Funding, finances and frivolous behaviour – what’s been happening with Lambeth Council in 2024

Funding, finances and some often frivolous behaviour best sums up the themes coming out of Lambeth Town Hall as we take a look back at our Brixton Buzz archive for the past year.

It was a year where Homes for Lambeth was put out of its misery, Lambeth made a move on taking services back in house, and a more commercial approach to running some areas of public life was taken.

Let’s take a look back on how Brixton Buzz kept an eye on the Council throughout the past year.

January

We started the year with the news that Lambeth was increasing rent for its tenants by 7.7%. Central government funding was blamed for the hike, a familiar theme throughout the following twelve months.

Happy New Year from your Co-operative Council.

The SEXY Site Allocations Development Plan was head nodded through at Cabinet later in the month. Sites included Tesco along Acre Lane, Effra Road retail park, the petrol station at 330- 336 Brixton Road and land at the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Herne Hill Road.

All four now form part of the policy showing where Lambeth has ‘ambitions’ to develop. Whether anything ever comes of these ambitions remains to be seen.

Also under scrutiny were our streets. The CCTV Maintenance and Monitoring contracts were extended for a further six months at a cost of £381,613. We haven’t seen any follow up on this, six months later. Watching you, watching me, etc.

January also saw us reporting on Lambeth Council being in debt to the tune of a cool £846.3m. Interest on this debt is £34.6m per year. The loan balance for the failed Homes for Lambeth was £85.7m.

We reported towards the end of the month how an extra £2m was needed to complete the Brixton House Theatre project, At the time of publishing, the tenant still hadn’t agreed a lease with the Council. The extra money would take the total cost of Somerleyton Phase 1 to £40,458,548.

February

The month of February means one thing in local government circles: budget setting. £30m was needed to be saved for the financial year ahead. Cabinet heard how ‘income generation’ would help to balance the books.

Sticking with balanced budgets, and Brixton Buzz also reported how nineteen Lambeth schools had failed to set a budget for the year ahead. Four of these form part of the five-strong Gipsy Hill Federation. Lambeth described the Federation as being ‘increasing high risk.’

The good news for residents at Central Hill estate was that the Council was finally looking at spending some money on their homes. After threatening estate ‘regeneration’ for over a decade, £1m was put aside for new kitchens and bathrooms. You wouldn’t go spending this type of dosh and then bulldoze the properties unless you were REALLY stupid.

Michael Gove continued with his letter writing campaign to Lambeth Council later in the month – and with good reason, too. The then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities wrote to Council Leader, Cllr Claire Holland, mentioning the six new cases of severe maladministration found by the Housing Ombudsman.

Brixton Buzz took a deeper look at the alternative budgets put forward by the LibDem opposition, and the Green group. There was some worthy ideas; but being a one party borough, there was zero chance of them being voted through at Full Council. This won’t stop Labour lifting the best bits, mind.

Brixton Rec Quarter [URGH] continued to increase in costs. An extra £299,000 was needed for lighting costs.

The tight grip of the Labour whips at the Town Hall was highlighted when we reported on the immediate resignation of Labour Cllr Sonia Winifred of Knight’s Hill ward. She was given a three month suspension by the Labour Group for backing a Green Motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Cllr Winifred decided to walk, rather than sit it out on the Labour naughty step.

March

Beware the ides of March. We took a look at Delivering Affordable Homes – Lambeth Council’s New Homes Programme. tl;dr Lambeth set out ambitious plans to build 500 new affordable homes on Council owned land by 2030. Given that the Lambeth Labour election manifestos of both 2018 and 2022 claimed that they would build 1,000 new homes every four years, this represents something of a climb down. Four council houses were built during this period.

It may have been March, but thoughts were already turning towards the Country Show, once the highlight in the local calendar for residents. The Council decided to out source the event in 2024, the 50th anniversary of the Show. Summer Events Ltd was paid £300,000 for taking on the responsibility.

