2013 Lambeth
residents’
conference
Feedback report
Introduction
The annual Lambeth Residents’
Conference for 2013 took place at the
newly refurbished Lambeth College
centre in Clapham on October 26th.
We would like to thank all that attended
including over 110 residents and
officers and stallholders for giving up
their Saturday and making it a
successful event.
Jennifer Thomas, Chair of Lambeth
Tenants’ Council introduced the event.
She thanked everyone for attending
and encouraged them to join in the key
discussions and share their views. She
then introduced Councillor Pete
Robbins (Cabinet Member for Housing
and Regeneration) who talked about
the challenges that the borough’s
housing is facing.
4. Developing
training
and
employment
opportunities
5. Building new communities
These focussed on areas that are
central to strengthening Lambeth’s
communities. They discussed how
estates can be improved, how people
can develop new skills and how new
housing should be provided.
It is intended these workshops are the
start of longer term discussions with
residents.
Outcomes from each
workshop are included within the
summaries below. Each was facilitated
by staff from the Council and Lambeth
Living.
Councillor Robbins added that the
private rented sector was seeing the
biggest changes with a growing number
of the population now dependant on
this form of tenure. Like many other
inner London boroughs, Lambeth is
facing a crisis of affordability with the
average property price now at
£400,000 and the average private
rental price £1,400 per month.
Starting key discussions
This year’s conference focused on a
main theme of ‘strengthening
communities’
By using the priorities that were seen as
most important to Lambeth residents in
the Community Plan, the following
workshops were established:
1. Digital inclusion in Lambeth
2. Funding
opportunities
for
community groups and TMOs
3. Estate Pride
From left to right: Jennifer Thomas and
Councillor Pete Robbins
Workshop one: Digital inclusion in
Lambeth
This workshop looked at how to
increase opportunities for residents to
engage via the internet.
It was
facilitated by Matt Cooper, Lambeth’s
Customer Services Transformation
Manager
and
Mark
Howarth,
Governance
and
Resident
Engagement
Manager
(Lambeth
Living).
Delegates were asked to provide
feedback on the Lambeth coop website
that is currently being designed (and
expected to go live in January 2014).
Experiences of using the existing
Lambeth websites were shared and
recommendations were made for how
future sites could be improved.
Your views
You told us that the new Lambeth Coop
and MyLambeth sites will be welcomed
and a number of improvements need to
be made on the previous sites. You said
that you would like to see more help
provided to people who do not currently
use the internet such as providing free
wi-fi in sheltered housing and training
opportunities to be increased. You also
said that increasing the number of
residents’ groups with websites would
be beneficial. This could be through
sharing good practice with TRAs/TMOs
that already have sites in place.
Workshop two: Funding
opportunities for community groups
and TMOs
Identifying external sources of funding
is a key issue for community groups
and TMOs. These can help launch
successful community projects or
deliver
important
estate-based
initiatives. For this workshop, Jason
Prentis who is Lambeth’s Partnership &
Community Development Officer talked
to attendees about available funding
and how it can be accessed. The group
explored how to use the Funding
Central
internet
site
(www.fundingcentral.org.uk) and how
successful bids for funding can be
produced.
Your views
You said that you were interested in
exploring more opportunities for
external funding.
Both groups
expressed an interest in learning from
best practice and other communities
that had been successful in applying for
funding. You also wanted to know more
about the training course that Jason
provides and if this would be made
available for residents and members of
community groups.
What happens next?
Matt Cooper shows delegates the new Lambeth
Co-op website at the Digital Inclusion workshop
What happens next?
Lambeth Council will seek to
incorporate residents views in the
design and functionality of its new
website and publicise to residents
where free internet access can be
obtained. Lambeth Living will develop
digital hubs in some of the community
facilities and offer training to residents.
Lambeth Living will look to develop
ways of sharing good practice between
estates that have successfully bid for
external funding.
For TMOs, the
Council will identify ways of providing
necessary support to officers and board
members wishing to make applications.
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What happens next?
The following was agreed:

Information will be provided on local
estate notice boards.

Tenants will receive mail outs
promoting events and services.
Twitter and other forms of social
media will also be used.

Information will also be sent via
texts and e-mails regarding jobs
(especially
Lambeth
Housing
Standard opportunities).
Developing
employment

Community centres will be used for
sessions discussing employment
opportunities and careers, to be
held on a regular basis.
This workshop was facilitated by Pete
Murphy
(Lambeth
Living)
and
Jacqueline Faulkner (LB Lambeth).
They
discussed
‘barriers
to
employment’ with the group, where
they presented attendees with two case
studies. From these, group members
were asked to identify what barriers the
two case studies are likely to have. It
gave a good understanding as to the
challenges that are presented when
trying to enter the labour market.

