Skip to main content

Southwark's housing failure 'red flagged' by Audit Commission


Gavin and I spent today delivering our local newsletters. The lead story is on housing and sets out Labour's action plan to tackle the terrible state of social housing following seven and a half years of neglect by the Lib Dems and Tories running Southwark Council.

The council’s failure to improve social housing was singled out by the Audit Commission this week. Southwark is one of only two councils in London to receive a ‘red flag’ for its housing services, which means that housing problems are “not being tackled adequately”

Yet the response from the Lib Dem Council Leader Nick Stanton was out of touch with reality - he has failed to acknowledge that the council has been reprimanded by the Audit Commission in any of his statements to the local press.

We've picked up lots casework from Peckham Rye residents living in social housing in recent months but one sticks in mind as particularly upsetting.

A few weeks ago I met a young man who had been housed by Southwark because he's considered to be vulnerable. We had a really nice chat about a whole host of things and he told me about how he struggled with feelings of isolation. We also spoke about the state of his flat which had bad damp and generally needed redecoration. I've since raised these problems with Southwark and I'll be pestering until they take action. However what's particularly sad is that Southwark housed a vulnerable person in such a badly maintained flat in the first place. As we talked it became clear that this young guy didn't know where to start to get the work done and he really needed some support - why on earth didn't Southwark realise this when they housed him?

It's not good enough Southwark and as long as the Lib Dem Council leader Nick Stanton keeps failing to acknowledge the crisis in housing I fear that many, many more people are going to continue to suffer.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Know Your Ryes!

A few weeks ago I was in a meeting with some local residents and council officers. During the meeting one person started referring to Rye Lane, when in fact they meant Peckham Rye East. Later on another started talking about Peckham Rye Common and it took us a little while to work out that they really meant Peckham Rye Park.   You can't really blame people for getting a little confused. There are so many references to "Rye" in our little bit of South London that even the locals can get mixed up. So I thought I'd have a go at writing a little glossary of all the Ryes hereabout.  Clearly I'm making a rod for my own back here, so please point out any errors I've made in the comments box below.  Anyway, here are my definitions of the ubiquitous Ryes. Some serious, some not so serious, and in no particular order: Peckham Rye Ward - The council ward area. Peckham Rye Ward was created out of Rye Ward, Waverley Ward and Bellenden Ward following the Local

Lib Dems claim they're not in charge in Peckham Rye

(A tweet from the Peckham Rye Lib Dems) Peckham Rye Lib Dems are now claiming that Labour 'run' Peckham Rye (take a look above). When asked by a local resident "Am I right in thinking Lib Dems run Southwark but Labour run Peckham Rye?", a Peckham Rye Lib Dem candiate replied, "Yes you're right. For the next three months Lab run Peckham Rye. Then we take over..." Given that, just like every other area in Southwark, Peckham Rye is run by the Lib Dem-Tory Executive it seems this is just the latest in a string of attempts to mislead people into thinking they've got nothing to do with Southwark's failures. Of course, Peckham Rye does have three Labour councillors, who do a great job of representing our area and our concerns at the Town Hall. However this is very different from 'running' Peckham Rye. If only we could just opt out of the Lib Dem chaos! In truth, the policy levers and almost all the money spent by the council are under the cont

Peckham Rye Adventure Playground: protected

As local residents will know, Southwark Council has suffered as a result of unprecedented cuts Government funding since 2010.  The council has had a third of its funding cut. As  a result  of these deep cuts, the council has been forced to consider reduc ing   adventure  play services.  This could have meant that Peckham Rye Adventure Playground, while keeping its weekend sessions, might have lost of its four after-school sessions . Many local people spoke to us about this issue and Renata, Victoria and I  were committed to using our local devolved budget to protect the hours to ensure the reduction would have been avoided. I’m very pleased to tell you that, at last night’s budget setting meeting, w e managed to secure a commitment that Peckham Rye Adventure Playground will see no change in opening hours.  We are now taking a look at how the hours are structured to see if it would be possible to open up the playground to more people over the whole of the weekend.  Watch thi