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Brockwell Park bound and *shhh* discretion is required as I attended my annual (and probably final) inspection of the beautiful Brockwell Secret Garden at the height of midsummer.

For one month in the year, the walled garden of SE24 is truly spectacular (it’s simply spectacular for the remaining eleven months of the year.)

Hidden away behind the community greenhouse and acting as a South London sun trap, it is these late June days when the true splendour of Brockwell is best appreciated.

My early morning visit found me at one with the garden. Not a single other person in sight, which is probably where the secret part of the prefix comes from.

I positioned myself with a micro lens to capture the foliage from up close, disturbed only by a lone bee, before taking something of a soaking from a hidden sprinkler.

The high point was finding the flowering magnolia, something that my rather weak specimen back at base has failed to achieve in fours summers of SW8 attendance. We’re hopeful that the sea breeze of Wivenhoe might make a difference.

With work commitments waiting, my annual pilgrimage was as short as it was delightful. Sketches are in place, and hopefully midsummer 2011 might see something a lot closer to home to capture the beauty of an English garden at the high point of summer.

One month behind schedule, but yep - deep breath - it’s only the minutes from the Co-operative Council Citizen’s Commission initial business meeting.

Blimey.

It’s still not entirely sure exactly what the Commission is. Even the @lambeth_council website seems confused, getting somewhat tongue-tied with the rather misleading:

“The co-operative council commission, or citizen commission, has been set up to work with citizens, partners, politicians and other groups who are interested and / or likely to be affected by the council’s proposals.”

A Co-operative Council Commission or a *ahem* Citizen’s Commission?

Cripes.

If you can’t even formally decide upon a working name for the secretive Commission, then I don’t hold much hope for actually being able to formulate any local authority policy.

This is a key point. The former implies no citizen involvement; the latter indicates that citizen’s will sit on the commission. A fudge of the two suggests that the whole exercise is nothing but folly.

And what of the initial ‘business meeting’ by-line? What the chuffers has business got to do with providing front line local authority services? I fear I am posing a rhetorical question here, but any insight from the non-citizens that make up the Citizen’s Commission would be appreciated.

Speaking of which, looking at all those present and correct, and as expected, the first meeting of the Citizen’s Commission Co-operative Council Commission didn’t contain a single citizen.

But wait - what’s this? As well as the already established three high-ranking members of @LambethLabour that makes up the Citizen’s Commission, over a month after that first May meeting and it has now been revealed that six other attendees were present:

“Derrick Anderson, Chief Executive, Sophia Looney, Divisional Director, Policy, Equality and Performance; Erica Ballmann, Head of Leader’s Office; Ofordi Nabokei, Policy Officer, Rebecca Eligon, Interim Head of Research and Consultation; Julian Ellerby, Divisional Director of Campaigns and Communication.”

Who invited these unelected council officers to sit on the Citizen’s Commission and what power do they have? I’m sure they all do a fine job serving as local authority civil servants. As has already been established, @SophiaLooney does a damn good job in opening up democracy in absence of any lead from the elected (and accountable) politicians.

But the role of honour of attendees that attended the first business meeting of the Citizen’s Commission is still absent of any genuine citizens.

And so what of the substance? The minutes are all fine and dandy in terms of explaining what happened at the talking shop, but they don’t tell you who was actually talking. Which renders them rather pointless.

“The meeting was told that a list of invitees had been drawn up, which aims to cover as many groups and communities as possible.”

It may have taken over a month for the minutes to be made public, but can we also please see the list of the invitees? An explanation as to how and why they were invited, and by whom, would also lead to a feeling of more transparency.

Like all good novels, the minutes then extend to add more detail as the plot develops:

“Plans for consultation and engagement with a wider audience than those who would attend the commission was broadly discussed.

I think the “wider audience” means actual citizens of the borough, and *not* politicians.

“It was felt that that a number of concrete case studies were needed to make the ideas stated in the White Paper come to life in a practical way.”

This no doubt refers to the co-operative “trials” that @cllrstevereed has been trailing, of which citizens know very little about.

Any other business?

Nope.

And that’s about yer lot.

Blimey.

