If it’s a Wednesday morning at the Oval, then it must mean that it’s time to be #lambethcoop *shhh* consulted.
Cripes.
The #lambethcoop road show (aka the bonkers bloke on a bike with a #lambethcoop advertising banner) was heading my #hyperlocal way on Wednesday morning.
Stop sniggering – this was a genuine chance to actually speak with council officers, all about the proposed #lambethcoop PR job that our friends from @LambethLabour seem set on rolling out, with or without any citizen consent.
Positioned just outside the Oval tube, the bonkers bloke on a bike guided me towards a small stand of velco style boards. A friendly chap with a clipboard picked up on my #hyperlocal interest, and the co-operative consultation started.
I later found out that the friendly chap was none other than Julian Ellerby, the Director of Campaigns and Communications for @lambeth_council; Julian later found out that I was the blogger who has been adding helpful posts to the #lambethcoop Facebook page, thanks to a giveaway greeting of “HELLO JASON COBB!!!!!” from the fine @SophiaLooney, the Director of Equality, Policy and Performance @lambeth_council.
So yeah – rumbled, but this #lambethcoop open dialogue is most definitely not about hiding away behind some anonymous online comments.
What followed was a half-decent, half-hour exchange of ideas with Julian. As @SophiaLooney had promised in our earlier podcast – absolutely everything is up for grabs with #lambethcoop.
Julian had mapped out on the velco board all areas of public provision that you would expect from a local authority. The task for any passing SE11 citizen was to prioritise these in a classic venn diagram model, to see which areas can fall into the layers of public, voluntary and private provision.
Hang on – private provision?
Yep – ‘fraid so. The man from the council was keen to explore ideas about how far citizens want to see their public services pimped out to private capital. And so yeah, everything is literally up for grabs, and as suspected all along, #lambethcoop has the scope to serve as yet another glorified trade fair for our friends from @LambethLabour and them chums in big business.
I found the exercise useful as a mental way to map out my thoughts. I conceded that some forms of private provision might be acceptable, as long as @LambethLabour doesn’t view this as an opportunity to continue to run riot with its right wing free market, free for all, throughout the rotten borough.
We talked about refuse, and the disturbing case of Veoila Environmental Management, the private company that @cllrstevereed cut a deal with to pimp out the cleaning of our streets in South London.
Julian confirmed that Veoila still doesn’t pay it’s employees a London Living Wage, a disgraceful lack of accountability for a local authority, allowing a vital public service to be left high and dry and at the mercy of the free market.
“It should be put in the contract,” admitted Julian, as I placed the Refuse velcro sign firmly back in the public sphere.
Rejecting the folly of the free market, Julian was then keen to explore my thoughts regarding the voluntary sector. I still felt that this was just another opportunity for local politicians to become less accountable, although simultaneously recognising that the council can gain by working alongside the wealth of experience.
“Battersea Dogs Home is always going to be doing better than us – this is a relationship we should be having,” argued Julian. I tended to agree. But housing? Education? Health?
We moved on to consider social care provision for the elderly and vulnerable:
“This is a huge area of investment for a local authority – it is hugely expensive. I get very nervous about sourcing this out,” commented Julian. I hope that @LambethLabour shares this anxiety in the brave new world of everything being up for grabs.
Julian finally tried to sell me the #lambethcoop idea in terms of a #hyperlocal model argument. He stated that many people feel detached from what takes place within Lambeth Town Hall, and they fail to see how it represents their own local patch.
I suggested in return that this is a huge criticism of the restrictive cabinet form of local government that we have to suffer here in Lambeth, having three local ward Councillors is supposed to encourage a feeling of local engagement.
The reality is of course one or two all conquering, all powerful local politicians making the decisions on behalf of the wards, who then bow down like sheep, such is the power of the cabinet here in Lambeth.
Any local politician that dares to question the direction of the ruling party finds himself or herself cast aside, as has been the case with Councillor Abrams over in Vassal ward.
Our half hour conversation kept on coming back to accountability. Accountability for Academies schools, accountability for Lambeth Living and yes – accountability for closing leisure centres.
The leisure agenda in particular provided a very decent debate with Julian. He was prying my opinions, to see if leisure is a service that a public local authority should be responsible in providing. At the centre of this was the Streatham Question: should the council be accountable for providing an ice rink?
In absolute terms, then the answer has to be no. It is unreasonable for any local authority to be expected to be able to offer ice-skating. As I mentioned to Julian however, the big business form of co-operation that the Labour led @lambeth_council has set up with it’s multi-national chums had only added to the confusion.
