Your Priorities for Kennington & Vauxhall 2014-18

As you will be aware there will be local elections next May. As a result all councillors are looking at what we said we would do over the past four years and what we want to do over the coming four years.

We therefore wanted to take this opportunity to discover what your priorities are for Kennington & Vauxhall over 2014-18. It can be as small as fixing a pothole in a pavement or as big as the level of council tax you would like to see.

All ideas are welcome! To give you an idea, please see the manifesto Steve, Lorna and Mark stood on in 2010. Do you think we kept all our promises? Is there anything we could have done better?

If you can respond by emailing Steve before the end of the year that would be helpful. Steve, Lorna and Mark will then take your suggestions to council officers and our new candidates David, Chris and Joanne to see how we can make them a reality.

Pictured: Mark, Lorna and Steve campaigning in 2010 with local resident Jon

Your Labour candidates for 2014

Our local Labour Party have just selected two of our candidates for the 2014 elections in Kennington & Vauxhall. The final one will be selected in the autumn.


They are:

Chris Marsh
@Chrismarshse11

Chris has lived in North Lambeth for 20 years, and became a tenant on the Vauxhall Gardens estate nearly 4 years ago. He has worked extensively in the local community as a Bar Manager, and then for Centrepoint in a hostel for homeless young people.  He currently works for another London Council managing their team of Neighbourhood Wardens. Chris is keen to represent his community to help ensure we all benefit from the exciting developments like the Damien Hirst Gallery and the Nine Elms development coming to Prince's Ward and the surrounding area. For him the diverse mix of people that live harmoniously in Prince's ward is what makes the area so special. Chris intends to continue the hard work of Steve, Mark and Lorna, in ensuring our wishes and concerns as residents, are always taken into consideration.


Jo Simpson
@JSimpsonLambeth

Jo has lived in the area for four years. An active member of the Lambeth Labour Party, she has a strong record as a campaigner and enjoys meeting people on the doorstep. Together with her co-candidates, Jo has promised to make sure every door in the ward is knocked on between now and May 2014, to build on the hard work undertaken by Mark, Steve and Lorna. She has almost seven years' experience working as a Caseworker for Labour MPs and taking up concerns of local people. Jo is passionate about giving community groups a say and will work to support residents associations such as Vauxhall Garden Estate and organisations like Friends of Kennington Park in their objectives that benefit the community. Jo’s main interest is housing and she is committed to fighting for a fair deal from developers and ensuring Prince’s gets the affordable housing it needs. She is also a keen cyclist and pledges to work together with Council officers, TfL and the London Mayor to not only improve cycling routes, but to tackle problem spots such as the Vauxhall Gyratory and ensure that transport improvements are secured for pedestrians, bus users and pedestrians alike.



You will notice that Steve, Mark and Lorna’s names do not appear above and that is because we have all decided to retire!

Lorna and Steve both stood in the 2002 elections and lost! And then again in the 2006 elections and won! Mark stood in a by election in 2009 and won. All we all were kindly re-elected by you in 2010.

We will have been councillors for a number of years and we all felt it time to let someone else have the chance to represent such a wonderful community.

However, rest assured that we shall remain your councillors until Election Day on Thursday 22 May 2014. So you will still get emails from us, see us at meetings, see us at events and see us at our advice surgeries.

We shall then hand over to whoever you decide to represent you for the next four years.


Pictured: Jo Simpson, Tim from Alford House Youth Club, Chris Marsh

Happy New Year from Steve, Lorna and Mark

Local Labour councillors Steve Morgan, Lorna Campbell and Mark Harrison would like to wish all residents of Prince's ward a very happy 2013.

Please feel free to contact us if you need our help over the year:

srmorgan@lambeth.gov.uk
lcampbell@lambeth.gov.uk
mharrison@lambeth.gov.uk

Beaufoy Institute planning approval unlocks investment for our area

On Tuesday evening Lambeth's Planning Committee approved two applications for the Beaufoy Institute site, between Black Prince Road and Sancroft Street.

The first application was from Diamond Way Buddhism, who plan to restore the historic building and use it as a Buddhist community centre with accommodation, a cafe and a contemplation garden.