Fast-forward to 11th June, and the Citizen’s Commission Co-operative Council Commission came together once again in Room 106 of Lambeth Town Hall. Our three high ranking @LambethLabour cabinet members were once again in attendance, although the civil servant list had been cut by 50%. I hope this isn’t a precursor to what the findings of the Citizen’s Commission might be.

“The meeting was told that over 500 people had been sent the co-operative council document and invited to submit evidence to the commission. The invite list, originally based on the council’s stakeholder list but now extended, includes resident and tenant groups, community interest groups, equalities groups (local and national) membership of the local strategic partnership, civil servants, think tanks, academics, and all local politicians.”

Oh Lordy.

Where to start? Possibly with the belief that the council’s stakeholder list was initially thought of as being sufficient to carry out a public consultation. Hurrah all round for realising the errors of the Commission’s way; a big yah boo sucks for still not inviting any citizens to join the farce of the Citizen’s Commission.

The role call of “resident and tenant groups, community interest groups, equalities groups (local and national) membership of the local strategic partnership, civil servants, think tanks, academics, and all local politicians” couldn’t be more inclusive if it was rolled out as part of a secret society.

It reads like a local authority policy document designed to deter everyday people from actively taking a part in shaping the future of their neighbourhood.

Oh, hang on…

It’s all about the Little People, stooopid.

Buried away at the base of the document is perhaps the one point of optimism coming out of the minutes:

“An open house commission session for all members of the public to come and ask questions and give their feedback about the white paper.”

This is a start, but it’s still not enough. If @lambeth_council is genuinely serious about forming a co-operative council, then it needs to start by allowing citizens to actually sit on the Citizen’s Commission.

The publishing of the minutes, over a month after the first meeting, is genuinely appreciated, but it has come after repeated calls to be more transparent if the whole process is going to be taken seriously.

I can find very little substance within the minutes to convince me that the Citizen’s Commission is nothing but a same as it ever was inflated body of local politicians and civil servants, all sitting around a Town Hall table with tea and biscuits.

Probably bought from the co-op as well.

Another fortnight, another letterbox delivery of Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life.

*sigh*

Hang on - since when did our South London border cousins become part of the whole #lambethcoop farce? Ever since all three local councils became Comrades, united under a (steady) red flag flying South London state of independence.

Cripes.

“Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham are set to work together in a bid to cut costs and help protect front line services.”

Hurrah!

Let’s hope that the protection of council jobs is also part of this new co-operation, what with our friends @LambethLabour attempting to bury the bad news of the 400 redundancies on the very same day it rolled out the folly of #lambethcoop.

In a move that was trailed in the @LambethLabour manifesto, our friend @cllrstevereed confirms in Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life:

“The challenges we face as inner-city London authorities will continue to grow in importance as the coming decade unfolds.”

Inner-city London authorities indeed, but it’s a mighty long way from Waterloo in the north of Lambeth all the way out east to Lee Manor over in leafy Lewisham.

I wonder why the Big Three have chosen to make a pact amongst themselves, and not invited, say, neighbouring Wandsworth into the political pow wow? Could it be perhaps [scented hankie over the nose] that those evil Tories are in control over towards the west of Lambeth Town Hall?

And if the challenges facing inner-city local authorities are so pressing, why wait until after the local election to make local authority cuts collectively as part of the Big Three? Why didn’t @cllrstevereed not offer the hand of local authority co-operaion over the Southwark border some six months ago?

Ah, I see.

Having a Big Three pow wow may just be able to help reduce some of the waste that local authorities churn out. The local Pravda (ouch) that is Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life could be a better place to start looking, rather than redundancies for the poor council staff.

Of course it could be argued that @LambethLabour started this Big Three pow wow process sometime ago. Shutting swimming pools that neighbour other borough borders has led to Lambeth citizens relying upon the public services of other local authorities when it comes to leisure.

Still - at least it means that the @SthLondonPress reporter that has a ban on entering @lambeth_council property is now once again able to get involved in covering the local Lambeth patch. Sort of.

Elsewhere in Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life and the Letters page is the usual mix of the irrelevant and the impudent.

Amber Cuttill, the Alumni Relations Intern from, um, the University of L******er writes in about a University reunion being staged in the City of Death.

Graduates from L******er University may be alive and well in Lambeth, but it will take much more than a letter in Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life to drag my hairy arse back up to the City of Death ever again.

