Cultural Services by 2020 Cultural Services by 2020 The Streatham Festival, Streatham Common Cultural Services by 2020 What’s inside? This is your chance to let us know what you think and influence proposals concerning the future provision of cultural services in Lambeth before decisions are taken. By cultural services we mean your local park, open space, library, the borough archives, sports and physical activities and the arts. We are proposing significant changes to the way cultural services in Lambeth are provided and this may include the council no longer providing a service. Contents Foreword 4 Introduction 5 How we got here 8 An event in the new Clapham Library, 2012 Let’s get active 10 Public consultation starts Friday 30 January 2015 Safe and interesting spaces 14 Public consultation ends The great outdoors 20 Friday 24 April 2015 The arts 24 Invest to create 26 How to get involved 27 3 Cultural Services by 2020 Foreword by Cllr Jane Edbrooke I love Lambeth because there’s so much going on. From Zumba classes We’re proposing to work with Our ambition is that by 2020: to bat walks, the Southbank Centre and Brixton Academy, new leisure local people and partners • No matter where you live in Lambeth you‘ll centres in Streatham, Norwood and Clapham, parks and open spaces, across Lambeth to transform be within 20 minutes average walking time open air gyms, a new cinema to Norwood and the libraries in Clapham and how cultural services are from affordable activities which will improve Streatham, the Black Cultural Archives and food festivals and street markets. provided. In some cases the your health and wellbeing. council will do less, stand I want everyone to have the opportunity to do something they enjoy. That’s back, and let others take the • 85% of Lambeth’s population take part partly about having great facilities but you and I know that being active, meeting lead. Some organisations in regular cultural, sports and physical people, watching a play or listening to music is good for us. It makes us happier are already stepping up and activities. and healthier so it’s important that people in Lambeth have access to affordable, taking over, for example varied activities. SCCoop are now managing • All residents have access to a range of affordable, excellent facilities for cultural, We’ve had thousands of conversations with people over the last few years about the Rookery at Streatham sports and physical activities. libraries, parks, sports facilities and events. I’d like to thank everyone who’s Common in association with shared their experiences and ideas – they’ve all helped shape the proposals set the council. out in this document. What I need from you now is to help me understand whether we’re going in the Obviously having good facilities costs money and I’ll be honest about what we right direction. In particular we’re consulting on the proposals for Lambeth’s libraries, can afford. By 2018 we’re going to have just over half what we had in the budget along with events in parks and a draft sports strategy. Of course, we’ll continue for these services in 2013-14. This document explains how we intend to make to have conversations about what else we need; how we can make the most of financial savings and how that might mean changes. what we have; and how you’re willing to help us achieve our ambitions by 2020. With our population expected to increase by more than 30,000 in the next 10 years we need to use some of our assets to have money to invest more widely. For example, we’re proposing to sell Waterloo and Minet libraries and use the money to help create a £10million endowment fund for promoting literacy and the love of reading. We’re proposing to have five town centre libraries and four Cllr Jane Edbrooke, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods community libraries across the borough and having that money means we can invest in and look after them. 4 Cultural Services by 2020 Introduction: Healthier, happier lives We all know that regular physical activity and cultural stimulation contributes West Norwood Leisure centre positively to emotional and mental wellbeing by preventing and reducing stress, opened July 2014 and was the anxiety and depression. So we want to make the most of the borough’s cultural, third leisure centre to be opened by physical and sports assets to help local people live healthier, happier lives. Lambeth Council in the past three We plan to make sure the provision of cultural services in the borough will be years. It is part of a bigger, integrated financially sustainable for future generations. centre for health and wellbeing, which includes a GP practice and We want to encourage more people to take part in physical activity and sport on dental academy, and is the first time a regular basis but people will also have to take more responsibility for managing joint health and leisure facilities have their own health and wellbeing needs. come together in the area. Evidence suggests that being more physically active helps prevent older people from having falls, improves self-confidence and independence. Many leading causes of ill health such as coronary disease, cancer and What does success look like in 2020? type two diabetes can be • Increased pupil attainment levels prevented if those at risk were in classroom learning, and skills to become more active. development, training and employment. Lack of physical activity • Improved physical and mental health for leads to an estimated everyone, but especially those most at 37,000 premature deaths in risk of ill health. England every year and 126 in Lambeth alone. Sport England • Improved community safety by providing estimates the cost of inactivity positive activities for people, and in Lambeth was over £4.8m championing shared community and in 2009/10. In 2014, 63% citizen responsibility. of Lambeth residents were • Being a catalyst for regeneration through engaged in regular exercise or capital investment to secure high quality physical activity. architecture and public spaces. Out for a walk on Streatham Common 5 An increasing population At least 300,000 people live in Lambeth which is more than twice the London population density. Lambeth’s population is predicted to grow by almost a quarter in the next 20 years. By 2024, there’ll be an extra 31,852 people in the borough. But there will be 1,201 (3.6%) fewer 16-24 year olds and 9,612 (42.5%) more people aged 55-64. Women and older people remain those considered most at risk of social isolation, low-level mental health issues and obesity. Lambeth is one of the most diverse boroughs in England. To reduce the risk of a disproportionate impact on any one community we have developed an Equalities Impact Assessment, which is available on the council’s website – www.lambeth.gov.uk/culture2020consultation, and will be developed through the public consultation period. A decreasing budget By 2018 Lambeth council will have lost £90m of its budget from central government. This means less to spend right across the council, including on services for vulnerable people. Even cutting the budget for libraries, parks, sports and arts by up to half is less than 5 per cent of what the council has to save overall. The table opposite shows what this challenging financial picture looks like in terms of money available from 2017 to 2018 for cultural services and was agreed in July 2014. £6.573m is, of course, a lot of money – it’s just over half what we had in the budget for these services in 2013-14. In the past, we managed to save money through contract renegotiations and increased efficiencies and of course we’ll continue to get the best value for your money. However, the option of simply maintaining the status quo is no longer viable and may not meet your expectations. The popular parent and toddler session at Brixton Library Cultural Services by 2020 What this means for you Service Area 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 To meet the needs of an increasing and diverse population, whilst balancing our financial responsibilities, we must use all the resources and assets at our Libraries and £3.796m £3.796m £2.996m £2.996m disposal – buildings, space and people, including those in the public, private, Archives non-profit and community and voluntary sectors. Heritage (Black £220k £200K £180k - It means everybody working together to secure investment in our built Cultural Archives) environment that will help stimulate new enterprise and income, which can be Parks and Open £4.459m £3.559m £2.259m £2.259m put back into cultural activities that improve health and wellbeing. There’ll be Spaces some difficult decisions to take. Sports and £1.953m £1.953m £1.253m £1.253m We’re proposing to work with local people and partners across Lambeth to Physical Activity transform how cultural services are provided across these six themes: The Arts £65k £65k £65k £65k 1. Let’s get active Active Lambeth - Regular physical activity and sport Budget £10.493m £9.573m £6.753m £6.573m including the use of your local sport and leisure centres. 2. Safe & interesting Access to spaces including libraries and community spaces buildings where you can learn, socialise and be enterprising 3. The great Activities in your local park and the chance to have outdoors more influence how your local park is managed. 4. Be inspired Opportunities to participate in and enjoy theatre, performing arts and music. 5. The bigger picture Cinemas in Lambeth’s five town centres and the chance to learn more about the art of cinema and film Cllr Jane Edbrooke joins production..