MAY 2021 ISSUE No. 3 ONELAMBETH NEWSLETTER Campaign to Reform Council Kicks-off Residents and local groups keen to see current 'Cabinet' system scrapped and replaced with more open 'modern committee' system to increase efficiency and openness at the town hall. A major campaign has kicked-off to change how the within a few days of launching. Early comments council operates. Campaigners, including OneLambeth, included trenchant support for a change, and are calling for the current 'Cabinet' system to be scrapped stinging criticism of the existing centralised way and replaced by a modern, 'committee' system. of working. One read: "[s]imply the right way for borough decisions to be properly debated and Pointing to the sweeping powers held by just eleven of decided. The present cabinet system largely the boroughs’ 63 councillors, campaigners and the disenfranchises the majority of the elected growing number of signatories say a more open, councillors." Another said: "[i]t’s time for representative system is needed.To trigger a referendum, change. The current system in place does not 11,568 confirmed signatures are required. Just three work for the greater good of the community. days after going live on April 7 the number of sign-ups Year after year I have been disappointed by had hit three figures. the self serving decisions that have been made. Well no more!!" Organisers are now The council seem to have made their position clear, by gearing up to take the petition across the refusing requests to host the petition on the council e- borough, with planned regular visits to collect petition site. They have also issued three strongly-worded in-person signatures at sites from Waterloo to letters from their legal team, even despite the campaign Streatham. being in its infancy. The petition website is: www.gopetition.com/ The campaign has already struck a chord with residents, signatures/make-lambeth-council-work-for-all- with the number of signatories reaching three-figures voters.html www.onelambeth.co.uk [email protected] MAY 2021 ISSUE No. 23 End of an Era as Much-Loved Restaurant Announces Closure Stockwell's Hot Stuff restaurant shuts it's doors for the final time in September due to rising rents. We caught up with owner Raj to get the full story. Founded in 1988 by Raj’s mother Naseera, he describes the early ethos, still in place today: “quality, service, value. If you get those three things right…”. It is an approach that built a loyal clientele, with customers returning from miles away to enjoy the Hot Stuff experience: “we’ve always been good to into, at one point, the biggest construction site in our customers, so they have a bit of faith in us”. As Europe. Sixteen years on, with property developers we talk in the Hot Stuff kitchen, Raj stirs a huge pot hungry for ‘yield’ on their investment (prices for of aromatic spinach, below a rack of bright spices: retail units in the nearby Nine Elms tube station are methi (fenugreek), kashmiri chilli, whole cumin, well into six-figures), local small businesses are garam masala. A slice of south Asia on Wilcox Road, being squeezed out. Raj is pragmatic but the cuisine is bold, unaffected and always tasty: “the unequivocal: “it has changed a lot, and made it more simple it is, the better it is”, he says. more difficult for small businesses to survive”. Changing demographics in the area have thrown up The early days of the restaurant were tough. With other challenges. New arrivals, often forced to pay takings coming mostly from sales of food (Raj's high prices for their new homes, seem to want a family are Muslim, so precluded from selling alcohol), ‘reassuringly expensive’ dining experience: “if they some days seeing sales of just a few pounds. This live in those flats, they won’t want to pay £5 for a wasn't helped by the tough neighbourhood, which curry”. Rising property prices have also pushed saw most local stores shut by 6pm. However, over many long-term customers out of London. This time, word spread of Hot Stuff’s delicious food, makes catering, never a high-margin industry, even bargain prices and service that left customers smiling tougher for small firms like Hot Stuff. “whether they have one popadum or a £100 dinner”. In 1996 their first break came with a glowing review The seismic, rapid changes seen in Nine Elms are in Time Out. Jay Rayner and, in 2005, Londonist often described as ‘regeneration’: investment magazine followed. Hot Stuff was on the map. flowing in for the benefit of a run-down area. But if anyone can be thought of as ‘regenerators’, it is the But another event in 2005 founders of Hot Stuff, and others like them. Hard- would have even bigger working, skillful entrepreneurs, willing to graft to implications for the build businesses almost literally from the ground up, business, and wider area. in areas shunned by mainstream outlets. It is hard Then-Deputy Prime to disagree with Raj's assessment that of the Minister John Prescott growing power of major corporations, and their overruled Lambeth Council financial clout, in modern London. As he says, "now and a Government the money is going up, not down". planning inspector to approve the construction As we leave, Raj speaks of his future plans: a of Vauxhall Tower (left), samosa truck, enabling him and his family to be heralding the start of a tidal more mobile, working popular trading spots around London, as well as the festival circuit. His wave of property attachment to the area is clear - “I love the developer cash into the customers, I love the street. This is more my home area, turning Nine Elms than my home” - and he is upbeat about the future “I like to think we have been there through the rough Vauxhall Tower in April 2021. More than fiften years after completion, the and come out the other side.” Menus are lined up building appears around 30% ready for that night's service, colourful text occupied. expressing a sentiment that countless customers Above right: graffiti on Hot Stuff's shutters says it all. would no doubt readily testify to: "we love Hot Stuff" www.onelambeth.co.uk [email protected] MAY 2021 ISSUE No. 23 South Lambeth Leaseholders Billed for Waterloo Action Centre Facing Closure As Damaged Water Supply Rent Soars Popular community resource the Waterloo Action After a difficult Christmas that saw ongoing Centre (WAC) is fighting for survival as the a rent- construction noise and disruption, leaseholders hike leaves it searching for options to avoid closure. on the South Lambeth estate have been hit by a four-figure bill for damage to their water supply. Since 1973 the WAC has hosted a range of While the council and Homes for Lambeth (HfL), information, arts and cultural classes, ranging from the council's property development firm, deny learning English as a second language, to ballet construction on the site is to blame, the ultimate and CV advice. Their services include the largest source of the burst water main remains unclear. volunteer-run legal advice centre in the UK. Residents on the estate are still struggling to get However, Lambeth council have recently notified get any information from HfL. Promises of a the WAC of their intent to increase the WAC's rent timeline of expected work have not been kept, to £45,000 per year, that the WAC claim would be and, when OneLambeth visited the site on a "a third of WAC’s hard-earned income and would Saturday in late April, construction had begun at mean a sharp reduction in activities and services". 8am, with only 24 hours notice the workmen A campaign to save the WAC has begun, with would be on site that weekend. organisers asking for testimonials to help show the positive impact of the centre. Dr Dreenagh Lyle, Chair of the South Lambeth estate TRA, said: "I have asked and asked but Write a testimonial here: there is an ongoing lack of information shared. www.waccommunitydefence.org/ Residents working from home during covid have found it very difficult with the constant noise and Petition to save the WAC is here: https:// dust, and we have had several reports of ill- www.change.org/p/lambeth-council-save-waterloo- health, potentially related to the works. Totally action-centre unacceptable; HfL need to do so much better." Spotted: South Lambeth Road's Canton Arms roaring back to life after lockdown: "don't call it a comeback, we've been here for years" (below). Stockwell's war memorial looking enigmatic (right). www.oneoval.co.uk 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX Local Business & Services Directory Advice Daebak Mailboxes Etc Parco Brixton Advice Centre Korean for ‘nice surprise’! Print, postal, design. 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