Southwark Council is causing itself “much reputational harm” by refusing to publish a key report about the regeneration of the Heygate, a senior Liberal Democrat councillor has said. The dispute over the papers is currently being considered at a Tribunal hearing, with Southwark Council fighting a previous legal ruling that the project’s financial ‘viability’ report […]

Dear residents As your local Liberal Democrat team we are here to act on the side of residents. You may have heard that the council is looking at various sites to build new council homes. We absolutely agree that we need new council homes in our communities. It is great that changes in government rules […]

Southwark Council should give up its fight to keep details about the financial viability of the Heygate estate secret, Liberal Democrat councillors have said. A ruling by the Information Commissioner has demanded the council discloses ‘viability assessment’ documents relating the site, after a long battle to keep the information hidden from housing campaigners. A Freedom […]

A cross-party committee of Southwark councillors will be examining what went wrong with the botched refurbishment of Draper House. Work on the tower block at Elephant was halted after a gas leak left a resident in hospital. Repairs contractor Breyer has now had its contract with Southwark Council “concluded”. Now the council’s Housing, Environment, Transport and Community […]

An opposition councillor has hit out at “Labour party control freaks” after being stopped from visiting repairs contractors in Southwark Council’s housing department. Leader of the Lib Dem group, Councillor Anood Al-Samerai, was due to spend a day with Southwark Building Services contractors to look at the repairs service in more detail. However, with less […]

Council tenants in Southwark would see their rent CUT under new plans put forward by Liberal Democrats. The opposition group has put forward proposals to reduce rents by 1% in all council-owned homes in the borough, in contrast to the 4.85% increase being added by the Labour administration – a saving of £285 per year […]

Opposition councillors in Southwark have slammed the council’s “shambolic” housing department and called for an urgent review of how it is being run. Waiting times have soared at the council’s repairs call centre, according to figures obtained by local Lib Dems, going from 1-2 minutes earlier in the year up to almost 8 minutes in […]

Local Liberal Democrats have said they will continue to fight for more affordable homes at the Heygate regeneration site following approval of controversial plans by Southwark Council last night. A meeting of the council’s planning committee passed the outline Heygate masterplan last night (Tue) at a packed public meeting, despite heavy criticism from the three […]

The debate about affordable housing at the Elephant & Castle rolls on, with more discussion in local media every week. So we thought it might be a good time to outline the key facts about the scheme, and what the Liberal Democrats are campaigning for. What’s the issue? Quite simply: too few affordable homes. Labour […]

The Labour group in Southwark has admitted the number of council homes in the borough may reduce under their administration, despite a previous pledge to build more homes. Under scrutiny from opposition councillors at last night’s full council, the leader of the Labour group confessed he could not guarantee more homes would be built on […]