Oh - and I win the Cynical South London Bloggers competition to get the most ridiculous letter published in Lambeth Southwark Lewisham Life.

See you in a fortnight, suckers.

That’s Life!

The Lambeth School’s Musitrax Festival over at Windrush Square looks rather interesting this week. I confess a declaration of interest - I’m usually blowing the trumpet, so to speak, of the musical talents of school kids over the borough border in Southwark as part of the day job(s). But yeah - bring it on, young folk of Brixton:

“Take 350 primary school young musicians, add a dash of Reggae Reggae sauce (courtesy of Levi Roots), simmer it up with a little Brixton sunshine and you get this week’s Lambeth School’s Musitrax Festival. Taking place on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd July in the new Windrush Square, this free open air musical happening has been put together by Lambeth Music Service and is designed to celebrate the achievements of Lambeth children (all have been playing for less than a year) and to encourage people of all ages to have a go for themselves.

Free daily performances will feature massed bands of 8 and 9 year olds from Lambeth primary schools, daily family djembe drumming workshops and a star performance by Brixton’s very own Levi Roots. All events are free, open to all, with no tickets or booking needed.

Programme:

Thursday 1st July:

1pm - MX Band in concert

The band features 150 Year 4 children from Lambeth schools playing trumpet, trombone, clarinet, flute, sax and percussion.

2-4pm - Family djembe workshops

Friday 2nd July:

1pm – MX String Band & Levi Roots in concert.

The band features 200 Year 4 children from Lambeth schools playing violin and cello; plus Levi Roots performing his new single accompanied by the children.

2-4pm - Family djembe workshops.”

Enjoy, all…

Something is seriously wrong with the corporate management of @BrockwellLido. Fusion is currently three years into a twenty-five year lease to manage the SE24 community facility, after @lambeth_councill washed all responsibility from managing (and financially supporting) the historic art deco pool.

Following a promising start to the Fusion years (helped along by the considerable experience of Brockwell Lido Users) it now seems that the current management team at Brockwell Lido simply isn’t up to the job.

The pool has been closed four times in the past month because of “chlorine related” incidents, as well as suffering two overnight break-ins, the latest of which has been brushed over on the Fusion corporate website.

The “chlorine imbalance” may have been a factor for forcing the pool to close late on Monday evening, but the police cordon and forensic coppers that greeted early morning lido lovers earlier in the day, suggested something slightly more sinister.

At the base of the current problems with @BrockwellLido is the inexperience of the current management team. Former Site Manager, Jeremy Lake, left to join rivals Greenwich Leisure Limited, just before the start of the current season. Paul Maier, the Operations Manager, soon followed this departure.

Both previous employees were exceptional at their job. They combined the necessary business running of the lido with the laid back, meet ‘n greet customer service that such a unique facility requires.

It seems that little handover was left to the current lido management team, leading to the current situation where such basics as keeping the pool operational, are failing with an increased frequency.

In twelve years of the glorious lido Golden Days under the management of the much loved local pairing of Paddy and Casey, the pool didn’t suffer one similar incident. The team of highly experienced lifeguards recruited at the time, boosted not only the safety, but also the ethos that the lido generated.

Staff from this Golden Day period are still around. They love the lido so much that they still swim within the unique pool. This is the type of experience and management of the facility that Fusion can’t ignore not to be tapping into.

With a pool engineer optimistic of a lido re-opening on Wednesday 30th June, only one half of the current crisis that is developing at the lido will have been solved by Fusion. Security is also a pressing matter, and one that the company seems unable to currently control.

A fellow lido lover writes:

“Yet again tonight [Monday] there was a mini-rave in the Lido car park, with 20-30 people dancing to music in their cars. At 10pm, when the gym closes, they were successfully moved from the car park and the gates locked by staff in hi-vis vests.

They congregated outside, shouting and smashing glass. Twenty minutes later, the hi-vis staff let out a large dark car - perhaps a manager? - and its exit onto the road was blocked. Eventually a large police van and two police cars arrived and the dark car was able to get out, but one man was sat on its bonnet, preventing it from driving off further.

He was apprehended by the police and escorted into their van and the driver interviewed. Eventually, most of the people drifted away and the police left, but more than an hour later, at 11.14pm, there is still a small rowdy group at the gate, and I, as is well known, need my beauty sleep.

