onionbagblog

Here’s something of a strange story coming out of South London this evening:

Labour Councillors in Lambeth and Southwark have announced plans to work together to cut costs and protect frontline services if Labour wins control of both Councils in elections due this May.

Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council, and Cllr Peter John, Leader of Southwark’s Labour Councillors, will offer residents better value for money by sharing management costs and merging some services across both councils.

The old adage goes that Southwark Council only exists to make Lambeth Council look half-decent. The proposed political pact seems even more of a marriage of inconvenience than the LibDem and Tories love in over at Lambeth Town Hall.

Despite the geographical similarities, the two boroughs are politically at different cycles. After four years of power, @LambethLabour would no doubt be looking to continue the Nu Labour project that has been put in place in Lambeth.

Southwark meanwhile has taken a different political direction under the LibDems. A Labour win would mean that the Nu Labour project over the border is playing catch up with their colleagues in Lambeth.

And here’s a thought…

What if Labour regain control of Southwark, and lose control of Lambeth? Or even if both boroughs are under control of the LibDems after May 6th? Would a marriage of inconvenience still exist in opposition?

Talk of cross border alliances is of course being driven by cuts. The big financial axe is going to come swinging across all of South London, irrespective of who holds the power.

Forming an alliance is an imaginative idea to help solve what will no doubt be a deep-rooted financial problem for the next administration in Lambeth. We need solutions, but I’m voting on May 6th for a Lambeth administration. I don’t want decisions to be bussed in on the No. 436 from across the borough boundary.

And what of the much mooted (by @LambethLabour) John Lewis form of local government? Is the Petri dish going to be extended out to the good folk in Southwark, should both boroughs be flying the Red Flag on May 7th?

Sharing political resources sounds like just another attempt at shifting accountability and responsibility.

It’s not called a local election for nothing.

Heads up from the rather decent @cllr_robbins for pinging me a copy of the freshly printed @LambethLabour local election manifesto. I’m never convinced precisely what a wordle can tell you about the underlining arguments in any document. I don’t think however the prominent placing of ‘Lib’ in the Lambeth Labour manifesto is a reference to the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration.

I actually eyeballed the Holy Grail of South London politics at cabinet last night (the Labour manifesto, not the good Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration.) Town Hall etiquette stopped me from grabbing the document, doing a runner and then reading it via torchlight underneath the bed sheets like a guilty school boy.

But you needn’t feel smutty about reading what our friends from the red part (arf) of the borough are planning. All information is good, even when it has to be read with an open mind, as is the case with most party election manifestos.

Sixteen pages, a whopping 18MB in pdf format (oh, go on then - you can snaffle a copy over here) and get this: FOUR pictures of swimming pools.

Blimey.

With only one pool currently open in the borough (and even then with a bonkers 7am-9am timetable) it’s a bit rich for @LambethLabour to be putting up a pretty picture gallery of pools to try and win over the voters.

p.9 of the manifesto is put aside specifically for leisure. The pledges / claims made include:

Labour will renew Lambeth’s crumbling old leisure centres and build an Olympic legacy by giving more people the chance to get involved in sport.

Too many of our existing leisure centres and pools are on their last legs – so Labour will rebuild them and build brand new facilities in areas where’s there’s currently no provision.

Fighting talk, but you have to ask who was responsible in the first place for the crumbling old leisure centres to be left to rot away in, um, the Rotten Borough.

That rather nice Labour PPC, @ChukaUmunna has it spot on when he calls it as:

“The fact is that Council administrations of all different political persuasions have not invested enough in the pool for a long time and they should all be big enough to admit as much.”

I can’t but help think that yer man Chuka *may* be wasted on Westminster.

Streatham and Clap’ham are rightfully placed at the top of the agenda in terms of @LambethLabour’s achievements. New pools are coming, but cripes, the pain they put us through, not to mention the endless delays…

West Norwood and Waterloo get name checked for future new pool builds (nothing legally binding as yet.) The old Lilian Baylis site is given a rather vague description of ‘being under community control.’