In a classic @LambethLabour stitch up of you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, Tesco was granted planning permission for a massive new superstore, in return for the “continuity of ice” clause, that essentially means that the supermarket has to also build an ice rink for @lambeth_council.
It is this clouded vision of the #lambethcoop model that leads to cynicism. Who are the council’s co-operative partners? Citizens or big business? If private capital is allowed to be invited into the co-operative process, then all accountability is soon lost.
We can kick out local politicians that we don’t like, but removing big business from controlling our community is something very different altogether. Once the co-operation between council and private capital shows signs of weakening, as is the case with Streatham Hub, then all accountability is removed from politicians, leaving citizens stranded on the sideline.
True accountability over the mess that is Streatham Hub can only be achieved at events such as @ChukaUmmuna‘s People’s Question Time, taking place at Dunraven School on the evening of 22nd July. The local MP has invited cabinet members to answer direct questions from local residents about their concerns over the stalled project.
This is how local democracy works. We empower (and pay) politicians to make decisions on our behalf. Hopefully they get this right. If they don’t, then we get the chance to kick them out at the ballot box.
Offering civic co-operation with a big business isn’t democratic. It is a political model that is open to corruption, with all power being transferred over to private capital.
I finished off my chat by turning the tables around and consulting Julian:
“Are you a member of the Citizen’s Commission?”
The much-delayed publishing of the minutes for the first meeting of the Citizen’s Commission back in May, would seem to suggest that Julian sits on the Commission as one of the three as yet identified ‘citizens.’
“Me? No – I don’t sit on it. I support it and produce some of the material.”
Ah – I see. I turned instead to the good @SophiaLooney, who was as helpful as ever in helping to clear up the confused #lambethcoop policy so far put out by the local politicians.
What has happened to the three local residents that have been invited to sit on the Citizen’s Commission alongside the three high-ranking members of the @LambethLabour cabinet?
“We’re waiting for the three residents who have been invited to join the Citizen’s Commission to reply. We are hopeful of making an announcement later this week.”
I asked Sophia who actually decided which residents would be invited on to the Commission? Was it democratic? Did a vote take place?
“The Citizen’s Commission decided who to invite.”
Mmm – curious. What of the many people who have emailed in, asking to join the Citizen’s Commission? Was their name put forward for consideration?
“No. We are hopeful of holding a public meeting where citizens may be given the opportunity to comment.”
Which is all once again, incredibly, incredibly frustrating. It’s all about the semantics you see. The Citizen’s Commission is not a Citizen’s Commission – it is an elite bunch of @LambethLabour cabinet members, who have cherry picked three preferred residents to sit at a place at the top table. In a borough, which boasts more than 260,000 citizens, this is highly un-representative.
I would feel far more positive about the Citizen’s Commission and its work, if it would just drop the farce of the name. It is a sub-group of the @Lambeth Labour cabinet, and as such, any work related to the Commission should be viewed with the same merit that you may, or may not, view the operations of the @LambethLabour cabinet.
The bonkers bloke on a bike road shows such as the Oval event earlier today was really rather ace. I got to put forward my view on the folly that is #lambethcoop, and there was a genuine sense that my views were listened to and logged.
Similar events are planned around the borough, plus the there will be plenty of #lambethcoop representation at the Lambeth Country Show over the weekend of the 17th and 18th July. This at least shows some will on behalf of the likes of Julian Ellerby and @SophiaLooney to listen to citizens, even if the local politicians appear to be taking a public back seat.
But still the secrecy of the Citizen’s Commission persists. Why is this? Until this question can be answered, then there is little opportunity or optimism for citizen’s to play a genuine role in this brave new world of Lambeth co-operative politics.
We didn’t even get to talk about finances, although I later noted back at base a leaflet that was handed to me, stating:
“Local government faces huge challenges in the next decade caused by the international recession and councils acorss the country are investigating ways they can meet these financial challenges.”
I’m not normally one to turn towards Ed Balls for political salvation, but the Co-operative MP and former Labour party cabinet memberber told me only last week:
“I don’t think it’s a way to save money to be honest. Cutting corners is not what a co-operative council is about. Does being a co-operator save money in public services? I’m not sure that it will. I think that it might actually encourage us to spend more money for local people.”
#lambethcoop remains a PR farce, albeit with some very dedicated and approachable local council officers, who are trying to sell the passing of political responsibility on behalf of the politicians we elected less than three months ago.
And so yeah – consulted. I hope the politicians are actually listening to the citizens.