The second application was from Bellway Homes, who plan to build a residential building of 75 homes on the car park to the rear of the Beaufoy Institute site.

The approval of the schemes completes a agreement made with the Council which releases a disused site for development, provides £7.5 million to the Council to invest in vital capital works (schools, housing and pavements), provides £1.5 million to Beaufoy Trust so it can fund work to help young people get into work, and provides 75 much needed homes, 40% of which will be affordable.

Local councillors have also negotiated a £200 000 'community pot' for our area, funded by this sale and development. We'll be consulting with residents over the coming weeks to decide how the money should be spent for maximum benefit.

Councillor Stephen Morgan spoke in favour of the applications at the planning meeting, and all three ward councillors supported the project as the best deal possible for our area. The site has sat empty for years, and we are delighted that the Beaufoy is finally going to be brought back into use.

Council Leader sees Vauxhall Five's new windows for himself

Leader of Lambeth Council Steve Reed was shown round SE11 by local councillors Mark Harrison and Steve Morgan last week.

They took him to the Vauxhall Five Estate to celebrate the work taking place to transform residents' homes.

After decades of neglect, the blocks are having new windows, roofs, and concrete repairs, as part of a multimillion refurbishment.

Residents have campaigned for new windows for many years - the previous windows were over 60 years old and left people's homes draughty and cold. Local councillors and Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey supported the residents campaign and persuaded the Council to put the Estate at the top of Lambeth's housing capital programme.

Cllr Mark Harrison said 'it was great to be able to show Steve Reed the results of years of campaigning and lobbying - the new windows are already making residents' homes warmer and cheaper to heat.'

Planning update

Apologies for the lack of blog posts over the past month - Cllr Steve Morgan has been keeping residents up to date with planning and licensing news via email. If you haven't done so already, please sign up to his occasional emails by sending him a quick email request.

Two important pieces of planning news from the past month are:

The Pathways project at St Anselm's Church has been given planning permission.

This scheme will transform the church into a community hub for several activities - including a restaurant, new hall, after school tuition, and accommodation. You can read the planning committee report here, and minutes from the meeting here.

The scheme had a lot of support from many residents in Kennington, but was opposed by residents living close by in Sancroft Street and Cardigan Street. After careful consideration local councillors decided to support the scheme because of the increase in positive activity it will bring to Kennington Cross.

A developer is holding a consultation about redeveloping Eastbury House on the Albert Embankment.

Eastbury House is one of the postwar office blocks on the Albert Embankment. Developers have a consultation website setting out their proposal to replace it with a 28 storey mixed use tower.

£1000 for Broadgates Court after contractor disturbs residents' Sunday

Following complaint from residents, Councillor Steve Morgan has secured £1000 from Lambeth Living contractor Mears, for carrying out work to an empty flat on a Sunday.

Faced with legal action and a possible fine Mears decided to donate £1000 to the local residents' association for disturbing so many people.

If you notice anyone carrying out noisy work in the evening or on a Sunday than call the noise team on 020 7926 6111 - you never know what the result might be!

Planning Committee see Whitgift Estate's concerns for themselves

On Saturday morning members of Lambeth's Planning Committee made a site visit to the Fire Brigade HQ and associated buildings which are the subject of a major planning application. Dozens of concerned local residents joined the visit to make their objections to the scheme known.

Residents of Whitgift House showed how the proposed new residential slab blocks would overshadow their building, depriving it of almost all daylight during the winter months. The Friends of Lambeth High Street Recreation Ground explained how shadowing from the new buildings would affect plant and tree growth, and make the new play fountain prone to moss growth. And local councillors Steve Morgan and Mark Harrison explained how putting all the social housing for the scheme into a building on the other side of the railway tracks would contribute to social segregation in the area, and not create a mixed and balanced community.


The application is due to go to the Planning Committee tomorrow evening.


Pictured: participants in the site visit look across to the Whitgift Street site from the back of the Fire Brigade HQ.

Kennington fete

Sunday saw another highly successful Kennington fete, organised by the Kennington Association and opened by Kate Hoey MP.

Prince's councillor Stephen Morgan went along and spoke to residents about issues of concern, including the Northern line extension, St Anselm's Church's planning application, the Council's plans to sell the Shelley site, and 'free school' proposals for the area.

2011 Community Coffee Morning announced!

Local Labour councillors have announced the third annual SE11 Community Coffee Morning, after successful events in 2008 and 2009.

Residents of Prince's ward are invited to a community coffee morning on Saturday 29 January, from 11am to 12:30pm, at St Anselm's Church Hall , Kennington Cross.

It will be a chance for residents to meet their neighbours and local councillors, and to discuss issues affecting the area. Kate Hoey MP, London Assembly Member Val Shawcross, and Leader of Lambeth Council Steve Reed will also be attending. (If you have an issue you which you want to discuss privately, it might be better to attend one of our surgeries.)

We hope to see many residents there!

Labour storms to victory in Lambeth

The Labour Party has won a dramatic victory in the local elections in Lambeth.

Labour has won 44 seats out of 63, a huge increase on last time.

In Prince's ward, Labour councillors Lorna Campbell, Mark Harrison and Steve Morgan won more than 2600 votes each, 1500 ahead of their nearest rivals.

And in neighbouring Oval ward Labour candidates Jane Edbrooke and Jack Hopkins caused a major upset by defeating the Lib Dems, who had held the ward since 1994. The Oval result came at 2:30am after a recount.

The Lib Dems only just held on in Bishops ward, and failed to gain seats in Vassall ward. Labour kept out the Tories in Clapham Town ward.

You can see all the results on Lambeth Council's website

Lorna, Mark and Steve would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who voted in Prince's ward.

The Council elections came a day after the general election results, in which Kate Hoey increased her majority in the Vauxhall constituency.

Pictured: Lorna Campbell at the count / Returning Officer Derrick Prentice announces the result of the Oval recount at 2:30am



FULL RESULT FOR PRINCE'S WARD

Mark Richard Harrison Labour 2847 17% Elected
Lorna Patricia Campbell Labour 2804 16% Elected
Stephen Richard Morgan Labour 2653 15% Elected
Gloria Gomez Canal Liberal Democrat 1371 8% Not elected
Sandra Joy Lawman Liberal Democrat 1343 8% Not elected
John Peter Munro Liberal Democrat 1246 7% Not elected
James Howard Bellis Conservative 1161 7% Not elected
Michael Charles Poole-Wilson Conservative 1083 6% Not elected
Richard Wayne Rajgopaul-Hicklin Conservative 1051 6% Not elected
Emily Alice Butterworth Green 644 4% Not elected
Joseph Healy Green 381 2% Not elected
Marcus John Letts Green 337 2% Not elected
John Dodds English Democrats 135 1% Not elected
Alfredo Cordal English Democrats 106 1% Not elected

Lorna, Mark and Steve nominated as Labour's candidates for Prince's ward

The Labour party in Prince's ward has officially nominated sitting councillors Lorna Campbell, Mark Harrison, and Stephen Morgan as candidates for election to Lambeth Council.

Lorna, Mark and Steve's election address is being delivered to homes across Kennington and Vauxhall. It details the work that Labour councillors have done in SE11 over the past four years, personal statements from the candidates, and details of Lambeth Labour's commitments to voters.

Voters should already have received manifestos from Lambeth Labour, and election addresses from Kate Hoey MP.

On Thursday 6 May voters will have four votes - one for Vauxhall's MP, and three for Prince's ward's councillors. We hope we can persuade you to lend all four votes to Labour.

Pictured: Labour's team for Prince's ward: Cllr Steve Morgan, Cllr Lorna Campbell, Kate Hoey MP, and Cllr Mark Harrison.

Is there a pothole in your street?

Dear Neighbours,

I received the following message from the council yesterday. Please get in touch with me if you have any potholes in your road and I shall ask the council to fill them in.

“Since the snow and ice of a few weeks ago, our roads are experiencing a large volume of potholes and other dangerous defects across the Borough. Transport & Highways are implementing a programme of works to eradicate the problem. Works have commenced in the Southern end of the Borough and we’ll start repairing all our Main Distributor Roads in the following Wards, Gipsy Hill, Knights Hill, Streatham Wells, St Leonards and Streatham South. Once completed, all the side roads will be looked at and repaired accordingly. As and when these Wards are completed, we will move on to Thurlow Park, Streatham Hill, Thornton, Tulse Hill, Brixton Hill and Clapham Common. Once completed we will move on to Ferndale, Clapham Town, Larkhall, Coldharbour and Herne Hill . Finally finishing with Vassall, Stockwell, Oval, Princes (Kennington & Vauxhall) and Bishops. A carriageway maintenance team will also be in all the wards not completed as well to deal with any dangerous defects and potholes.”

All the best

Steve

Cllr Stephen Morgan

Tel: 020 7820 6664

Mob: 07985 735 849

Email: srmorgan@lambeth.gov.uk

Pictured: this pothole in Gibson Road was sorted out when the road was resurfaced a couple of months ago.

Labour's team for Oval ward

The Labour party has selected its candidates for the Council in Oval ward, ahead of May's borough elections.


Karim Palant, Jane Edbrooke, and Jack Hopkins all live locally and have a track record of hard work campaigning for Labour. They've already got down to work in Oval ward, with regular campaigning sessions speaking to residents to find about issues and problems in the area. You can follow their campaign on their website .



In Prince's ward sitting councillors Lorna Campbell, Mark Harrison, and Steve Morgan will all be standing again. They are pictured with Kate Hoey MP.

The borough election is likely to be held on Thursday 6 May.


To check which ward you live in please visit the Lambeth website.

Busy Saturday in Prince's ward

Today was a busy day for Labour councillors in Prince's ward.

We started with a campaigning session on the Vauxhall Gardens Estate, visiting people in Edward House, Newburn House, and Dunmow House. Issues raised included the need for improved cleaning and refurbished kitchens.

At lunchtime we visited the White Hart Dock, on the Albert Embankment, for the opening of a new public art installation. There has been a dock on site for over 600 years, but it has sat virtually unnoticed behind high walls for decades. The art project uses a boat theme to draw attention to the dock, with large hull-shaped arches over the dock, boat sculptures with benches along the side, and boats floating within the dock itself. The opening ceremony is the culmination of several years of work from Lambeth Council and the artists who created it. It was funded by developers of new buildings along the riverside through 'Section 106' planning gain.

Finally we walked over to the Prince's East Residents' Association's street party in Oakden Street. The Association represents residents living in streets in the east of the ward - including Wincott Street, Reedworth Street, Oakden Street and Monkton Street. The Association have been working closely with the Olive School, which is a relatively new occupant of the school on Oakden Street and caters for children who have been unable to win a place in mainstream secondary schools in Lambeth. The street party was a big success - with a barbecue, stalls, and face-painting.

Pictured:

1) Lorna, Mark and Steve try out the bench at White Hart Dock

2) Face-painting at the Prince's East street party

Your chance to choose a new councillor

Dear Neighbour,

Our fellow councillor, Sam Townend, has decided to resign from the council. That means there will be a by-election on 4th June so you can elect a new councillor to represent you at the town hall.

Sam is stepping down as he is no longer able to devote enough time to represent local people to the best of his ability. Sam and his wife Tamara recently had a new baby, his job as a barrister has become busier, and he has also been selected to stand as an MP in Bristol. With all those new demands on his time, Sam feels it’s right to allow you to choose a new councillor who can commit the time necessary to represent you properly. The by-election will take place on the same day as the European elections so there will be minimal inconvenience and expense to voters and tax payers.

Steve Morgan and Lorna Campbell remain as two of your councillors, but on 4 June you have the chance to vote for a third councillor to work with us. We hope you will vote for the Labour candidate because that’s the only way to guarantee no return to the days of chaos, fraud and 40% council-tax hikes we all suffered when the Lib Dems ran Lambeth Council before 2006.