And then there’s Brixton.

Complete upgrade works to Brixton Rec.

Blimey.

That will be the £2.7m complete upgrade from 2007, which was three months behind schedule, and was such a bodget and scarper job that it has led to the delay of the current re-opening of the Rec because:

A number of failures in the work previously undertaken during earlier refurbishment were discovered.

But the real Speedo elastic breaking moment has to be the manifesto pledge of:

Free swimming for every resident at specific times.

Cripes.

Given that you can only swim in Lambeth during the very specific time of 7am - 9am right now, I wonder how soon after May 6th this promise will be implemented, should Labour retain control of the council?

And who will fund this free swimming for all? I certainly hope the very nice folk at GLL have been consulted about this. I posed the question via twitter to the good @cllrstevereed earlier. His response was:

So the free swimming seems more like a taster session to explore the new facilities, which won’t be open until 2011 in Clap’ham and 2012 in Streatham. Not so much free swimming for all then throughout the four years of the next administration, but a voter friendly sound bite slipped into an election manifesto.

Which to be fair, is precisely the point of election manifestos…

Elsewhere in the manifesto, and p.5 could prove to be something of a legal minefield. The allegation that: ‘Lambeth LibDems tried to legalise kerb crawling’ is repeated.

It is this exact very same allegation that gave Councillor Lumsden, the leader of @LambethLibDems cause to remark at a recent full council meeting:

“A complaint to the standards committee will be made if it [the allegation] is repeated at any stage by the opposition during the election campaign.”

@LambethLabour is either calling the bluff of the opposition leader, or jumping the gun when it comes to printing the manifesto. Once again, @cllrstevereed justified the inclusion of the allegation, kindly replying via twitter:

The allegation is disturbing enough, but voters need to remember the deep-rooted political battle upon which this statement has been repeated, and now published.

The defence of @LambethLabour in publishing Lambeth Life is that it doesn’t want to line the pockets of a local newspaper by placing council statutory ads in a publication that carries calling cards for prostitutes.

@cllrstevereed asked Councillor Lumdsen at the recent full council meeting if a LibDem led council would place the ads in the paper that benefits from the exploitation of women. It was a fair question to pose, and one that Councillor Lumsden failed to answer, apart from making the threats about the allegation being repeated.

Now that the issue is out there in the public domain, via the Labour manifesto, I hope Councillor Lumdsen can confirm or deny the policy of his party with regards placing statutory council ads in @SthLondonPress. Labour needs to publish the public record to back up the allegation, and then hopefully the campaign can move on to talk about the continued regeneration of the borough.

Oh, and don’t forget that if @SthLondonPress wasn’t so smutty, then the whole debate would become redundant.

p.4 of the election pledge is put aside for some chest beating over the freezing of Council Tax. A fine move, but a waste of a page, when all you need to know is published over here.

Twenty-four local authorities in London have frozen Council Tax; five councils have actually decreased it.

p.12 tries to explain the current housing crisis in Lambeth. There is no mention of “housing contracts not working,” as the Cabinet Member for Housing admitted at cabinet last night.

The bluster of the John Lewis partnership style of government, as heralded in with a Guardian front-page splash last month, seems to have been hidden away with little hype. You have to stick with the manifesto all the way through until the penultimate p.15 to get any mention of cooperative government.

But let’s look towards the future. There are some extremely positive points to be found in the manifesto:

Labour is the fastest improving council in the country.

Although if you start from a low base…

Zero tolerance of anti-social behaviour.

Cut crime by boosting neighbourhood police teams.

The Community Safety Panels really are rather ace.

Lobby government to protect funding for Sure Start children’s centres.

GCSE results up 9% in one year, beating the national average.

Credit to the teachers and the pupils, rather than the politicians though…

And so good work @cllr_robbins and @LambethLabour in sending my way your manifesto. It will be uploaded to the good folk at @democlub, and then revisited over the future months, *should* Labour retain control of @lambeth_council.

