Energy best deal and winter health training – Feb/March

Training flyer

Many people are paying too much for their energy and unable to keep warm and well in the winter.  Action on Energy are running free training courses across Lambeth and Southwark during February and March to address this issue.

The Energy Best Deal and Winter Health Training programme will enable you to know:

–        where to signpost people if they are having difficulty paying fuels bills

–        about the best energy tariffs available and process for switching energy supplier

–        how maintain a warm home whilst using less energy

–        the 5 key winter health messages to stay warm and well

–        what local services there are to help vulnerable people in the winter

The training is for anyone working in a paid or unpaid role in Lambeth and Southwark who wants to be able to advise people on ways to save money on their energy bills and keep warm and well during winter.

Places are limited, and ​will​ be allocated on a first come first served basis​.​  ​To book your place please email claire.double@ageuklambeth.org.uk  It you want to know more about the content of the t​raining, please contact Action on Energy, details are on the flyer.

Cultural services consultation – Lambeth

On Friday we launched a wide ranging consultation on the future of cultural services in Lambeth – Cultural Services by 2020. We want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to express their opinion on their local park, library, sports facilities and the arts.

We all know that being active, meeting people, watching a play or listening to music is good for us. It makes us happier and healthier so it’s important that people in Lambeth have access to affordable, varied activities.

As you know, the council is facing unprecedented cuts to its core funding and has to save £90 million by 2018 – this means we’re going to have just over half what we had in the budget for cultural services in 2013-14. With a population expected to increase by more than 30,000 in the next 10 years as well we want to use some of our assets now to have more money to invest more widely for the future.

So, we’re proposing significant changes to how cultural services are provided in Lambeth, including:

• Libraries: We’re proposing to sell Waterloo and Minet libraries and use the money to help create a £10million endowment fund for the culture and library services. This could mean five town centre libraries, four community libraries and other lending services (such as The Railway Tearoom Library in Streatham Vale)  across the borough and the money to invest in and look after them.
• Parks and events: We want to be more ambitious around generating income in our parks and we’re consulting on proposed events strategy to bring a cultural festival to Lambeth, hold more events across the whole borough and bring our noise levels for events into line with the majority of London.
• Sports: We propose to renegotiate the current leisure contract in 2017 to provide better value for money and use the surplus income from the leisure contract to fund preventative activities to tackle the impact of ill health.  Working alongside our contracted leisure, sports and physical activity providers, we are also proposing to establish a Sport Innovation Fund, that would provide access to facilities at reduced rates for Lambeth based community-led sport clubs and self-help groups.

We’ve had thousands of conversations with local people over the last few years and these have all helped shape the proposals we’re putting forward today. We want to continue to work with residents to make sure we find the best solutions to the challenges we face.

How to have your say

You can find the overview booklet, all documentation and a questionnaire online at www.lambeth.gov.uk/culture2020consultation  (and in all Lambeth libraries). The consultation will close at 11pm on Friday 24 April 2015.

You can also:

• speak to your elected ward councillor about these proposals. You can find out who your councillor is and how to speak to them here.
• Email your thoughts to culture2020@lambeth.gov.uk
• Follow us and comment using social media – Twitter @lambeth_council #culture2020
• A range of events will also be held across the borough – sign up to the Love Lambeth enewsletter to make sure you hear about these.
• Visit love.lambeth.gov.uk/culture2020 to find out more about what’s already happening in parks, libraries and sports, tell us what you like, what you need and what you’re doing.

Please circulate this information to all your networks so we can make sure we’re involving as many people as possible in this important conversation. If you have any queries about the consultation or difficulty accessing any information please contact culture2020@lambeth.gov.uk