Westbury Estate Tenants and Residents Association held their Annual General Meeting. The evening mixed reports from outgoing committee members, election of the new committee and lots of socialising around plenty of food and drink which tenants and residents had come together to provide.

The meeting was well attended by many tenants and residents and all three Clapham Town councillors were pleased to join them.

The committee members talked about their previous year of successes which included running a youth club for young people on the estate, a halloween party, a trip to Margate, a Christmas Grotto and the opening of a new play area for the estate.

There was a great sense of community and pride in what they had achieved, with numerous words of thanks and praise for the chair Elaine Mander and the commitment she gives to the estate.

Councillor Wellbelove with residents at the Heath Road surgery

Clapham Town Labour councillors have for many years held sugeries, where people can come and talk to their councillors, for many years. The surgeries are held at Clapham Leisure Centre every Saturday from 11:00 – midday (except Bank Holidays) and being in the same place every week are useful for people to know where to find their councillors on a regular basis.

However there are some people who find getting to the leisure centre difficult and to help ensure that we reach as many people as possible Clapham Town councillors have embarked on a series of localised surgeries.

This weekend we embarked on our biggest ever series of surgeries covering Heath Road, Westbury, Willard and William Bonney estates together with Heather Close Sheltered Housing.

The day was a huge success, Councillor Helen O’Malley started the day with the regular surgery at Clapham Manor Lesiure Centre and then joined Cllr Haselden and I at Westbury Estate.

Our busiest surgery of the day was at Heath Road where many residents came to discuss issues such as cleaning on the estate, repairs and parking enforcement.

We moved on to William Bonney estate where we spoke to residents about noise and anti-social behaviour issues caused by a local venue together with more discussion around parking enforcement on the estate.

All three of us are now taking the various issues back to officers at Lambeth Living. I have written directly to the housing manager regarding concerns over standards of cleaning.

Along with continuing the regular surgery at Clapham Leisure Centre we are now organising a repeat of the event for next month and looking for new venues throughout the local community.