For the security of the Park and the Lido, it is important that this gate is locked at 10pm weekdays and 9pm weekends. One wants youth to have its fling, but this car park is not the ideal venue for a rave.”

And so assuming that @BrockwellLido can actually be operated by Fusion as a functioning, chlorine safe swimming environment, plus here’s hoping that the current security issues can be resolved by both Fusion and the police, then hopefully we will have our lido back.

Ah, not quite. There is the small matter of the Lido Cafe, which although I totally love and support, as well as offering a very high standard of food for diners, there is the sad feeling amongst the lido users that we are not part of this project.

The Cafe is not accessible for pool users during busy days. You have to physically leave the building, and then enter the separate Lido Cafe entrance. Meanwhile, non-lido users are given access to the best view in South London (pool, swimmers, sunbathers) yet the swimmers and sunbathers have sadly been excluded.

This once again goes against the entire lido ethos that was established during the Golden Days of Brockwell Lido. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your status is - everyone is equal and welcome all around the lido.

Following fifteen summers of swimming in SE24 I was optimistic that my final season was going to go out on a high. It’s still practically impossible to leave the place without a huge grin on your face, but slowly, slowly, the magic of Brockwell Lido seems to be disappearing.

*Tuesday 29th, 10:00 update*

The pool remians closed. The receptionist is telling users that “we are hopeful of being open sometime tomorrow [Wednesday.]”

Very, very poor, Fusion.

Meanwhile, the lido website seems to be explaining the whole situation in terms of a “technical problem,” rather than the police incident that closed the pool on Monday morning:

“A technical problem in the small hours of Monday morning has been cited the cause for closure. We have our pool engineers on site from Tuesday morning at 7am and we will do everything possible to ensure that the pool is back in operation.”

Which is all very strange, seeing as though the place was cordoned off by coppers on Monday morning. The reality is a combination of a break-in and the return on the ongoing chlroine situation. Both incidents are only related in terms of a corporate cock up from Fusion.

*Monday 28th, 19:00 update*

The pool has remained closed all day. The police completed their investigations, but sadly the lido was unable to re-open once again because of a “chemical imbalance.”

*sigh*

If it’s not the chlorine that is closing Brockwell Lido then it is the local idiots who fail to understand the concept of community. It was heartbreaking to cycle to SE24 for the daily dip on Monday morning, only to find a police cordon and a closed lido.

It seems that a break-in took place during the early hours, clearing out the lido reception of cash from the night before. Any form of communication to customers from Fusion has sadly been lacking in recent weeks. It took a bizarre head nodding / shaking game with an off-message lifeguard, to try and work out why our lido was closed for the fourth time this month.

“Is this another chlorine bodge job?”

Head shake.

“Has someone broken in?”

Head nod.

“Has there been a poolside injury?”

Head shake.

“Was theft involved?”

Nod, nod, nod.

It’s not the first time that this has happened - the exact same situation took place only a fortnight ago following another Scorchio South London weekend of al fresco swimming. I hope that lessons were learnt first time round from Fusion, and the takings from the weekend weren’t left overnight on the premises.

The ease of access to the lido during the early hours appears to be down to no formal security in place regarding the car park games. With the Park Rangers closing the park at sunset, a word of mouth agreement is in place with @lambeth_council, allowing Fusion staff to lock the Dulwich Road gate after the gym closes at 10pm.

This only works well if the Fusion staff actually remember to lock the gates, come closing time for the lido gym.

Whoops.

Recent nights have seen a build up in the car park during the early hours, which High Court Judges would no doubt describe as a “rave.” Young folk gather around their cars, play loud music which omits a high frequency of beats per minute and… dance.

The rotters.

But this also leaves the lido highly exposed to abuse. The ornate metallic lido sign long since went missing from the front of the building. Last summer saw the closure of the lido when the early lifeguard opened up, only to find some fool had lobbed glass bottles over the lido wall.

Many lido lovers have been annoyed in recent weeks over the increase in security for pool users. Bag searches are in place, an activity that goes totally against the laid back ethos of lido life. It’s a shame the same level of security isn’t in place to keep away genuine trouble makers from the lido.