Officers from the workshop will hold
meetings with TRAs/TMOs to pass
on information.
Delegates discussing funding opportunities for
local groups with facilitator, Jason Prentis
Workshop
three:
training
and
opportunities
Your views
You said that there should be a greater
emphasis on promoting training and
employment opportunities to residents.
This could be done through Tenant
Participation Officers, TMO groups and
workshops, TRAs, social media (such
as Twitter and Facebook) and posters
that can be displayed on estates. You
also said that young people in the
borough are most likely to experience
problems trying to find work and that
empowering them would increase their
chances.
Pete
Murphy
from
Lambeth
Living’s
Employment and Advice Team delivers the
Training and Employment workshop
Workshop four: Estate Pride
This workshop was facilitated by Linda
Elliott, Lambeth Living’s lead officer on
the Estate Pride programme. She
discussed in detail what the programme
entails and its principal areas of focus.
Estate Pride is a newly developed
scheme
which
focuses
on
environmental
improvements
on
estates.
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Your views
You said that issues such as dog
fouling and fly tipping were big
problems on Lambeth’s estates. You
also added that there should be a
review of dogs on estates to include
dog free and dog areas again with
education and enforcement. Green
spaces should be developed and
maintained, you said that this could
include bulb planting. You said that
CCTV should be reintroduced on
estates to help identify perpetrators
who have caused damage to estates.
What happens next?
Lambeth Living will be trialling an
engagement project on Poynders
Gardens on both estate services and
recycling rates; which will be extended
if successful. Lambeth Living will work
with the Council's enforcement team to
trial fixed penalty notices. Extending
CCTV coverage will be looked at in the
next six months.
Linda Elliott from the Estate Pride Team
discusses the programme
Workshop five:
communities
Building
new
This workshop focused on the
pressures that Lambeth is facing on its
housing demand and how these can be
addressed by building new homes and
communities. It was facilitated by Lucia
Deere and Pauline Foster from
Lambeth’s
Regeneration
Team.
Councillor Robbins outlined some of
the main pressures in his introductory
speech, particularly affordability and
availability.
Your views
This was a popular and lively workshop
with lots of interesting discussion about
new housing in the borough. You said
that you supported mixed communities
(these are developments that include a
variety of tenures: privately owned
properties with affordable and social
housing amongst them) and felt that
communities would be strengthened by
new tenancies being given to people
who could demonstrate a connection to
the local area.
What happens next?
This workshop dealt with the big issues
around housing supply and demand.
Important strategic issues were raised
by participants attending the workshop.
All comments will be reported to senior
management team for consideration.
We have agreed to pilot a local lettings
initiative on one of our estates where
we plan to build new council housing,
and this will be used to inform the
development
of
the
Council’s
approach.
There was overwhelming support for
mixed
communities
which will
be incorporated and developed in the
delivery of new housing across the
borough.
Stalls
We would like to thank the
organisations and departments that ran
stalls.
They provided helpful
information and advice to residents.
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These included:
•
Warm and Well
•
Lambeth College
•
Build-it
•
Loughborough Women’s Group
Mentoring Project
Lambeth Living also provided
surgeries for the following areas:
•
Welfare reform
•
Homeownership Services
•
Lambeth Housing Standard
enquiries that have now led to potential
projects and also project participants.
(James Alexander, Build-it)
Community Initiatives Awards
Unlike last year’s ‘Dragon’s Den where residents made a pitch for a
community project that they intended to
set up – this year we asked residents to
vote on community initiatives that have
been running for the past year. We’re
really pleased that so many community
groups took the time to prepare
presentations and share their success
stories.
In total there were seven shortlisted
activities. They were:
Blenheim Gardens
Saturday School Club
RMO
–
Cowley RMO – Food Farm
Edmundsbury Court TRA – Fun
day with carnival display
Fraser Serle from the Warm and Well Team
gives information on energy saving
We have received positive feedback
from many of the organisations and
departments represented at the
conference:
“I spoke to lots of people and made
some useful contacts who wish to run
events on their estates or buildings to
promote warm and well messages.”
(Fraser Serle, Lambeth Warm and Well
in Winter Project Manager)
I found it really useful to meet with
residents and find out how Build-it can
support the work they would like done
on their estates. I had a number of
iDK Beats – community music
workshops
Lilford TRA – Open day and play
scheme
Vauxhall Gardens – Playground
and outdoor gym
Woodvale Estate
resident events
–
Multiple
Conference delegates were then
invited to choose their favourite
presentation with a £1,000 prize for the
most popular and two prizes of £500 for
the runners up.
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The initiative that was most popular
with residents was iDK Beats’
community music workshops. They
were awarded the winning prize of
£1,000 by the Mayor of Lambeth,
Councillor Mark Bennett. The runners
up were Blenheim Gardens RMO’s
Saturday School Club and Cowley
RMO’s Food Farm. We will work with
all successful projects to encourage
other estates and community groups in
setting up similar initiatives.
Residents received their awards from the
Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Mark Bennett
Questions and answers
As with last year’s conference,
residents were invited to leave
questions in the feedback box. The
questions and answered are provided
below:
1. This is my first residents’
conference and I would like to
know more about how I can get
involved with a local residents’
association.
There are currently 85 Tenants’ and
Residents’ Associations on Lambeth’s
estates. The best way to get involved
with your local TRA is to contact its
representative. If your estate does not
have a TRA but you would be interested
in setting one up, the Resident
Participation Officer for your area can
help.
For further information contact the
Getting Involved team by email:
gettinginvolved@lambethliving.org.
uk or telephone: 0207 9268319.
If you live on an estate that is managed
by a TMO, you will need to become a
shareholder (a nominal one off fee of £1
is usually applicable). This will give you
a share in the organisation and enable
you to attend meetings (nonshareholders can only observe and can
only attend if invited). Your TMO will be
able to give you more information
regarding membership.
2. What commitment can Lambeth
give to the percentage of new
properties built to Lifetime
Homes and wheelchair standard?
How will Lambeth ensure that
wheelchair standard properties
are allocated appropriately?
Current planning policy requires all new
housing to be designed and built to
Lifetime Homes standards, and 10 per
cent of new housing to be wheelchair
accessible or easily adaptable for
residents who are wheelchair users.
This is a well-established planning
policy requirement, set out in the
London Plan and reflected in the
Lambeth’s local planning policies.
All wheelchair standard properties are
allocated to those who have been
assessed by the Council’s Medical
Assessment Officer as requiring this
type of property.
3. Why are the housing estates
receiving priority in receiving the
Lambeth
Housing
Standard
major works yet houses that can
re-house larger families left to
deteriorate and then sold on to
developers?
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Housing Estates have received priority
for LHS works thus far in the
programme because the only works
that have been taking place are
internals (kitchens, bathrooms, rewiring
etc). This is because we have been
able to use our current contractors to do
the work. Street properties will come on
stream in the programme once the next
phase of procurement has been
completed. Once this is done (Nov
2013), then work can start on the
externals of our properties. For street
properties it is important to be able to
do a whole house at a time meaning
that both the internal and external work
gets completed together.
The Council is committed to retaining
as many larger family units as possible
and we hope to see a large proportion
of our street properties being brought
up to the Lambeth Housing Standard by
the end of the financial year. However,
we do continue to have a programme of
disposal for our former shortlife
properties as the repair costs on these
far exceeds the allocation per property
under LHS.
A member of staff from the Lambeth Housing
Standard team providing information on the
programme of works
4. What measures will be taken to
help improve the incentive
scheme and speed up the
process of moving people into
suitable sized accommodation?
We have recently appointed an
Initiatives Officer to work with underoccupiers looking to downsize.
In
addition Lambeth Living is facilitating
mutual exchanges. To date 38 have
been achieved this year.
5. What support and commitment is
there for TRA/residents to
communicate more effectively?
This could include website
building,
mail-outs
and
noticeboards?
Lambeth Living will provide training for
residents wanting to develop website
and write leaflets. Help is provided for
printing estate-wide information for
TRAs and most TRAs have their own
notice boards to advertise their events
and activities. For more information
residents should contact their Resident
Participation Officer.
Event feedback
This year’s conference received
positive feedback. In total, 92 per cent
of respondents said that the event
overall was either ‘good’ or ‘very good’,
representing a 16 per cent increase in
satisfaction on last year’s event.
Lambeth College (Clapham centre)
was a popular choice of venue and our
feedback shows that 91 per cent of
respondents thought it was either
‘good’ or ‘very good’. A postcode
summary also shows that the venue’s
central location meant that more people
from different parts of the borough were
able to attend. The change of venue
was the result of last year’s conference
feedback.
Workshops were viewed favourably
too; over 80% said that they were ‘very
good’ or ‘good’. You also praised the
facilitators’ knowledge of subject area
(85%) and workshop delivery (81%).
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The catering received a disappointing
score from residents’ feedback: only 57
per cent saying they felt it was ‘good’ or
‘very good’. We’ll work hard to ensure
that this increases in line after next
year’s event.
For more information, contact
housingconference@lambeth.gov.uk,
or call Marcus Shukla, Tenant
Services Officer on 0207 926 4166.
The Community Initiatives Awards was
a welcome addition to this year’s event.
81% of respondents thought that this
activity was ‘very good’ or ‘good’. We
will look to run a similar interactive
event at next year’s conference.
There were many positives to take from
the event and we are very pleased that
satisfaction levels have increased so
significantly from last year’s event.
Equally, there were some very useful
suggestions on how it could be
improved, particularly in relation to
timings and catering. We are grateful
to all residents who took the time to
share their thoughts on the conference.
A selection of the comments and
suggestions received include:
“The day was very good.”
“Enjoyed every
workshops.”
aspect
of
the
“Learned a lot from other estates
and their experiences.”
“Would have preferred
smaller seminars.”
more,
“Community Initiatives Awards was
a great idea.”
“Lambeth College in Clapham was
an excellent choice of venue.”
“Good event but need to advertise to
more people next year.”
“A lot has been discussed and I
hope that Lambeth will take action.”
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