Wednesday, February 13, 2008
LAMBETH PROGRESS
Some Lambeth improvements include:
- Lambeth's GCSE results are up for the tenth successive year and a £250 million BSF programme is bringing about extensive improvements for the borough's schools, including the opening of Elmgreen School in Norwood this year and Evelyn Grace Academy in Brixton next year.
- Lambeth has achieved a 24 per cent reduction in crime since 2003/4 - among the best results in London. Fear of crime has also been reduced.
- Lambeth's new customer centre in Brixton is now handling approximately 5,000 customers a week with customers waiting on average 18 minutes to be served. Previously customers for parking services waited more than 40 minutes and customers with benefit queries waited for over an hour.
- Independent researchers found that 83 per cent of the borough's streets were considered to be above a reasonable standard of cleanliness, putting Lambeth firmly in the top ten performing London boroughs.
- Vauxhall Park joined Milkwood Community Park in achieving prestigious 'Green Flag' status this year, singling them out as among the best open spaces in the country. The council hopes that even more parks will achieve Green flag status in the coming year.
- Brixton Recreation Centre became home to the biggest and best equipped gym especially for young people in the country, following a £2.85 million revamp.
- Lambeth Council's mobile library, or library on wheels, brings books out to the community and is a lifeline for many Lambeth residents, particularly those who find it hard to get out and about. The route the library takes was changed this year so that there is now a library stop within half a mile from every home in the borough, and more people can borrow from its comprehensive range of books, DVDs and tapes.
- Last year, Lambeth's libraries were named as one of five finalists in a national competition to find the libraries that offer the best services to young people.
- An Audit Commission report this year found that older people in Lambeth are more likely to live independently.
- Clapham town centre is set to benefit from a £75 million regeneration programme to transform leisure services. The area will become a state-of-the-art hub of modern, well designed eco-friendly buildings and facilities, including 40 per cent affordable housing.
- Plans to bring a new regional standard ice rink, swimming pool and leisure centre to Streatham are also on the cards, to include the replacement of existing outdated leisure facilities and provision of 250 new homes - 87 of which are earmarked for social housing.
- The housing benefits service has moved from one of the lowest performing to highest performing teams, officially recognised by the Audit Commission as three stars in December 2006. The service now has a fast turnaround on claims and has saved £1million in running costs
- Lambeth has established an innovative partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service, to combat fraud. During 2006/07, as a result of the Benefits Investigations team's work, Lambeth recovered 35 properties, with estimated savings to Lambeth of £1,750,000 (Audit Commission estimate).
Published on 06 February 2008
Paul Reynolds
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