It would be jolly decent for local democracy to be able to do a similar analysis of the manifestos from our friends at @LambethLibDems and *cough* @lambethnews (Lambeth Tories…)

A miserable South London Monday evening, and so it must mean that there’s the small matter of a @lambeth_council cabinet meeting to attend. With only thirteen items on the agenda, this was a blink and you’ll miss it moment for the policies being passed.

It was pleasing to see Room 8 at Lambeth Town Hall more or less full. The agenda was a lively list of items, covering everything from education, housing and dangerous status dogs.

The bark is worse than the bite, I thought, as I arrived fashionably late and drew a few daggers from the eyes of some of the @LambethLabour cabinet.

Down boy.

But first off was the rather important issue of the Black Cultural Archives Delivery Report. This is essentially an update to guarantee that the new building being planned in the derelict Raleigh Hall behind Windrush Square is built on time.

Given the past record of the current administration in delivering buildings under the Culture and Communities portfolio, this is a key report that needs to be upheld.

Councillor Lumsden, the leader of @LambethLibDems congratulated the Labour group, and gave his “full backing” for the project.

Blimey.

This is evidence of what can be achieved in Lambeth when the traditional party lines are relaxed, and a consensus is seen as to what really matters - delivering real change on the ground in the borough.

The challenge now is to meet the 2012 opening date for the completion of the Black Cultural Archives. This will truly be a wonderful addition to the claim that Brixton can make with regards multiculturalism at work in the community.

@cllrstevereed noted that many residents have asked what is to be done with the derelict Raleigh Hall, currently imposing a rather intimidating image behind Windrush Square. It was recommended that some prominent signs will be put in place, to explain more about the project.

The Local Education Partnership: Selected Bidder Decision was under discussion next. Engage has been selected to work with the council as the preferred private sector partner.

The words ‘private’ and ‘education’ don’t tally with me. Needs must however, and as Councillor Meldrum rightfully observed, Labour led @lambeth_council has a superior track record in improving education standards when compared to our Tory friends over in Wandsworth.

The Delivering Quality, Tackling Inequality item on the agenda sounded more like a sound bite than a bona fide policy. But anything that address inequality in a deprived borough has to be a step in the right direction. Less electioneering though please - let the voters decide for themselves.

I couldn’t but help think that the Single Equality Scheme item wasn’t so much single, but should have also been part of the previous item. Councillor Prentice recognised that race and gender are important, but also urged cabinet not to forget about the equality of the white working class.

Here comes the biggie…

The Lambeth Housing Procurement Programme - essentially this is the policy for which the council buys in services for housing stock. You know that all is not well when the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regenerations opens the debate by stating:

“Housing contracts aren’t working. We hope to have more flexibility in awarding the contracts, and work with local people. It is critical that this administration gets this right.”

Not much time left, I’m afraid, Councillor.

The best speech all evening then came from a spokesperson for a Resident’s Organisation:

“Our involvement in this debate is not evidence that we support the procurement of housing services.”

What followed was a damning overview of the work carried out by Lambeth Living:

“The Council needs to make sure that Lambeth Living has the right staff in place. Lambeth Council is still our landlord.”

Perhaps not technically, and the recent freeze of Council Tax in the borough is only going to add further strain, and possible frontline job losses from Lambeth Living.

A union spokesperson then gave Labour led @lambeth_council a lesson in how to run a centre left administration for the benefit of the people, and not the private sector. Cabinet listened, but it was an uncomfortable moment to be sitting at the top table.

The kick in the teeth came when @cllrstevereed was told that a genuine cooperative form of management doesn’t mean a cost cutting, burden shifting John Lewis style of government, as proposed by the Labour group.

Councillor Peck admitted that the Council is “currently failing residents,” but didn’t go as far as speaking out against the Procurement Programme. Looks like the solution from Labour led @lambeth_council is to keep on buying, but to shop elsewhere when it comes to housing.

