- Person: Claire Holland
- Role: Labour leader of Lambeth Council
- Location: South London
- Recognition: New Year’s honours list
- Services: To local government
- Council: Lambeth Council
- Context: Acknowledged for leadership contributions
Figures display One of the city’s most criticized councils is Lambeth.
Holland’s council has been accused of serious maladministration and has been judged to have behaved illegally twice in the past year.
Holland responded to the news by saying she was “extremely honored” and that she intended to use her OBE as “motivation to continue working hard on the front line of service delivery.”
Residents are shocked by the revelation; on the local news website BrixtonBuzz, one person called the honor a “joke.”
In May of last year, the High Court determined that Lambeth had violated the law by establishing a low-traffic neighborhood (LTN) in spite of locals’ objections.
A week later, in a different case, the court determined that the council had similarly violated the statute by approving many music festivals in Brockwell Park in spite of locals’ objections.
Two months later, the Housing Ombudsman listed Lambeth as one of the poorest performers in a report detailing years of neglect to complete vital social housing repairs.
The case of a child’s bedroom window, which had been boarded up for more than three years despite the council’s recognition that it was decaying and presented a fall danger, was one of the instances of serious maladministration mentioned.
The Ombudsman previously chastised Lambeth Council for lodging a seriously disabled kid for two years in a house too tiny to accommodate her wheelchair through the front entrance, forcing her mother to leave it outside.
Two years after taking over the council in 2021, Holland was chosen to serve as chair of London Councils, representing the 32 London borough councils.
She was appointed in spite of Lambeth’s inferior adult social care performance than 90% of councils and the fact that the local government ombudsman upheld more complaints from Lambeth than from any other council save Croydon.
The council has always struggled with salary control. 51 executives get over £100,000 annually, including a £160,000 wage for a “director of climate and inclusive growth,” according to the company’s most recent financial statements. However, performance hasn’t kept up with this; with just two trading standards officers out of 318,000 employees, the authority has the second-lowest number in the UK.
Additionally, Lambeth Council has nearly £1 billion in debt, which has compelled it to take drastic steps to save spending, such as proposing to lower streetlights at night.
The OBE was criticized as a “reward for failure” or a “joke” in the comment section of the local news website BrixtonBuzz after the news emerged.
The top-rated comment said:
“What a joke. It’s because of appointments such as this that I just don’t believe in the honours system.”
When Lambeth shared the news on X, it disabled public comments.
In a statement, Holland said:
“I am proud to have been elected to represent Lambeth’s communities, to have fought for children’s rights and to have led councils across London through what has been a challenging time for local government, but one in which we have forged a new partnership between councils, the mayor and the government.”
What reasons did the honours committee give for her OBE?
Claire Holland was awarded an OBE for” services to original government,” a standard citation for honours at this position without detailed public elaboration from the commission.
UK honours panels, via the Cabinet Office, generally give terse reasons like this for OBEs, feting major original places; Lambeth Council expanded on hers as leadership through Covid recovery, climate action, casing delivery, and chairing London Councils, but no verbatim commission explanation beyond the general phrasing appears in sanctioned lists or adverts.
Specific provocations remain opaque as nominations are nonpublic, with final opinions by the Prime Minister and monarch; original praise fills the gap, though critics question it given Lambeth’s performance rankings.
