PRIORITIES FOR LAMBETH RIVERSIDE AREA

·                    The development of sustainable community education and training provision.

·                    Sustainable children’s and youth activities.

·                    Support for the establishment of residents organisations on the unorganised blocks on local estates.

·                    The establishment of a full-time advice service for the area.

·                    The creation of sustainable community development and community capacity building support including the employment of at least one community development worker employed in the community and voluntary sector.

·                    Discussion about how groups can work more closely together on activities, funding and use of resources.

These are key priorities for the Kennington and Vauxhall area in the view of the Board of Riverside Community Development Trust.

The Riverside Community Development Trust is a community owned and led regeneration organisation. It set up the Riverside IT computer training project at 125 Lambeth Walk. It funded a lot of local organisations through a Community Chest during the period of the Government funded Riverside SRB partnership. It has started a new Community Chest to fund local community and voluntary groups. It co-ordinates the Lambeth Riverside Festival held in July. It supports joint working and co-ordination and undertakes community development support.

The Problem of Sustainability

A fundamental problem facing many organisations involved in the area is the lack of what is called ‘sustainable funding’, that is having funding that is for a reasonable period of time and covers their central running costs. Most funding is only for projects, but organisations running projects also need stable funding to manage their projects.

·              The continuation of Riverside IT depends on RCDT’s partnership with Lambeth Council’s Estate Skills Partnership which is dependent on grants form a variety of sources which constantly change their requirements.

·              The way education and training is funded is constantly changing which causes upheaval for organisations like Roots & Shoots which provides training to young people with learning difficulties.

·              Imaginative schemes to provide training linked to employment cannot be progressed because up to May 2006 Lambeth Council blocked creative solutions to bringing the former Beaufoy Institute building on Black Prince Rd back into use, and wanted to sell off the former Lilian Baylis School site on Lollard St.

·              Alford House youth centre’s ambitious scheme to renovate and develop its premises in Aveline St to generate increased income from work and rehearsal space in order reduce its dependency on grant funding its youth activities, is dependent on raising a large sum of money for the capital works.

·              An expansion in the range of activities that can take place at Ethelred Youth Centre cannot happen until its lease is sorted out.

The Local Community and Voluntary Organisations

Lambeth Riverside area is rich in local community and voluntary groups, many of which have come into existence to save services from closure like Durning Library, or to improve local opens spaces and parks. There has been growing co-operation and information sharing between many of these groups, through Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall (KOV) Forum, through local history/heritage and health and fitness networks and the Lambeth Riverside Festival work co-ordinated by RCDT. A wealth of activity takes place which local residents can enjoy. Local organisations, however, struggle to obtain new members who are prepared to be to help their activities and sit on their Committees.

The RCDT Board thinks that there may be scope for improved joint working, joint funding applications and sharing of resources between a number of local organisations and will seeking to discuss this.

The Role of Lambeth Council

The RCDT Board considers that a fundamental re-think is needed by the new Lambeth Council administration in the approach to the role of the community and voluntary groups, and to ensure that they are properly supported and funded to help take action on the priorities in the area. In particular there should be:

·             improved dialogue and communication by Central Council Departments with local organisations to tackle the large number of difficult issues facing the Lambeth Riverside area.

·             co-operation to ensure that the pressures for development do not aggravate existing social and economic problems and can contribute to improving the situation for the many residents whose social and economic circumstances lie behind why key local estates are regarded as priority estates and Prince’s Ward a priority ward.

June 2006