Cabinet then discussed the issue of dangerous status dogs, and the link with Anti Social Behaviour. This is an issue that @imogenwalker, the Labour Councillor for Stockwell is passionate about.

The point made was that dogs aren’t dangerous - their owners are. This is a timely debate, given the conviction last week of Chrisdian Johnson for using dangerous dogs as a weapon to bring down a boy before he stabbed him six times, right in @imogenwalker’s Stockwell ward.

The council has consulted both the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs Home in coming up with this policy. @imogenwalker spoke of the value of dogs to family life, and how they shouldn’t be demonised.

A local resident backed up this point, bringing in a picture of his Staffordshire bull terrier, and arguing passionately how the Council should be addressing the issue of dog ownership.

The Safer Lambeth Partnership plan was then led by @cllrmarkmarkbennett, with cabinet approval and little reason for further discussion.

The agenda item that divided, as well as equally united the cabinet was the List of Buildings and Structures of Local Architectural Interest. The Council is putting together a plan that will name the buildings in the borough that are believed to be in need of protection.

Everyone has an opinion on this, leading to a highly micro territorial debate, with each Councillor arguing the cause for his or her own back corner. This is no bad thing, and at least shows that civic pride in the respective local ward patches is present.

Conservative Councillor Clare Whelan defended her Norwood patch, noticing that only one building from the ward was on the list. Councillor Prentice pointed out that the old Lambeth Town Hall in Kennington, now the home of the Countryside Alliance, has also been overlooked.

That’s no bad thing.

The list is not exhaustive; it is a mere starting point to recognise genuine buildings that need council backing within the borough. The healthy debate around the choice of locations is to be applauded.

I snoozed through the Cabinet Member Overview of Performance and Quarter Three Council Performance Digest. I wasn’t alone.

The Annual Report of the Director of Public Health 2008 / 2009: Health Inequalities in Lambeth was brief, but backed up well by @QueenFlo.

And finally we came to item number 13 at the end of the agenda: Benefit Sanctions Policy. Tough on benefits, tough on @SthLondonPress could be the election manifesto for @LambethLabour.

Not so - the flagship local paper was actually praised by Councillor Dickson, for naming and shaming benefit cheats. A few raised eyebrows from his Labour colleagues around the top table. Don’t expect to read about it in Lambeth Life.

And that was your lot. @cllrstevereed almost went into misty-eyed mode, revving up for a thanks and farewell speech for four years of cabinet work. The good Councillor was then reminded that cabinet has the small matter of Streatham Hub to discuss next week, ahead of the final end of term feeling.

Come the close, and Councillor Heywood confirmed the reason for the rather untimely 5pm scheduling for the Hub cabinet meeting, next Monday. Apparently there is already a scheduled event at the Black Cultural Archives in the evening, which most of cabinet are attending. Sounds reasonable.

I had the good Councillor on the back foot. Yeah, right… I dived in, and went into some nonsense diatribe about the unbearable 31 degrees pool temperature down at Brixton Rec right now.

Oh to have the ear of the Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities.

The remark was made in jest (sort of) but the good Councillor made a mental note to make enquiries with GLL at Brixton.

Blimey.

So there we have it - leisure is still on the agenda ahead of May 6th, but hopefully it is more mundane matters such as water temperature, rather than the rather major issue of building new swimming pools.

Two days after Tesco finally agreed a ‘renewed commitment‘ to continue to work with @lambeth_council on the construction of the Streatham Hub project, details are now starting to emerge about the finer points for the plan to regenerate leisure in Streatham.

First off is confirmation that cabinet will meet to rubber stamp the deal on Monday 29th March. Beware the Ides of March ‘n all that - also beware the rather tricky start time of 5pm. This certainly rules me out.

Speaking rights at cabinet meetings are extremely limited:

Anyone wishing to speak must advise the Secretary to Cabinet before the day of the meeting, advising what aspect not covered in the report they wish to cover.

