Below are the links for the South London Press coverage of our photo op with Vivienne Westwood, Kate Hoey, Mark Thomas and Maggi Hambling, including the original article of 7th March and the letters of 14th March.
Link to piece of 7th March here:
SLP
Link to letters page of 14th March here:
SLP letters 140314
The article highlights a number of key issues:
Lambeth again say money from the sale of co-op homes will be spent on new housing but they have no proof of this (remember they have ruled Freedom of Information requests on this as ‘vexatious’).
It’s important to remember that Lambeth Council never wanted us as tenants which is how the self-funding nature of co-ops came about (see: http://www.lambethunitedhousingco-op.org.uk/?page_id=828)
We have offered a Super Co-op social housing plan to the council on several occasions, versions of which would mean residents pay a social rent but would carry on with their own repairs, meaning that they were adding to the housing pot at one end and not taking away from it at the other. Given this, how Cllr Robbins can say that it would cost the council to keep us in our homes? As Kate Hoey says in the piece, however, there should be the option to become full council tenants on the table too.
Cllr Robbins mentions that some of the houses are English Heritage listed. It is only because of the actions of, first, the Clapham Society (members of which have supported our Super Co-op plan), and, then the co-ops themselves, that these houses are still standing at all and – even our own Labour councillors have recognised this (http://www.lambethunitedhousingco-op.org.uk/?page_id=433)
Moreover, the developers who have bought ex co-op houses have stripped original features from them despite repeated pleas from housing co-op residents who remain!
As far as Pete Robbins denigrating the support of our friend and neighbour, Vivienne Westwood, this is beneath even him.Vivienne Westwood, Maggi Hambling and Mark Thomas were all present as neighbours and friends, and as people who have genuine concerns about the community. Vivienne has been in the Old Town for many years, and all of these people have a right to speak up for their neighbours. It is also gross hypocrisy that the Labour Party can lecture anyone about celebrity friends. Both nationally and locally, the Labour Party use celebrity endorsements and so they have no right to deride local community groups for the company they keep!
When will Lambeth Council and Pete Robbins, currently the subject of a bitter deselection battle, learn to drop the spin and the churlish rhetoric and engage with long-term residents?
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- News
- 2nd FOI ruled vexatious!
- Actress Doon Mackichan blasts Lambeth Council over evictions
- Another Denied FOI request by Lambeth 23/12/13
- Betrayed by Clapham Town councillors
- Briefing to Labour MPs of 08/10/13
- Charmain Lodge Eviction
- Clapham’s Council Surgeries – shortest in Lambeth!
- Cllr Matt Bennett asks his Labour colleagues not to contact us!
- Complaint to Co-op Party – 1 year on!
- Correspondence with Lambeth Council over Super Co-op
- Don’t Evict Maritza – Stop Selling Social Housing
- Email correspondence with Lib Peck after ‘Meet the Leader’
- Email to councillors after May 2014 local elections
- Email to Ed Miliband, 05/12/13
- FOI non-answer from Lambeth Council 05/12/13
- How Lambeth Labour spun Natalie Bennett’s illness to help Chuka Umunna
- Labour Lambeth in chaos – July 2014
- Lambeth & Labour: your voice will not be heard!
- Lambeth Spend over £1.3m on Legal Fees
- Lambeth United Housing Co-operative – statement on eviction 05/04/13
- Lambeth’s Housing Commission sham
- Lambeth’s new houses – a poor effort built on misery
- Lambeth’s Sheltered Housing Evictions – What Next?
- Latest Lambeth briefing & LUHC counter briefing May 2014
- Lib Peck ‘Meet the Leader’ Press Release for 24/10/13 Demo
- Lib Peck letter
- Open letter to Tom Copley, Labour’s GLA Housing spokesman
- Our submission to the Lyons Housing Review
- Part answered FOI on monies & use
- Press release for trial of Maritza Tschepp 03/10/13
- Reply from Emma Reynolds MP, shadow housing minister
- Response to Cllr Robbins’ ‘shortlife’ briefing, March 2013
- Shortlife
- Stoke Council v Lambeth Council
- The Co-op Council that never was
- The ugly truth of Lambeth’s social cleansing
- ‘Shortlife’ evictions briefing 07/05/13
- Lambeth whitewash Super Co-op meeting, 30/01/13
- Deputation to Full Council Meeting 21/11/12
- Kate Hoey’s speech in the House of Commons
- LUHC: ‘The Super Co-op’ July 2012 Draft
- Housing minister response
- LUHC Response to Council Officers
- Deputation 27/03/12 at Lambeth Town Hall
- Events
- 05/03/14 PHOTO OP with VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, MARK THOMAS, KATE HOEY MP and MAGGI HAMBLING
- Campaigners vow to block Labour council’s housing co-op evictions
- Demo 29/01/14
- Emails to Lambeth councillors about the eviction of Trace
- Eviction of Mr Green & Lambeth’s record on ‘shortlife’
- Labour Lambeth’s social cleansing bill nears £2m but council shut out scrutiny.
- Lambeth’s money drain…
- Lambeth, Shambeth
- More ‘vexatious’ FOI requests!
- Spectacle’s blog on Rectory Gardens Housing Community
- The Shambeth Walk
- Trace Newton’s response to Cllr Matthew Bennett’s briefing to Labour councillors
- Petition
- Super Co-op
- History
- 40 years of ‘Shortlife': a quick chronology
- BBC London Inside Out
- Costs of housing co-op evictions
- Ed Miliband’s silence
- Email to Cllr Chris Wellbelove
- Housing Co-ops: What Labour said…and then did…
- Housing numbers in Lambeth since 2006
- Lambeth Council’s record on repairs
- Leaflets from Labour Councillors
- Negotiations with Lambeth
- Oh the irony..
- Permanency & Rent
- Railton Road – a ‘shortlife’ success story
- The ‘Shortlife’ scandal in quotes
- Useful ‘Starter Kit’ Briefing
- Our Supporters
- Press
- BBC London News
- BBC London Vanessa Feltz
- Evening Standard
- Human cost of evictions
- New Statesman, January 2014
- Press cuttings & links
- Private Eye pieces
- Response to Cllr Peter Robbins’ letter in the South London Press, Feb 2013
- South London Press 12/04/13
- South London Press 7th & 14th March 2014
- South London Press article 190413 – PDF link
- South London Press Letter & Feature 190413
- South London Press report on Trace’s eviction resistance 280415
- South London Press, 08/02/13
- South London Press, 09/07/13
- South London Press, letter, 11/01/13
- South London Press, letter, 19/04/13
- The Guardian Dec 2, 2013
- Contact
Don’t be silly you should never expect Lambeth Labour to enage in any meaningful way with their constituents. We are there to to be told what we want and only offered a choice of apples or pears when we really want bananas. It’s the Labour way don’t you know. We are incapable of understanding the complexities of running a council to our own will.