“A HUGE AMOUNT OF PUBLIC MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT TO FORCE THROUGH THESE MOST DESTRUCTIVE OF PLANS. “WE WILL ALL END UP PAYING THE PRICE”
In the wake of Monday night’s cabinet meeting Lambeth’s only Green party Cllr Scott Ainslie (St Leonard’s Ward) issued the following statement which News From Crystal Palace produces in full:
“I would like to make it clear, in the strongest terms, that I oppose Lambeth council’s plans to decimate the borough’s library services and to demolish Cressingham Gardens estate.
“On an ever-lengthening list of issues Lambeth council seems determined to ride roughshod over the will of the people. “Labour councillors are determined to dismantle the institutions and communities that are no less than the fabric of our society.
“Their propaganda machine has tried to convince people that campaigners are asking for something that is unaffordable and cannot be delivered. “The campaigners themselves have proven that to be entirely false.
“The Save Lambeth Libraries group has produced a whole viable plan to do exactly that. “In doing so, they have demonstrated the kind of imagination, pragmatism and social responsibility that has, for several years, been conspicuously absent from the halls and offices of Lambeth council.
“The efforts, resolve and resourcefulness of Cressingham Gardens’ campaigners have been no less impressive. “They have fought relentlessly, but also considerately and democratically.
“Just as the libraries campaigners, they have offered workable solutions. “Lambeth councillors have of course dismissed these out of hand.
“In November Save Cressingham even won a great legal victory, proving in the high court that Lambeth council had acted unlawfully in its single-minded, desperate attempts to bulldoze their homes.
“Still that did not cause Lambeth council to stop and consider whether what they wanted to do should be done, or if there were conciliatory alternatives that had not been given full and proper consideration.
“To the benefit of precisely nobody, a huge amount of public money has been spent to force through these most destructive of plans. “We will all end up paying the price.
“Lambeth Green Party will continue to offer our full support to saving Cressingham Gardens and defending the 10. “I urge everyone in Lambeth to send Labour a signal on May 5th, that the power they think they yield is fickle.”