Heckling is at your discretion (although to be honest, it ‘aint great for democracy, or your cause.)

The papers for the cabinet meeting have now been published on the @lambeth_council website. Heads up @streathamaction for the diligent spot.

And so the morning (or two) after the celebrations held to signal that Streatham Hub is back on schedule, what are the finer details contained within the cabinet report?

@LambethLibDems had hinted of “sour news” in a tweet, commenting that “the whole thing seems to be unravelling one day later.” I asked for clarity over the cryptic tweet. @LambethLibDems have gone rather quiet on twitter over the past forty-eight hours.

I can’t find any evidence in the cabinet report that would leave me feeling “sour” over the Hub announcement. I would have been far from sweet if Tesco had decided on Wednesday to walk away from the whole project.

But there still remains questions that need answering. Hopefully cabinet will be able to clear these up on 29th March.

First off, the papers confirm that the existing Streatham Leisure Centre is a dead duck. It would require a £3m spend to re-open, a figure that @cllrstevereed confirmed to me on Wednesday (although GLL quoted £1m at the Brixton Rec Users Forum the day before.)

Either way, it’s money that would be a drain on council resources, especially so with all parties looking at how to make cuts to the overall council spend after 6th May.

The Hub is (hopefully) coming - investing £1m - £3m on a temporary project that would have a lifespan of three years max, makes no sense. It will still be sad to lose the lovely old pool at Streatham High Road though.

But let’s look towards the future. Staring deep into the Streatham crystal ball and I see… retail. An awful lot of retail. You can’t get too ostentatious about a project that is being fronted by Tesco.

The floor space for the supermarket itself has increased by a massive 50% form the original plans:

The revised scheme is for an increased retail floor space from 40,000 to 60,000 square feet. This will need to be assessed as part of a new planning application.

It is unlikely that @lambeth_council is going to refuse planning permission, such is the flagship nature of the whole Hub project (not to mention the political credibility that it has now come to represent.) This is still no reason for the due process to residents, and the wider environment, to be ignored.

The cabinet paper recognises that:

The increased retail floor space will require a new traffic impact assessment including a Green Travel Plan.

There is no mention specifically of cycling provision in the document, but one would hope that this would form an extensive part of the planning for the Hub. Leisure and cycling have a direct correlation. Witness the success of the wonderful provision for bicycle parking at Brockwell Lido following the refurbishment.

But forget about the shopping, it’s all about the swimming and skating, stooopid.

Isn’t it?

One of the key principles in the whole historic planning for the Hub has been the guarantee of the continuity of ice provision. This essentially means that Tesco cannot close the old High Road rink, until a new one is open.

The original plan was to clear the site stage by stage, building a new rink first, and then bulldozing the old barn. A decade of dithering however has meant that Streatham needs a new rink and leisure centre as soon as possible.

The agreement that was reached between Tesco and @lambeth_council this week is to flatten the entire site in one fell sweep of the wrecking ball, and then build from scratch. I agree with this principle - the sooner the better as far as I am concerned.

But this approach leads to a slight problem when it comes to the all important continuity. How to house the hockey players, the skaters and, um, even the swimmers in the interim?

Once again the ‘temporary’ solution is back on the agenda, and open to ridicule with more questions than answers coming out of the cabinet paper.

First off is the intention for Tesco to manage a temporary rink. The supermarket may be good at selling baked beans, but running an ice pad and accommodating the many varied interest groups, is a very different proposition.

This is precisely why Tesco, who currently owns the existing old High Road rink, has allowed Starburst Limited to run the rink on its behalf. Will this management arrangement still be in place for the temporary facility? And who can be trusted more to provide the level of service expected - the supermarket chain or the company that has run down the existing facility, albeit under testing circumstances?

But as ever with all construction projects, it’s about location, location, location.

The immediate problem facing our friends @lambeth_council is where the hell do you place an ice pad in what is already an incredibly over-crowded town centre?

