'I'd rather be lying on a Caribbean beach' - The anti-LTN pensioner standing to be a Lambeth councillor for first time

Three years into her retirement, Janet Gayle thought she’d be winding down. Instead at the age of 68 she’s making her first foray into the world of local politics and standing to be an independent on Lambeth Council. “I would rather be lying on a beach in the Caribbean to be honest,” she told me on the phone on Tuesday morning (April 16). “I didn’t have any intention of doing it until just just a few weeks ago.”

But with just over a fortnight to go before voters elect a new councillor in the Knight’s Hill ward, Gayle’s campaign is going full throttle. She has a 10 point manifesto with punchy commitments including opposing low traffic neighbourhoods, cleaning up streets and dealing with disrepair in council flats. Her campaign flyers are as slickly designed as anything produced by Labour or the Conservatives and her schedule is packed meeting local residents.

Why then is this self-confessed reluctant candidate putting in all this effort? Gayle said she had simply had enough. On a range of issues, from huge service charge increases (up to 352 per cent) that council tenants including herself faced in 2023 to restrictions on driving implemented in her local area and the increasing charges levelled at car owners, she felt the council was no longer listening.

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“My mum lives down the road. She’s 92. My first and second LTN [low traffic neighbourhood] PCNs [penalty charge notices] were trying to get her to doctor appointments. I tried to fight them. I said she’s 92. She’s not well. It makes no difference. It was frustration really and the incompetence.

“We’ve [also] had this problem with the service charges ongoing with Lambeth for the past year and I thought there’s no way I can do anything about this from where I am. You have to sometimes stop and think maybe things aren’t quite right, maybe they need some help.”

While it may be Gayle’s first time standing for office, she’s no stranger to campaigning. For the last 12 months she has been withholding part of her rent, along with other tenants of a sheltered housing complex where she lives in Streatham, in protest at large service charges increases introduced by Lambeth Council in April 2023. (The council has previously said the rise reflected the extra price it paid for energy).

Before retiring, Gayle worked as a director of housing and held a range of positions at housing associations during her career. She said she hopes to draw on her experience of managing projects, improving tenant satisfaction and boosting performance if elected by Lambeth residents on May 2nd.

But she will face an uphill challenge to do so. Labour candidates have won in Knight’s Hill every time they have stood there since 2006. Sonia Winifired, the ex-Labour councillor the by-election was called to replace, received a fifth (20 per cent) of the vote in 2022. The other two Labour candidates swallowed up 21 per cent of the vote each.

'If I do get elected I’ll be a real pain in the a*** at the town hall'

Winifred resigned from her position in February after the local Labour Party suspended her for voting in favour of a Green Party motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at a council meeting in January. For Gayle, the town hall drama seemed detached from local residents’ priorities. “There’s a lot of concern about things going on outside the borough, which is not helping people in the borough,” she said.

“It’s the issues that are here and now that are my problem in the borough. It’s not about a ceasefire or whatever else is going on. I will be prioritising in line with what the local residents want. If I do get elected I’ll be a real pain in the a*** at the town hall. I’m not scared to go in and question whatever needs questioning.”

Got a story? Email robert.firth@reachplc.com.

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