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Construction works on a Lambeth estate are so loud tormented residents cannot hear each other over the dinner table, while their windows are vibrating from the constant drilling. Homes for Lambeth (HfL), the council’s wholly owned building company, is redeveloping South Lambeth Estate as part of its controversial ‘regeneration programme’. Most of the estate, except for the ten-storey Wimborne House, is set to be demolished to make way for 362 new homes. Phase 1 of the redevelopment, led by HfL, involves a block in the carpark in front of Wimbourne House, providing 30 homes, 18 at council rent. But residents say the works have been beset by a catalogue of errors, delays, and poor communication.
Lambeth Council is set to be investigated by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) over its handling of complaints. Last year changes to the service introduced a new complaint handling code, which set out “clear expectations” for landlords on handling housing complaints. They included a new power to issue a complaint handling failure order, where a landlord is failing to comply with its membership obligations. According to a new report from the HOS, set to be published quarterly, the purpose of the orders is “to ensure that a landlord’s complaint handling process is accessible, consistent and enables the timely progression of complaints for residents”.
Lambeth Council has loaned a further £5.5 million to its wholly-owned house building company, added to £5 million loaned last year. It comes as a progress report on Homes for Lambeth’s business plan for 2020-23, approved by cabinet on March 15, stated a lack of resident support was a “likely” risk to its regeneration programme. The council’s controversial programme, run by HfL, is focused on six estates, including Westbury, Knights Walk, South Lambeth, Central Hill, Cressingham Gardens, and Fenwick. The loaned money is expected to be paid back out of “project surpluses”, profit made from the new homes. But the Green opposition, who are against the demolition of the estates, have warned it is a risky strategy and HfL could end up like Croydon’s failing housing company Brick by Brick.
An extra £1.5 million is set to be added to the council tax support scheme for 2022/23, which is expected to reduce bills for 7,000 eligible households “with most of those seeing their bill reduced to nil”. At the council meeting the leader of the opposition, Green Cllr Jonathan Bartley, reiterated his concerns that the added support would not come into effect until 2022/23 and that the council plans to raise funds through enforcement. Cllr Andy Wilson, cabinet member for finance and performance, previously said there is a precedent for having to go through a long consultation before the extra support is introduced. But he said between now and the outcome of the consultation the council is putting forward funding to “essentially create the same amount of relief for residents as they would receive under the new council tax support scheme”.