The accepted rink size for ice hockey is a pad of 26m x 61m. Such a size would require planning permission, even for a temporary facility:

Planning permission for the temporary ice rink would be required. Whilst it is noted that Streatham Common is designated as public open space and Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) in the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) and it is thus protected from unsuitable development it is accepted that there may be very special circumstances to justify an exception for a temporary period of about three years after which the land would need to be reinstated.

Why mention the possibility of a three year life span for a temporary rink, when the stated completion date for the entire Hub project is two years and nine months away?

The document details the following timeline for the management of the project:

July 2010: submit planning application for temporary ice rink

February 2011: start on site for temporary ice rink

August 2011: opening of temporary ice rink

Therefore, for the all important continuity of ice to be upheld, the document implies that the Redskins will play all of the 2010 - 2011 season at the old High Road rink. By implication, demolition of the old barn won’t start until August 2011 at the earliest.

The temporary tag is still on the agenda when it comes to swimming. With Future Clapham running two years behind schedule, Brixton Rec will remain the only pool open in Lambeth (just about) until 2011.

Now that the old Streatham pool has officially been mothballed, @lambeth_council seems to have finally recognised that the Rec alone can’t cope with the demand for swimming in the borough.

Time for a temporary pool…

With the Lambeth Lego Pool over in Kennington seen as little more than an election friendly stunt, common sense seems to have prevailed with talk of a 25m temporary pool for Streatham.

But yet again, the cry of location, location, location can be heard rattling around the planning department at Lambeth Town Hall.

This size pool and its housing occupy a considerable footprint and although considerable work has been done on assessing potential sites only two are considered to have any degree of viability, and both, would require an expert and detailed site survey.

There is no mention in the cabinet document as to where a 25m temporary pool could be located. Time and tide wait for no local council candidate, not with the election clock ticking down to 6th May.

There is more detail in terms of location when it comes to a temporary gym structure, ahead of the December 2012 Hub opening:

A number of potential sites have been considered for this facility, with two options considered more viable in terms of location and suitability. These comprise the Rookery car park, at the top of Streatham Common and Stockport Road playing Fields. The former, however, being part of the Common, may well present a number of planning and consultation issues.

Elsewhere in the lengthy document and other issues still nag away regarding Streatham Hub.

Transport was originally viewed as being just as important to the project as skating, swimming and shopping, when the Hub idea was first floated almost a decade ago. Times have changed since, and so has @lambeth_council’s own strategy towards transport.

The cabinet paper makes a fleeting reference to a:

car park and TfL bus stand.

Maybe the 50% increase in shop space has taken over the land put aside for improving transport links?

And what of the original development agreement guaranteeing a ‘public town square?’

The scheme still includes a new square and public realm investment, which will enhance the environment. The scheme includes provision of an upgraded paving and seating scheme across the whole development area.

Sounds like a mini-me Windrush Square, which may, or may not, be a bad thing.

Finally…

In addition, every effort has been made to ensure that other centre users have been made aware of alternative facilities in the borough.

Debatable.

And so in summary:

Hurrah! …for @lambeth_council for finally holding Tesco to account in their promise to build a new leisure centre and ice rink facility. 2012 can’t come soon enough (neither can 6th May.) But questions of location, location, location need to be answered by cabinet members when it comes to swimming, skating and gym use.

Sometimes you attend a full @lambeth_council meeting full of pessimism and weary of the bun fight that is about to break out. An evening of verbal blows in a stuffy council chamber can’t really compare to an evening in the boozer.

But then on the rare occasions when you hit @lambeth_council gold, your previous failed attempts to uncover the holy grail of local politics is instantly justified.

And so on Wednesday evening, I cycled off to the Town Hall, sieve in hand, having been tipped off “there’s gold in them there SW9 hills.”

My evening of discovery was enlightened within the first five minutes of arrival. With this being the final full meeting of the Labour led administration (or is it…?) there were various civic procedures to attend to.

