Love Lambeth

Stopping smoking is the best thing you can do for your baby.

The London Smokefree Pregnancy Week (#LDNSmokefreepreg) is an awareness campaign running from 18 – 22 November, aimed at both pregnant women smokers and healthcare professionals to raise awareness of the issue in London and to give support and signposting to advice.

Risk reduction

A Christmas gift list has been put together by Lambeth Council so local people can help sanctuary-seeking children in the borough get the chance to enjoy some festive seasonal cheer.

The aim is to raise 330 gifts for children in the Homes for Ukraine, Resettlement, No Recourse to Public Funds and Asylum Seekers schemes from a gift list which has been set up online at amazon.co.uk.

Choose a gift from our Amazon wishlist by 9 December

The scheme is part of the council’s Soak Up Lambeth programme, which aims to improve drainage using natural processes to reduce the impact of surface water flooding using a series of SuDS schemes for estates, schools, highways, and parks.

Lambeth invited Living Wage Champion employers and officials from Greenwich Lewisham, Merton, and Southwark to a “Good work and inclusive employment” event on Tuesday, 5 November at Lambeth Town Hall.

Word from the Cabinet

Join Lambeth Council for an afternoon of creativity, reflection and celebration and be one of the first to see the Town Hall Art Programme’s new exhibition.

Where history, culture and daily life meet

Lambeth Town Hall has been a central pillar of community life for over a century. Since opening in 1908 Lambeth Town Hall has been not only an architectural landmark but a place where history, culture, and the daily lives of the people of Lambeth have intertwined.

Windows into the past

The decision was made at a public meeting on November 4 following an extended period of public consultation with the community, as the council works to protect the borough’s high standard of primary school education.

There are 1,000 less children starting at Lambeth primary schools than 10-years ago, which means empty classrooms. As school funding is distributed on a per-pupil basis many schools in Lambeth face having to spend more than they receive in funding as a result, resulting in significant budget deficits.

The first tree was planted outside Minet Library, in Myatts Field, to mark the start of the tree planting season and to pay tribute to former Brixton resident Mr Zephaniah who died in December last year.

The event was organised by the council’s tree planting team and colleagues in the library service. They were joined by pupils from Loughborough Primary School who recited poems by Mr Zephaniah.

The council is planning to plant more than 1,700 between now and April 2025 in parks, in housing estates and in local streets to make Lambeth more sustainable.

The new Good Parks for London report ranks Lambeth Council as having the capital’s third highest performing parks service when assessed against 10 different criteria including quality and sustainability.

The Good Parks for London charity’s report recognises and celebrates innovation and best practice, aiming to inspire improvements in the quality and management of green spaces across the capital.

Meeting the standard

Councillors gave the green light for the extension of the “selective licensing scheme”, designed to tackle rogue landlords and improve conditions for people living in private rented accommodation, at a meeting this week.

It means the scheme will cover 23 of Lambeth’s 25 electoral wards, subject to approval from the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

In partnership with the American country music singer’s Imagination Library programme 12,000 children in Lambeth are being offered the opportunity to get a new book every month.

Parents can register their new-born to five-years-old children at imaginationlibrary.com, and the site also details which books will be sent out.

Councillor Ben Kind, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education, said: “Lambeth Council is thrilled to be working with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to help inspire a love of reading in Lambeth’s youngest residents.