With the head nod / shake game over, I mounted the Moulton and pondered yet another morning of misery down at Brixton Rec. Back in SW9 and the morning swim lived up to the low expectations I had placed upon it.

Timing my birthday suit moment to coincide with the weekly swim from the lovely kids in one of the schools I work in didn’t help my cause. The appearance of the legendary Nostril Man - the swimmer who empties the contents of his nose after each length in the same style as a Premier League footballer - only added to my indoor indisposition.

It has got to the stage now where the policy of pimping out public pools to two private contractors is actually starting to pay off for me. With a Fusion lido membership and a GLL Swim London membership for Brixton, at least I’ve got all bases covered when it comes to finding somewhere to swim in Lambeth each morning.

Meanwhile, the lovely lido continues the slow decline of trust between users and management. It is testing the levels of human patience to conjure up any feelings of contempt associated with such an amazing community facility. Fusion’s poor corporate management of the project is sadly pushing many lido lovers to feel frustration towards the future of the facility.

With the clock counting down on the autumn report being rolled out by @Lambeth_Labour the Citizen’s Commission on the merits of #lambethcoop, more derails have emerged, via the co-op friendly Co-operative News website.

Paul Gosling doesn’t get off to a good start when he states that:

“Lambeth Council has also become the first ever declared co-operative council.”

Cripes.

Has it really? When did this happen? Were the residents, um, y’know, consulted? Plans are indeed in place to pass the buck by @cllrstevereed and his Nu Labour cronies on to the citizens of the borough. Cuts are a nasty word and someone, preferably not a politician, has to carry out the responsibility.

This is confirmed in the article by @cllrstevereed, when he states:

“As the borough withdraws from directly providing some services, the community will decide what services it wants and how citizens will work together to commission and provide these.”

Looks like we’ve been left to hang out to dry here.

For all the talk in recent weeks regarding the mutualisation of local services, Gosling in bang on the money when he recognises:

“Privatisation is not a word mentioned in the report, but in practice what is meant is that this will happen.”

So yep, as the #lambethcoop is just another method for Nu Labour to continue to carve up public services for its big business pals. Citizen involvement is to be left at the beck and call of private capital.

How can @LambethLabour carry out a further shift towards the right, whilst somehow dressing up the disguise as an exercise to benefit local democracy? Did someone say *shhh* Citizen’s Commission?

Not quite…

“A starting point in terms of the actual transfer to different models of provision is now underway in Lambeth through a Co-operative Council Commission, which is being established. This will consist of six members — three councillors and three residents — plus critical friends with a Co-op background to advise them.”

Note the change in terminology here. The much-mocked Citizen’s Commission is now referred to in the article as a Co-operative Council Commission, a point which I made to the fine @SophiaLooney during our @audioboo catch up this week.

The change in name is significant - it recognises that citizens of the borough have no real power in deciding which private capital comes in to take over our services. It is unclear from Gosling’s statement if the “critical friends” are critical in terms of holding the Commission to account, or critical as a means of propping up the whole sham.

And as for the feedback so far, according to @cllrstevereed?

Cllr Reed told the News that initial responses to the proposals have been very positive. “It’s good,” he says. “You get one or two bloggers who are cynical, but most ordinary people who have spoken to me are interested and want to know what it means for them and for services. The citizens who are most involved are the most keen.”

Ouch.

Set up a Citizen’s Commission containing three high ranking members of the @LambethLabour cabinet, exclude any citizen involvement and then stage a closed door meeting of the Commission where the minutes are still yet to be made public, and yep, one or two cynical bloggers may just become rather weary of the lack of transparency.

Add in the continued failure of the local politicians to engage with the citizens, leaving it to council officers to explain the political policy behind #lambethcoop, and you are left with a poorly thought out political process.

Meanwhile I hope that: “Another example is a community group that wants to convert a library into an arts and crafts centre,” isn’t a convenient opportunity for @lambeth_council to justify closing public libraries in the borough.

And so as ever - cuts are coming. We knew this some twelve months ago. The role of any local authority is to manage these and fight back against the ConDem policy.

Shifting accountability and responsibility on to residents is simply a cop out. Allowing big business to come into our borough to clean up is the kick in the teeth that we have come to expect from Nu Labour in Lambeth.

Yours sincerely

A cynical blogger.