Forget all the political posturing of the past four years; the chamber was united in celebrating the citizens of the borough that actually achieve true greatness within Lambeth.

@mayoroflambeth was rightfully beaming as he introduced the winners and runners up in the Lambeth Young Debating competition. It’s probably got a fancy title that gives the accolade the gravitas that it deserves. But I was never much of a debater, and so Lambeth Young Debating Competition will do.

This was an incredibly proud moment for teachers, parents and yes, even politicians. St Martin’s in the Fields walked away with the top prize, with hopefully an even bigger prize of participation and improving local democracy in years to come. But for now, £200 worth of gift vouchers for a well-known High Street store (*not* John Lewis) will do nicely.

The Generation Game skipped a gap or three, and next up was the Lambeth Civic Awards. There is no working definition to quantify an award, which recognises dedication to improving a sense of community within the borough.

The recipients are obvious to all, and it would be rude not to honour the lifetime of work spent trying to make Lambeth a better place for all to live.

Representation came from all corners of the borough, including a Kennington Residents group, a Streatham lady who has dedicated her life to improving education and a true champion of Lambeth inter-faith.

The chamber was unanimous in praise and applause. @mayoroflambeth did his civic handshaking duty. We’re going to miss his smile, charm and endless enthusiasm when he’s gone. It seemed rightful then that one of Mr Mayor’s final duties in the chamber was to formally recognise civic achievement.

With the guests honoured, the chamber cleared, and then the local authority equivalent of the coconut shire commenced.

Not quite.

There was an end-of-term feel to the final sitting of the current administration. Councillors will be departing, some by choice, some by the strength of the ballot box.

Party lines remained drawn, albeit it with a rather blunt pencil, and not the big red marker that usually characterises the political divide at full council meetings.

But first, there was the bore fest of questions to the Transport Panel. It was unclear in the public gallery who was actually answering the questions on the panel. The crib sheet provided was woefully inaccurate, and the name cards faced the good Councillors, and not the public.

Questions came from all sides of the chamber. Labour’s Councillor Heywood asked about the lack of air quality in her Coldharbour ward. A TfL flunky responded by saying that six “hot spots” for air pollution have been identified in London. Not one is in Lambeth.

Councillor Prentice, also sitting on the Labour benches, asked about introducing a bus route from Clap’ham into the City. The TfL PR smoothie ruled out the route, stating that the current upgrades to the Misery Line makes this a non-starter.

With weekend Northern Line closures announced today until March 2011, Councillor Prentice had a valid point. Many Lambeth residents find bus travel the only affordable option, but Mr Smoothie didn’t seem too fussed.

LibDem Councillor Heather picked up on the fares issues, asking why Oyster cardholders on busses have suffered a 20% price hike. Mr Smoothie effectively killed the debate, with a lengthy ramble that would put most bit part local politicians to shame.

There was genuine head scratching all around the chamber. This had been a wasted session, serving little purpose to both local politicians and residents. Cycling was mentioned as an afterthought, forty-five minutes into the debate.

The Transport Panel left the chamber, hopefully to be in for a long wait for the hit and miss 37 bus along Acre Lane.

Councillor Questions were up next.

Cripes.

I reached for the tin hat and covered my eyes. With the ballot box looming, there was the potential for knockout blows to be delivered before the Councillors head back to their wards and prepare for government the glamour of a Saturday morning drop in session.

Councillor Heather asked a half-decent question about residents having to pay to host their own street parties. Sounds bonkers, and being election time, it most definitely is. Oh yes.

The good Councillor highlighted the harshness in asking the organisers of Urban Art to stump up a four-figure amount for the privilege of transforming Josephine Avenue into a living, vibrant art fair on the same weekend as the Country Show.

Labour’s Councillor Prentice is a skilled politician, if not a lover of Urban Art. She shamefully dodged giving an answer, stating that Urban Art was asked as a third supplemental question, when only one supplemental was allowed from Councillor Heather.

