The Leader's letter is an annual letter to the Chief Executive of the Council.  It summarises the Council's priorities and those areas where the Administration, led by the Leader, expects to see faster progress. 

Dear Mr Anderson,

• delivering high quality services that focus on individuals’ needs and represent value for money;
• tackling inequality and social exclusion; and
• engaging more closely with Lambeth’s citizens so that people’s needs are listened to and acted upon. 

Having inherited a one-star council from the previous administration, we expect to see significant progress in Lambeth’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment results this year.  We must get the basics right, and we must see evidence that the improvement is deep-rooted and sustainable.  That requires a change of culture across the organisation.  We must become a can-do council, ready to respond quickly to the changing needs of residents, ready to innovate and reward creativity, ready to become more entrepreneurial so that we can attract, retain and develop the best professionals in local government.   

Too often, the Council feels stifled by its own bureaucracy and more concerned with the convenience of the provider than the service user.  If we are really to become a high performing council, we need to learn from services where change has already happened, as well as looking beyond the Council itself to learn how to change faster.  With the launch of the ALMO, there is an opportunity to review the structure and performance of your senior management team, and that will be key to leading change throughout the Council.  I look forward to your proposals over the coming weeks for an organisational development and culture change programme to achieve the outcomes we wish to see.  I recognise that the issues we face as a borough cannot be resolved by the Council alone. We must now take action to strengthen our partnerships to drive improvement harder.    

Stable finances, strong performance management and a focus on service users remain key to continuing service improvement.  There are still areas of the service that do not meet the high expectations we have of the whole organisation.  In particular, we expect to see rapid improvement in the financial management and service quality in housing over the coming months.  The ALMO is an opportunity for radical change that will benefit residents and staff alike.  We expect to see every effort made to ensure the successful launch of Lambeth Living later this year.  Staff transferring to the new organisation must be clear about the expectations on them, and must have the capacity and the support to deliver the improvements residents expect to see. Residents, too, must be fully informed and involved as the changes are delivered.  

As I write, the top concern of people across Lambeth is making our Borough safer.  That was the top priority on which this Administration was elected.  I applaud the closer working relationship we have developed with the Police over the past 16 months.  I welcome the continuing focus on improving services and support for young people.  Now I want the Council to work with our partners in the Borough to lead the way on tackling the scourge of gang-related violence, including drug dealing and the use and possession of guns and knives.   We look forward to the Council organising a conference of local public and voluntary sector agencies to agree closer working and a clear strategy to tackle this issue. This is a priority and we expect to see progress within weeks.  Lambeth is one of the areas that suffers the most from these problems.  Now we must become one of the first boroughs to offer clear solutions to make our community safer and to give our young people back the positive future they all deserve.   

The Borough stands on the brink of major physical and social regeneration.  This is an opportunity that must not be missed. The renewal of our schools, leisure centres, our five town centres, transport infrastructure and social housing is of the greatest importance.  The timetable for these programmes must not slip.  We must be a strong and reliable partner in delivering physical regeneration projects.  We must build sustainability into all these projects and become a green beacon for the rest of London.  At the same time, we must learn from past mistakes and ensure that social regeneration is central to our approach.  Out of physical renewal must come social renewal too, with the focus on maximising opportunity for all.   

The Council’s new approach to citizen engagement is radical and innovative. Instead of engaging on our terms, we are starting to learn how to engage with residents on their terms.  That trend must now move faster.  I want to see greater involvement of the community in delivering and running public services because that will make them more flexible and responsive.  I want to see a new commitment to engaging the most marginalised in our community, working with partners and community based organisations where necessary, to get a much deeper and clearer view of people’s needs so that we can adapt our services to meet them.  More members of under-represented communities must play a role in public life, at all levels, if we are really to make the progress on equalities that this Administration expects to see.   

Lambeth is a great place to live and work.  It deserves a great Council.  The improvements over the past 16 months have been impressive.  But now we have reached the point at which we must commit ourselves to even faster improvement across all services so that we will become a high quality organisation delivering the high quality services that local people deserve.  

Yours sincerely    

Councillor Steve Reed

Leader of Lambeth Council