Clapham tenants claim stock transfer vote was flawed

Last Thursday, residents of the Clapham Park estate in south London voted in favour of the transfer, which is the first by a New Deal for Communities scheme.

Now tenants are petitioning for a fresh vote on the deal because they say the original ballot was flawed and they want it to be investigated. The petition will be sent to the ODPM, Lambeth council and the local government ombudsman.

The tenants allege that a sports bag had been used instead of a ballot box and that the ballot had been held in the show flat for the scheme, which was surrounded by pro-transfer publicity material, rather than in a neutral venue. They claim they were told they could send an observer to the count but were later told they could not be present.

However a Lambeth council spokeswoman said: “The ballot on the Clapham Park estate was a free and fair ballot, independently supervised by the Electoral Reform Service and we have abided by the majority vote.”