The art lovers in Councillor Prentice’s Ferndale ward would also do well to remember how council democracy works come May 6th.

Happier times ahead though down in Streatham. A decade of dithering, but the gift for @LabourLambeth ahead of the local elections is the confirmation that Tesco is committed to building Streatham Hub.

With the announcement made just ahead of full council, the Labour members had good reason to look smug. We still need the finer details of the decision, such as the crucial guarantee of continuity of ice provision.

Councillor Peck, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, confirmed that a temporary rink would be in place ahead of the Hub opening in December 2012.

“We think this is workable for Streatham. Continuity is integral to the deal, and we will cater for all groups. This is a good day for Streatham.”

I am in agreement, but I think it will be a better day on 29th March when cabinet confirm the finer details of the Hub scheme.

Righto, moving on, deep breath…

It’s the perfect political storm brewing: Labour endorsed Lambeth Life, a local newspaper that is funded by prostitution and the LibDem solution, should they be elected to power in May.

There is little I can say here legally about this.

Likewise in the council chamber, which was uncomfortably tense as Labour leader @cllrstevereed asked his Libdem rival, Councillor Lumsden, about his party’s support for putting statutory ads in a newspaper that gains financial support from the exploitation of women.

Tense.

There are many longstanding political battles wrapped up in this question, including statements that Councillor Lumsden is alleged to have made previously.

“An absolute lie,” was the response from the LibDem leader. Councillor Lumsden confirmed that complaints to the standard committee would be made against any Councillors that repeat the allegations during the coming election campaign.

That is all I can say on the matter.

It all went slightly tipsy from there owards. I somehow found myself polishing off half a bottle of bolly in Mr Mayor’s parlour, making polite conversation and gurning like a local politician.

Blimey.

If you had a bun, I deserved for it to be thrown at me.

Rejoice around The Rookery! Hang out the bunting from Streatham High Road! Swing yer pants, SW16 style!

The major, major news coming out of South London this evening is:

This is truly the best news in the borough for some considerable time. Possibly even *oooh* the past decade. I hope that the past ten years of waiting for Streatham Hub to become more than an architect’s scribble will have been worth the wait.

And so following the high level Tesco board meeting earlier in the day, @cllrstevereed, the leader of Labour led @_lambeth_council, confirmed the Hub news early Wednesday evening.

It has been a busy day for Tesco on the political front. Two questions were raised in the House during #pmqs, both expressing concern at the power that the supermarket chain holds over local communities.

It is something of a different situation down in South London. Tesco had held power over the community for almost a decade, but the consensus is that this power needs to be put to positive use.

Hopefully the Hub news we have heard today will signal happier times ahead for the good people of Streatham.

As hinted at in the Lambeth Cultural Services Briefing that is circulated amongst certain Councillors, the project will include:

a new supermarket, sport centre, swimming pool and new ice rink.

It is very early days, but no mention yet of housing and a transport infrastructure. I hope that the brevity of twitter is the reason as to why the good @cllrstevereed left these off his tweet.

There is a planned @lambeth_council cabinet meeting on the 29th of this month. Hopefully a full disclosure of the complete Hub agreement will made to both politicians and the public.

The hard work now starts of holding Tesco to account with the agreement reached. Continuity is the key. This applies to ice provision, making sure that skaters and hockey players have a suitable ice pad in SW16, right up until the opening of the new Hub.

With Streatham Leisure Centre currently closed, no continuity of swimming can be offered. GLL management confirmed to me yesterday that a £1m repair bill has been estimated to re-open Streatham. Given that the Hub now has the green light, I doubt if this is an option that will be explored.

This still means that swimming in Lambeth is a critical issue, and one which needs monitoring closely. Clap’ham is scheduled for a 2011 opening, and Streatham 2012. The next twelve months is going to require Brixton Rec to be able to handle the demands of all swimmers in Lambeth.

But that is for another day - rejoice, rejoice!

The Hub is happening!