We were finally able to put an end to publishing stories about the AWOL Streatham Common and Vale Labour Councillor, Tom Rutland. Having been parachuted in as the Labour party candidate for East Shoreham and Worthing, local residents were wondering where their man was. After months of speculation, he resigned in March so he could carry on with his South coast door knocking thing.

Meanwhile, back in Lambeth and Homes for Lambeth was struggling to find an auditor for the annual accounts.

We wonder why?

The complete ‘reset’ of resident engagement at Cressingham Gardens, Central Hill and Fenwick, as recommended in the Kerslake Review, got underway later in the month. Lambeth agreed to spend £1m to hire consultants to work out what to do next.

April

Sticking with estate ‘regeneration,’ we reported in April how an architectural firm had been hired at the cost of £263,571 to provide architecture and transport engineering services in relation to estate ‘regeneration.’

Money may have been tight at the Town Hall, but this didn’t stop Labour Councillors voting themselves a 32% rise in their ‘allowance.’

Trebles all round!

Jobbing back bench Councillors now receive £15,960 per year.

May

The two by-elections came and went in Knight’s Hill and Streatham Common and Vale; two new Labour head nodders were elected to take up their seats at the Town Hall. Welcome Cllr Sarah Cole and the returning Cllr Emma Nye, a former Councillor for Coldharbour ward.

Sticking with Streatham Common and Vale, Lambeth chose the ward as one of four to be a guinea pig for a new landlord licensing scheme. Knights Hill, Streatham Hill East and Streatham St Leonards were also part of the experiment. Private landlords in the wards need to pay the Council £923 for a five year licence. This is broken down as £650 for admin, and £273 for any possible enforcement.

We reported later in the month how Helen Hayes MP submitted a formal objection to Lambeth Council against an application to hold a rooftop bar on the site of First Direct along Pope’s Road in Brixton. Despite receiving approval, eight months later and Freight Brixton Rooftop has still yet to open.

May means Brockwell Live. May also means the return of the bloody Great Wall of Brockwell. Oh joy.

We reported on a classic Lambeth tactic later in the month: blame residents for your own failures. Fingers were pointed at residents unhappy about their council houses as a reason as to why complaints were on the up.

With Westminster speculation rising about a possible General Election, the scramble was on to fill Parliamentary seats around the country. It was exhausting work trying to keep up with local Councillors on manoeuvre, tbh. Councillor Marianna Masters of Streatham Wells was able to blag the PPC gig for, erm, St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire.

Back in Lambeth and the ‘regeneration’ of the Fenwick Estate saw costs continue to rise. An extra £1m was needed for a Deed of Variation. This deal was completed back in September 2016. Lambeth was now seeking a Deed of Variation with TfL so that it could complete the building of 46 new homes at Nine Elms. The Council originally claimed it would build 55 homes.

Still failing to build any new council houses was Homes for Lambeth, the Council owned company that was in the process of being wound down. This didn’t stop HfL proposing to spend £6.5m of a £9m loan. A final business plan was needed to “conclude the obligations” of the company before the operations were taken back in house at the Town Hall.

Back on Election Watch and Lucky Jim Dickson landed himself the Dartford PPC seat.

SPOILER ALERT: Jimbo would see out 2024 with one foot in Westminster as part of a new intake of MPs, as well as still hanging on to his Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction seat. Two Hats Jim!

June

We covered a most strange licensing application as we entered June and the start of the festival season. Summer Sizzle wanted to hold a private event for 9,999 people in the ‘compact’ surroundings of Norwood Park. Common sense prevailed. Summer Sizzle failed to ignite a solitary hiss.

The 50th Lambeth Country Show came and went. Truth be told, and it was anything but a heritage event, failing to respect the history of what was once the jewell in Lambeth calendar. A terrible fairground accident on the Saturday wasn’t the best start to the weekend. The crowds were huge, the live stages were half decent; the event was free. For now.

You wait a couple of years for a Streatham Common and Vale by-election, and then whaddyknow – two come along in the space of a few months. In June it was the turn of Labour Cllr Henna Shah. There was much speculation at the time that she was scrambling for a Westminster seat. She ended up as Director of Party Relations at No. 10. Farewell potholes and dog shit, hello machine politics.

An interesting proposal to team up with the neighbouring Labour Council in Wandsworth caught our eye later in the month. Both boroughs partnered to tart up the railway arches that stretch between Waterloo, Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea. £484,000 stumped up by Lambeth seemed fair.

Not so great value for money was the decision to ditch a six year contract with a company to provide housing repairs, and then pay more to a second contractor provider to take over the service. The final figure that Fortem walked away with wasn’t disclosed. The new contractor, Wates, picked up £10.316m per year over a two year period.

And then we come to Bayo Dosunmu, the Chief Exec at Lambeth Council.

Oh dear.

This was the most car crash Lambeth story of the year in every respect. Buzz reported late in June how Dosunmu was arrested for possession of a class A controlled drug, failing to stop after a road accident, driving above the proscribed alcohol limit, and using a motor vehicle in a public place without third party insurance.

Something was clearly wrong at the top level of the Town Hall. It was a news story that would play out throughout the rest of the year. There wasn’t a happy ending.

June came to a close with Buzz reporting on how the Labour led Council was half-inching some of the Green party ideas by agreeing to retrofit Blenheim Gardens, Caldwell Gardens and Tivoli Road. There was no update on the six major estate ‘regeneration’ schemes.

July

The General Election took up early July. The four seats that now make our Buzz patch all returned Labour MP’s with Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill), Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell), Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) and New Labour Poster Boy Steve Reed (Streatham and Croydon North).

Eshalomi could be interesting to watch over the coming years. Her name has been mentioned as a possible Labour candidate for the London Mayoral elections, should Sir Sadiq Khan not stand for a fourth term.

There were mixed fortunes for current and ex-Lambeth Councillors in the 2024 General Election. Veteran Lambeth Labour Cllr Jim Dickson was rewarded with his new found “passion” for Dartford by winning in the constituency. He still remains a jobbing Councillor back in Lambeth.

His Lambeth Labour colleague Marianna Masters finished third in St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire. There was a fourth place finish for Lambeth Labour Councillor Nanda Manley-Browne in Henley and Thame.

Ex-Lambeth Councillor Tom Rutland’s decision to focus his political ambitions on the South coast paid off. After finally quitting his seat in Streatham Common and Vale, Rutland is now the new Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.

Former Lambeth Cabinet Member Honest Luke Murphy has finally managed to meet his own Westminster ambitions, having been elected MP for Basingstoke.

Another ex-Lambeth Cabinet Member waking up as a Labour MP on 5th July was Imogen Walker. The new MP for Hamilton and Clyde Valley is one half a new power couple in Westminster, alongside her husband Morgan McSweeney, Labour’s campaign chief.

Former Bishop’s ward Councillor Kevin Craig finished in second place to the Tories in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. At least he was able to cash in on his bet against himself to lose and hand the money over to charity.

Right wing candidate Iain Simpson, the former Streatham Hill Labour Councillor, failed to beat the Tories in Broadland and Fakenham.

The election count back in Lambeth also confirmed Labour holding the Streatham Common and Vale seat vacated by Henah Shah on her way to Westminster. Cllr Dominic Armstrong elected with 2,796 votes, with the Greens in second place.

Buzz had something of a scoop a few days later when we broke the news that the Lambeth Labour Deputy Cabinet Member for Housing doesn’t actually live in the borough. Cllr Timothy Windle remains in the role, presumably on the basis that he works in Lambeth.

High up on Cllr WIndle’s priority list at the time was the news that Lambeth’s temporary housing crisis costs £14,000 per person towards the private sector. Three quarters of temporary housing occupants in Lambeth are in ‘nightly paid’ accommodation.

We returned to the troubled Chief Exec Bayo Dosunmu, who quit his role at the Town Hall after multiple charges relating to drink driving and possession of Class A drugs. Fiona Connolly took over as Acting Chief Exec.

Some of the more innovative stories that we have reported on throughout the year relate to the Lambeth Climate Emergency. The decision was taken in July to invest £380,000 on 178 lamppost charging points for electric vehicles.

