Greens demand more openness and accountability from Lambeth Council

At Wednesday’s full council meeting, Green Party councillors’ questions went unanswered as they highlighted peoples’ concerns that so many residents’ and workers’ voices were not being heard across the borough.

The Capital Programme for 2024-2028 report was discussed and Cllr Ainslie, Leader of the Green Group of councillors on the council, asked if Streatham was getting its fair share of development money.

He also pointed out the lack of detail on where the money is being spent, adding that the only location-specific projects were in the north and centre of the borough.

Cllr Scott Ainslie (Streatham St. Leonard’s ward) said:

“It was beyond disappointing to get a non-answer to my follow-up question from the cabinet member for finance.

Words were uttered, but they totally avoided answering the question I actually asked.

And at the Cabinet meeting last week, I asked why Streatham St Leonard’s was second last on the list of wards in receipt of development money, receiving a mere £18,000 for a CPZ consultation, when 17 out of 25 wards had received over £100,000 and some had received millions of pounds!

The leader of the council totally avoided the question, which was specifically about St Leonard’s ward. It is totally unacceptable.”

When discussing the changes to the council’s constitution, Cllr Nicole Griffiths (Streatham St. Leonard’s ward) asked why opposition councillors on the council, who represent over one-third of the electorate in Lambeth, were being blocked from meeting with corporate directors unless the interim chief executive is present.

Cllr Griffiths also pointed out that it was not serving the 22% of people who voted Green at the last election to deny Lambeth’s second largest party a seat on the constitution working group.

Cllr Nicole Griffiths (Streatham St. Leonard’s ward) said:

“I am becoming increasingly concerned that instead of values, including the Nolan principles, dictating the politics by which this administration operates, that politics are dictating the values.

Thus, creating an administration determined to silence and ignore opposition whenever they can.”