Loughborough Junction Action Group – Get Involved!

The new Loughborough Junction Action Group is holding its next meeting on Monday 16 February at 8pm at the Harry Caddick Centre, 63 Lilford Road (on the corner between Lilford Road and Carew Street).

Anyone local or interested in supporting the Loughborough Junction area is encouraged to go along. The more people who attend the more we'll be able to create change for the area.

• Current working groups include:
  Promotion, PR, website and visual identity
• Trees and greenery
• Public realm, waste and road safety
• Arts and LJ events
• Railways and bridges

If you have any suggestions/ thoughts or would like to help out on a specific theme, please contact Elise.

No Education in a Sardine Can!

Lambeth Green Party supported residents of St Martin's Estate, Tulse Hill, in their campaign to stop the Council cramming a new secondary academy school onto the Fenstanton primary school site. Green Party Councillor Becca Thackray protested that crowding nearly 2000 pupils aged 3 -18 into one area would impact negatively on education. Vital green space would be lost, and since academies are run by private sponsors (such as hedge fund managers) the land would pass out of public ownership.

Despite criticism from its own scrutiny committee, the Council has decided to plough ahead with this hugely unpopular scheme.

Charmian Kenner of Lambeth Greens said, "We definitely need a new secondary school in Lambeth but this site is not the answer. Places should be expanded at existing schools while a new site is found. We're also dismayed that the Council did not consult with residents and parents before proposing this disastrous development."

A Living Wage for Lambeth

Lambeth's Green Party councillor, Becca Thackray, has successfully passed a motion to commit the London Borough of Lambeth to paying a ‘Living Wage’ for all its employees.

However, a wrecking amendment put forward by Labour means that the Council can continue underpaying hundreds of staff who work for the Borough as contractors. These include cleaners, security/reception staff and labourers, many of whom are paid much less than regular Council staff.

The original motion stated that, "Lambeth Council reaffirms its support for the establishment of the London Living Wage, set at a level calculated by the Living Wage Unit to avoid the 'working poverty trap' in the capital, a situation affecting around 400,000 Londoners who are paid less than can reasonably fund the basic costs of living in London."

By watering the motion down, Labour have let down precisely those working people who they claim to represent. Their rhetoric about helping the people of Lambeth get through the recession will sound particularly hollow to those earning poverty wages on Labour-run Lambeth contracts.