Brixton Buzz

Lambeth Council Leader Cllr Claire Holland faced a wave of online mockery in the run-up to polling day after social media posts highlighted screenshots indicating she has booked a place at next year’s MIPIM property fair in Cannes – the latest in a series of trips to the champagne-soaked Riviera jamboree.

The screenshots, circulated on X from 2 May, appear to show Holland listed for a panel at the conference scheduled for 15-19 March 2027. “That’s confidence,” read the original post.

The 3Space project in International House is currently home to London’s largest affordable workspace and a hub for community support, used by over 100 charities and community organisations.

Lambeth Council recently approved planning permission for a 288 home development that will see the closure of International House and Pop Brixton.

Ahead of the elections, local community campaign group Save Nour, Save Brixton have asked where Lambeth candidates stand on this issue:

THE LABOUR & CO-OPERATIVE PARTY

Streatham residents have launched a CrowdJustice campaign to fund the first steps of a legal challenge against Lambeth Council’s approval of a major development on and around Leigham Court Road.

The approved scheme, planning reference 25/02438/FUL, would redevelop land at 35–37 Leigham Court Road and land to the west and rear of 39–49 Leigham Court Road, London SW16 2ND.

The site includes the current council car park, the former synagogue to the rear of South Lodge, and the former bowling green behind 49 Leigham Court Road.

Streatham residents have launched a CrowdJustice campaign to fund the first steps of a legal challenge against Lambeth Council’s approval of a major development on and around Leigham Court Road.

The approved scheme, planning reference 25/02438/FUL, would redevelop land at 35–37 Leigham Court Road and land to the west and rear of 39–49 Leigham Court Road, London SW16 2ND.

The site includes the current council car park, the former synagogue to the rear of South Lodge, and the former bowling green behind 49 Leigham Court Road.

The Lambeth Borough Council elections will take place this Thursday, 7th May 2026, with polling stations open from 7am to 10pm.

Your poll card, which you should have received via post, will include the address of your polling station, but you can also find it online.

Voter ID is required to vote at polling stations, but you do not need your poll card.

An alternative to this is a Voter Authority Certificate, which you must have applied for on 28 April 2026.

If you have not, check out the Government website to see which forms of ID are accepted.

In just three days the people of the borough will elect from among us the servants and caretakers of our public services, green spaces and housing. Brixton Buzz has been featuring candidates from all political parties vying for your vote.

The Liberal Democrats lead more councils than the Conservatives and Reform combined, with around 3,200 councillors nationwide and 72 MPs. They last ran Lambeth in coalition from 2002 to 2006, inheriting a £900 million debt from Labour and bringing the borough’s finances back under control.

In just three days the people of the borough will elect from among us the servants and caretakers of our public services, green spaces and housing. Brixton Buzz has been featuring candidates from all political parties vying for your vote.

The Liberal Democrats lead more councils than the Conservatives and Reform combined, with around 3,200 councillors nationwide and 72 MPs. They last ran Lambeth in coalition from 2002 to 2006, inheriting a £900 million debt from Labour and bringing the borough’s finances back under control.

A new Labour Party letter attacking Green candidates Saiqa Ali and Sabine Mairey landed on Lambeth doormats yesterday evening, accompanied by a press release from London Labour HQ attacking Green candidate Sabine Mairey and party leader Zack Polanski.

The letter (attached below), on behalf of all the Lambeth Labour Party candidates, urges residents not to vote for the Lambeth Greens on Thursday 7 May. It cites press reports of the candidates’ arrests last week on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred and refers to alleged antisemitic social media posts.

With the majority of polls predicting a seismic shift away from Labour across the country in this week’s local elections, Greens are projected to break the party’s 20-year grip on Lambeth Council.

Whether recent events shift Lambeth’s result on Thursday is anyone’s guess. But if the polls are right, that grip ends not purely through a loss at the ballot box, but because the labour movement is abandoning a Labour Party brand whose ideology is increasingly out of step with its membership.

Councillor Donna Harris, Lambeth’s Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition, announces she will stand down in May – and says the borough’s ‘one-party state’ is finally starting to crack

In a personal statement shared with Brixton Buzz, the Streatham Hill West & Thornton councillor reflects on four years holding Labour to account at the Town Hall, the residents’ cases that shaped her politics, and why – despite stepping back for health reasons – she believes a more balanced Lambeth is within reach.

Donna Harris writes: