Leader of the Council's blog - May 2008

3 May 2008 - Election of Boris Johnson

London has a new mayor, and I congratulate Boris Johnson on his victory. I would also like to thank Ken for his eight years at the helm. I believe Lambeth benefited from Ken's time in office with improvements in local public transport, policing, and work to protect our environment.

So what do the people of Lambeth need from the London Mayor? Lambeth is one of the most diverse places on earth. Our diversity is what people who live here most like about our borough. We need a London mayor who values that diversity. Our Council will make sure we continue to stand up for people of different backgrounds, for the vulnerable, and for hard working families who need London's mayor to keep working for a better London for everyone.

With Boris Johnson in charge we will now need to adapt to a new and very different City Hall. I will be laying down a challenge to Boris Johnson. Here in Lambeth, we want to see further investment to improve public transport, London-wide action against crime, and investment in more positive things for young people to do. We also want to hear that London's new mayor values and will promote our city's diversity. I know Lambeth will want to work with the mayor to find solutions to the problems we face in our borough and across our great city and I hope Boris Johnson will respond positively to that challenge.

12 May 2008 - Future of policing

The Government is due to issue a discussion paper on the future of policing this summer. I spent Monday in Salford with a group of senior councillors on the Safer Communities Board discussing what local government would like to see in the proposals.

I felt strongly that before we offer any solutions, we needed a clear view of what the problem is. There’s little point tinkering with structures just for the sake of it. Overall, crime is falling, as it has been for six years. But there’s been an increase in violent crime, particularly violent youth crime involving guns and gangs; and people’s fear of crime is higher than the level of actual crime. There’s also evidence to show that most people feel they have no power to influence policing in their area.

All that points to two priorities for me. First, we need to strengthen partnership working to tackle violent youth crime, as we’re doing in Lambeth with our ground-breaking violent youth crime strategy. That requires tougher action on the streets against drug dealers and those caught with dangerous weapons. It also demands new approaches to stop young people getting involved in violent gangs – by providing better youth services, parenting support for families that are struggling, advice and information through the schools, and training to get unemployed young people into work. Second, we need to look at giving local communities more power over policing in the neighbourhood where they live. That means panels of local people who can identify local crime-fighting priorities for their local police team, backed up with support from council services tackling the same issues. There was a strong view from the other councillors that there needs to be flexibility in the system. No single model will be suitable for different areas with different needs.

14 May 2008 - Local Area Agreements

Lambeth is one of twelve councils working with the Government to pilot a new model for delivering local services. The model – known as ‘Local Area Agreements’ (LAA) – aims to focus all service providers on the top priorities concerning local people, which differ from place to place. Here in Lambeth, people are worried about crime, and about violent youth crime in particular. That’s why our council has been leading the country in finding solutions to the problem of guns, gangs and knife crime that are on the increase in many inner city areas across the country.

This afternoon, I joined representatives from Manchester City Council, Westminster Council and a handful of other LAA pilot areas in a discussion with Local Government Minister John Healey MP. Lambeth’s police commander Sharon Rowe and I did a short presentation on the gang violence issues facing us in Lambeth and what we’re doing to tackle them. Central to this is our project – called ‘Young and Safe in Lambeth’ – that identified the causes behind some young people joining violent gangs and what we can do to prevent it. We’ve identified six areas to tackle. The first is tougher action against drug dealing and possession of weapons. The other five target the causes of violent crime, with more support for families that are struggling, more information and support through the schools, skills training on estates to get more young people into work, help for voluntary groups including faith groups to support young people, and improved youth facilities.

The discussion was lively and interesting. Manchester, in particular, have an approach that is similar to Lambeth’s but different enough for it to be worth linking up to explore what we can learn from each other. I offered to get in touch with the Leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese, so we can work together to find solutions to this growing national problem.

17 May 2008 - Lambeth Primary Schools Football League.

Lambeth Primary Schools Football League is an annual tournament involving 33 local primary schools. Run by husband-and-wife team Gary and Sally Cornford, the league runs matches almost every Saturday morning throughout the year, involving hundreds of boys and their parents in the kind of positive activity that councils should be promoting.

I visited the League at Rosendale Playing Fields on Saturday morning, and had the chance to speak to Gary about the work he’s leading there. I’d been invited along after Sally contacted me because she'd heard the Council was planning to start re-seeding work on the pitches before the league’s fixtures had been completed – effectively wrecking the season for everyone involved because the games couldn’t go ahead.

I was shocked, to put it mildly, that the Council was planning to do this and got straight on the phone to the council department responsible for the playing fields. It took just minutes to get the plans changed and the work postponed until after the league fixtures have been completed. Gary was delighted, but he made a further point that if the League was treated as a key partner in the management of the playing fields in future perhaps this kind of mistake could be avoided. I have asked the Council to make sure that’s exactly what happens.

20 May 2008 - London Councils Meeting

London Councils is the organisation that brings together all 33 borough councils in London. On Tuesday, I represented Lambeth at the Leaders Committee, sitting round a large oval table with the leaders of all the other councils.

The main item of interest at the Leaders Committee was a presentation by Sir Bob Kerslake, the incoming head of the newly created Homes and Communities Agency. The new Agency will be key to providing the 3 million extra homes the Government’s promised to help reduce overcrowding and provide more affordable housing. The Borough is also about to take another huge step forward when Lambeth Living shortly becomes operational. Lambeth Living is an organisation which will give residents real power in the running of their own homes. The creation of Lambeth Living will also mean that we can apply for up to £240 million to be invested in improving the Borough's homes.