The loss making Pop Brixton was the gift that kept on giving when it comes to bashing out Buzz news stories. Another year, another lease extension for the failed Pope’s Road project. A separate Buzz FoI confirmed that Pop has still yet to pay any money as part of a profit share with the Council. Still, it’s good for local jobs.

It was a similar story across the road at International House. Space was given another short-term lease extension to manage the building as plans for the Brixton Rec Quarter dithered.

August

The Bayo Dosunmu unfortunate story almost came to a close. The ex-Lambeth Chief Exec pleaded guilty to drink driving, failing to stop after a car crash and driving without insurance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 1st August. A plea of not guilty was given for the charge of possession of cocaine, a Class A drug.

Meanwhile, back at the Town Hall and the Council was spending to save. We’re talking a £500m bill on temporary workers over the next five years, with claims that this will save the Council £4m annually.

Remember those Your Nu Town Hall predicted savings that the Council used to bang on about?

It’s worth raising the cost of Your Nu Town Hall refurbishment. Brixton Buzz certainly did a few days later when we learnt that £159,000 was now needed for five ‘heritage doors,’ seven years after the major refit.

There was some good news down at Somerleyton Road. The Council proposed a lease extension at No. 10 until November 2025 to the Block Work Out Foundation, a community-focused organisation. Meanwhile the Somerleyton Road housing regeneration project appeared to go AWOL throughout the year.

The ‘income generation’ referenced back in the Budget in February came in to focus in August with plans from the Council to raise over £1m with increased fines for littering and fly-tipping. Under the proposal, the discounted rate for a littering fine will rise from £100 to £250. The full penalty will increase from £150 to £375.

September

Talk about fixing the roof whilst the sun isn’t shining. Lambeth couldn’t have picked a worse time financially to address the leaking roof at Your Nu Town Hall. Finances are stretched – and so are the buckets mopping up the leaks. £1.19m was needed to address the problems, seven years after the extensive refurbishment.

Slightly more money was heading towards the library service – £1.7m, to be precise. Of the £1.7 million, £850,000 will be spent on the refurbishment and redevelopment of three key libraries: South Lambeth, Clapham, and Minet Libraries. Income generation, rather than book borrowing, is the name of the game.

It was a similar story for leisure and Active Lambeth. £1.1m was put aside, with income generation once again the main driver. Plans included the introduction of tenpin bowling and virtual reality experiences at Brixton Rec.

Two months after being elected as the new Labour MP for Dartford, Cllr Jim Dickson finally quit his Lambeth Cabinet role. Five months on from enjoying the delights of Dartford, Lucky Jim remains the jobbing ward Councillor for Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction.

We published a highly technical and niche story about the management of the leisure facilities at Van Gough Primary School. tl;dr Van Gogh Primary School in Stockwell will manage the leisure facilities on short-term lease amid a complex property dispute.

We returned to estate ‘regeneration’ later in September. The complete reset of resident engagement (actually listening to locals this time) was under discussion at Overview and Scrutiny.

In Damp and Mould News: Lambeth is now separating damp and mould issues, rather than addressing them together as a single problem. This change is expected to streamline efforts to address each issue more effectively. So there.

The political power base locally continued to grow. We reported on Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, being elected as Chair of the Education Select Committee. Meanwhile, Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, was elected as Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.

Closure was finally achieved on the Bayo Dosunmu story. The ex-Lambeth Chief Exec was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work following a drink-driving incident that led to his disqualification from driving for two years. In addition to the unpaid work, he was ordered to pay £225 in court costs and must complete 15 days of a rehabilitation activity.

The extent of the housing crisis in terms of cost was brought home, so to speak, when we reported on a half a million pound budget overrun on a Council owned Brixton Road property refurbishment.

The hard work and sound political judgement of Council Leader Cllr Claire Holland was rewarded when she was voted a place on the Labour’s National Executive Committee. The self-selecting Labour electorate is a smart bunch.