If you have any questions about the by-election on 4 June, or you need our help with any other council issue that is affecting you then please get in touch with us.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Lorna Campbell

Cllr Steve Morgan

All in a week's work for SE11 Labour

Last Saturday residents from the Ethelred and Whitgift estates met at Pory Hall for a coffee morning with councillors and Kate Hoey MP. It was a good chance for people to meet their neighbours and chat, discuss some of the problems both estates are facing, and an opportunity for Ethelred TMO board members to update councillors on efforts to get the Council to sort out the estate's CCTV and doors. There is some optimism that the new Lambeth Living Chief Executive is keen to sort the problem out, but there is a still disagreement about the service charge residents will be expected to pay.

On Monday the Vauxhall Gardens Estate Tenants and Residents Association met for the first time in a few months. Major works are underway across the estate, and there was concern that scaffolders are blocking streets and car parks, and that builders are not cleaning up after themselves properly. Mark Harrison offered Labour activists' assistance in taking round a petition against coaches parking on the streets around the estate at weekends, which has been causing a nuisance in the area for several years.

On Tuesday the Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall Forum held its quarterly public meeting at the Pedlars Acre Hall in Kennington. There was concern that pavements are being left in a poor state when street lighting is replaced. Complaints were raised against the lack of a review of the Kennington controlled parking sub zone, which Cllr Stephen Morgan promised to take up. There was an update on the Mayor of London's cycle hire scheme - Lambeth will be applying for planning permission for around 30 docking sites in the north of the Borough. John Kazantzis, Lambeth's Cabinet Member for Business, gave a overview of how Labour is trying to help small business in Lambeth through the recession. Finally, Stephen Morgan gave an update on plans for a craft school and museum on the Beaufoy Institute site in Black Prince Road, and plans for a community hub on the old Lilian Baylis School site. Both are progressing well, if slowly.

On the same evening Labour supporters joined members of the Portuguese community at the Casa Madeira restaurant on Albert Embankment for a fantastically-successful fundraising dinner. Leader of Lambeth Council Steve Reed, and London Assembly Member Val Shawcross both practised their Portuguese, to the pleasure and amusement of everybody there.

This week's Labour activity in SE11

On Tuesday evening Councillor Steve Morgan held a well-attended surgery at the Vauxhall Five Tenants' Hall. Residents of the five blocks met Steve to speak about issues they are facing with Lambeth Council. More people signed the petition asking the Council to bring forward badly-needed work to windows and concrete balconies.

On Wednesday morning Kate Hoey MP and Mark Harrison visited Denby Court sheltered housing for a coffee morning. Residents asked Kate to find out whether major works were planned for the buildings, which have had little work done to them since they were built in the early 1980s.

On Saturday the Kennington Association held their bazaar at St Anselm's Hall. The hall will also play host to a special fish and chip dinner on Monday 23rd, where Kate Hoey will welcome Frank Field MP as a guest of honour.

Black Prince Road tower rejected by councillors

On Wednesday Lambeth Council's planning committee rejected an application from developers to build a 23 storey tower on the site of 81 Black Prince Road.

One of the main reasons for the rejection was the effect the building would have on light levels for neighbouring buildings, particularly Blocks B and C at the back of 9 Albert Embankment. Councillors were also concerned that the building was too high and would create a sense of enclosure in the area.

Labour campaigners delivered a letter from Councillor Steve Morgan informing residents of the news. Steve said 'I'm pleased that residents' objections have been heard by the Planning Committee, and that a building that was clearly too high and too dense for the site will not be built. I'm looking forward to working with residents, the Council, and any future developers to ensure that the site is redeveloped in a way that we can all be satisfied with.'

Pictured: Action Team Member Mark Harrison with the letter delivered to local residents.

Newsletter delivered about proposed 'community hub'

Residents around the old Lilian Baylis School in Lollard Street should be receiving a newsletter this week about future plans for the site.

Lambeth Council, Kate Hoey MP, and Labour's Action Team are supporting plans by the Sports Action Zone, All Nations Church, and Ethelred Nursery, to create a community hub on the site.

You can read the newsletter here.

Pictured: Cllr Steve Morgan, Kate Hoey MP, Mark Harrison and Cllr Lorna Campbell at the old Lilian Baylis site.