lambeth’s new system for dealing with repairs.
Win: Fair representation of how people voted
Liberal Democrats believe that votes should translate into influence. So when the Green Party proposed that they have an unfair share of appointments to outside bodies , we opposed it.
We also successfully argued for ward councillors to sit on bodies that focus on their ward, to improve local democracy. So, for instance a nomination to the Larkhall Park Partnership, was given to Labour Party councillors, because they represent the relevant ward.
The Liberal Democrat amendment was passed - improving local accountability, and more generally the political balance of the council.
moderngov.lambeth.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx
Win: Affordable housing
The Green Party proposed that only the Council could build social housing. We Liberal Democrats opposed this with an amendment to the Green motion, because it would ban housing associations from building desperately needed housing for the 4,600 families who are currently homeless in Lambeth. If the Green motion had passed unopposed, this would have made it much harder to provide people with decent housing in Lambeth.
The Green Party initially missed the point, and said our stance was anti-council housing. But after our speech in the chamber, they understood the point, and voted for the Liberal Democrat proposal.
Win: Getting Cabinet Committees implemented
Too often Lambeth council doesn’t listen to people, and makes bad decisions, because they are taken in secret. The parties agreed at the annual meeting in June to set up a new system to involve all the parties more in decision-making through Cabinet Committees. However at the July Council meeting, the Green Party proposed to delay this system until 2027.
The Liberal Democrats successfully moved an amendment to implement Cabinet Committees this October.
Win: Lambeth Country Show
The Liberal Democrats have led the campaign to bring back the Lambeth Country Show - and asked the Green leadership to commit (as they did in their manifesto) to bringing it back in 2027. They said in their manifesto they would also bring back the show, but in their answer to our question, refused to commit to a timeframe or to funding We will keep up the pressure - and continue collecting signatures on our petition to show how much local residents love the show and want it back next year.
Other wins
Liberal Democrat amendments to motions also passed on respecting LGBTQIA+ workers and service users, fair employment practices and making it easier for community groups to bring petitions and deputations to the council. We also asked questions on our manifesto ideas of mega skips and tree-planting, and will be pressing the Green Party administration to take action.
See the footage of last night's meeting and council papers here.