There was something of an own goal for Steve Reed, MP for Streatham and Croydon North. The Labour Cabinet Member for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He accepted a hospitality package worth £1,786 to attend a football match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace.

The hospitality, provided in December 2023 while Reed was Shadow Environment Secretary, was paid for by Hutchison 3G UK Ltd, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings. This parent company also owns a 75% stake in Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, the owner of Northumbria Water.

Whoops.

As the Homes for Lambeth car crash continued to emerge, Brixton Buzz reported on how the ‘regeneration’ across six major estates would have led to only forty new council houses.

Towards the end of the month we reported on how Lambeth Council has classified seven out of ten of its major policy areas as being at ‘major’ risk.

October

Lambeth had a re-think on how it might achieve net zero by 2030. With the clock counting down, the plans were shifted. The brainwave behind this was how to define net zero. Lambeth is now aiming for a ‘net zero compatible’ target, a recalibration prompted by the higher-than-anticipated costs of retrofitting public buildings and the technical complexities involved.

The Housing Budget continued to be a MAJOR concern. There was a forecast £34.3m overspend for the financial year ahead.

We then reported on how the Council is focusing on ‘leveraging its own resources to create income streams, moving beyond a purely service-oriented model for residents.’

‘cos this public / private model has worked out well in the past, yeah?

November

A persistent Freedom of Information request (not from us…) put Lambeth on the Information Commissioner’s naughty step. For some unknown reason, someone at the Town Hall doesn’t want residents to know how well Active Lambeth is performing, after being brought back in house.

One of our most read stories of the year was the petition calling on the Black Farmer’s Market to secure a permanent place along Brixton Station Road. It wasn’t written as clickbait, but it certainly showed us where our audience is.

Having been badgered for weeks on end by a Field Day PR type, we finally gave in and posted up their fancy info graphic, attempting to showcase the eco credentials of the organisation ahead of the private event churning up Brockwell Park next year.

The Assisted Dying Bill was one of the most controversial in Westminster for years. We reported on how three of our local MP’s voted against the Bill, with only Steve Reed MP supporting it. We suspect religion may have been a factor in some of these votes.

The Cost of Living crisis continued. Lambeth set aside £2.7m in the financial year ahead to help those most vulnerable in our community. There was a thinly veiled appeal from the local Labour party to the national Labour government for more dosh.

December

The hideously named ‘Brixton Rec Quarter’ was watered down in December. Lambeth abandoned plans for 50% ‘affordable’ properties down to 40%. Furthermore, the Council lost the right of first refusal to purchase private homes as part of the original deal.

‘Service cuts‘ were hinted at as the Council claimed it has a £69.9m funding gap to meet next year.

Part of the solution to tackle this was to move people out of the borough to save money spent paying the private sector to house some families.

Finally we had news of a new Chief Exec at the Town Hall after what has been something of a ‘disruptive’ year for the Leadership team at Lambeth. Step forward Ian Davis, making the move over to the borough from his current Chief Exec role at Enfield. We were expecting another internal appointment tbh.

And so that was 2024 at the Town Hall, brought to you by Brixton Buzz. Many thanks for all the tips offs, stories, and complete nonsense press releases that came our way over the past twelve months.

If you thought 2024 was tough then apologies – 2025 looks even tougher with some of the decisions that need to be made a the Town Hall.

A brief read through of the headlines over the past year tells a tale that it’s all about the money, innit. Lambeth is teetering very close to the edge when it comes to options and reserves.

Some of this is self-inflicted (OH HAI Homes for Lambeth); to be fair, a large proportion of the financial mess can also be attributed to central government leaving local authorities out to dry.

Whatever happened to The Big Society?

…or the Co-operative Council, for that matter.

We expect 2025 to be a year when the Town Hall finances are squeezed further still. We’ve reached the point where it’s not about price increases make ends meet.

Service cuts to essential Council services seem likely.

We don’t envy those at the Town Hall making these decisions, whoever they are; it remains slightly less than opaque if it is the Cabinet, jobbing back bench Councillors or unaccountable Officers who are calling the shots.

Happy New Year.

We think.