Lambeth Councillor Scott Ainslie (Green Party, St Leonard’s Ward) has called on Lambeth Council to reconsider recent changes to publicly held meetings. From this month, members of the public wishing to gain entry to Council, Cabinet, Planning and Overview Scrutiny meetings will be required to submit their bags for search, and will have to sign an attendance record. Individuals failing to agree will be refused entry.
In addition scheduled meetings of the cabinet will commence two hours earlier, at 5pm, while the council is also reportedly considering changes to the venues at which meetings are held. The Karibu Centre, Gresham Road, is expected to fall out of rotation for major meetings with Bolney Meadow Community Centre expected to be used instead. Bolney Meadow is in Stockwell, one of the borough’s northernmost wards.
The recent changes are said to have been made in the interests of “security”, following reports of disruption to several meetings earlier this year. Councillor Ainslie, however, has rejected the need for increased security, arguing that any benefits will be far outweighed by the cost of reduced public access to the workings of the council.
Councillor Ainslie said: "How much consideration has Lambeth Council given to accessibility? The holding of Cabinet meetings at 5pm, before people have time to leave work, and the choice of more "inconvenient" venues seems designed to make it harder for the public to attend public meetings. With 59 of 63 councillors, are Lambeth's leadership really that scared of proper scrutiny?
"The so-called intimidation councillors complain of is a fiction. Lambeth's failing leadership is doing its best to spin these events and paint ordinary members of the public as violent, extremist thugs when nothing could be further from the truth. Green Party members and officers who have been present have only ever witnessed understandable fear and despair from people whose homes and services are being swept from under them."
