In these worrying times, it is easy to forget what is going on behind closed doors. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Homes for Lambeth and Lambeth’s council’s approach to its estate regeneration programme.
Recent research has shown that there seems to be no depths they won’t plumb in order to try and steam roller their plans through. Partnering up with lobbyists seems to be their latest ploy.
After several months of silence, Homes for Lambeth recently sprung a surprise consultation on the residents of Cressingham Gardens.
Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the public exhibition was cancelled. However, Homes for Lambeth ploughed on regardless. The consultation was moved on-line, ignoring residents more immediate fears and the fact that many residents are elderly and aren’t on-line.
The consultation is being organised by a company called Your Shout, which is the community consultation arm of the lobbyists Thorncliffe.
A quick Google search of Thorncliffe will soon lead you into a dark web of conflicts of interest and reveal a company with fingers in more political pies than you could possibly imagine.
Thorncliffe started life as a company called Indigo Public Affairs.
However, a sting operation by the Daily Telegraph in 2013, which exposed the links between councillors and lobbyists forced a name change. Indigo denied any wrongdoing but the evidence was pretty damning.
An Indigo employee (and councillor) was quoted as saying “I wouldn’t say dark arts but, but, there is, there is sort of tricks of the trade”
These tricks of the trade included making sure that the planning committee included “friendly faces”.
Powerbase website, which monitors lobbyists, notes that one Indigo employee, Darren Sanders, was a Lambeth councillor.
There is no suggestion of any impropriety and it is not possible several years after the event to access the councillor’s register of interests. However, it appears that he was a member of the planning committee in 2008, which wouldn’t appear to be in the interests of transparency.
Following the Telegraph report, Indigo re-branded itself as Thorncliffe. However, no sooner had they re-named themselves than they ran into another controversy.
At a 2014 Conservative party fringe event, Boris Johnson made a speech in front of a Thorncliffe banner. A matter of days later Johnson, the then mayor of London, gave planning permission to a luxury housing development. It subsequently transpired that Thorncliffe were working for the developer.
A Guardian expose into councillors’ links to lobbyists in 2018 revealed that two London councillors who sit on planning committees were also Thorncliffe employees.
Most major lobbyists are signed up to the Public Relations and Communications Association voluntary register, which requires lobbyists to list their clients. Thorncliffe have not signed up to the register so we don’t know who exactly they work for.
What is absolutely amazing is how brazen they are about what they do.
A recent Thorncliffe job advert asks: “Do you understand local government? Are you a political activist with good Labour party connections? Do you hold, or have you held, elected office, perhaps as a councillor?”
Another advert says that “We will be particularly keen to hear from you if you are a Labour party activist, with good links to local government in London.”
Tucked away at the bottom of Thorncliffe’s home page is a statement which says “Get me planning committee approval please… Sign up to our email and council briefings”, as though it is a foregone conclusion.
Closer to home, Thorncliffe have been active in Lambeth for some time.
Their website describes Lambeth as “Famously a left-wing Labour council in the 1980s but now determinedly reasonable.” Reasonable if you are a developer that is – forget about the residents.
Thorncliffe proudly proclaimed in a tweet about the Albert Embankment re-development “We’ve helped with nearly all these schemes.”
In a blog piece about newly elected council leader Jack Hopkins, entitled “Will Jack be good for development in Lambeth?”, the author states:
“…those developing in the borough – will have noticed that over the past couple of years, the borough’s planning committee has behaved increasingly erratically… Will Jack Hopkins’ tenure lead to a more consistent approach?”
Perhaps in Thorncliffe’s world the independence of the planning committee from party political pressure doesn’t exist.
They describe Steve Reed MP, now Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, as “leading a thoroughly pro-development authority” when he was leader of Lambeth council.
It is noteworthy that Homes for Lambeth’s new resident engagement officer is also an ex Thorncliffe employee and a Labour party activist who definitely fits the New Labour mould espoused by Lambeth council .
One can only wonder at what is going on behind the scenes, and how much of our taxes are being thrown at the New Labour vanity project that is Homes for Lambeth.
Background and more info:
- See more articles on Cressingham Gardens here.
- Campaign Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SaveCressinghamGardens
- Twitter: twitter.com/SaveCressingham
- Save Cressingham Gardens petition
- Wikipedia page
- Save Cressingham Gardens crowdfunding
- Social Life, Living on Cressingham Gardens: Social Life’s conversations with residents 20.10.13
Read more and join in with the in-depth discussion on the urban75 forums (over 1,400 posts).
Help the Save Cressingham Gardens campaign!
Donate to their GoFundMe page
Cressingham Gardens video piece:
Someone on Twitter referring to Homes for Lambeth as “Bennett’s Folly”. Sounds about right!
they clearly haven’t seen the barnet!