Labour politician who oversaw £3m council house deal criticised for entering prize draw to win it

29 April 2025 Claudia Lee

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A Labour politician who oversaw the sale of a council house in a £3million deal has been criticised for entering a prize draw to win it.

Southwark councillor Richard Livingstone told London Centric he had recently bought a raffle ticket to win the four-bedroom council home near Borough Market.

But in 2013 he had supervised the sale of the same property, despite opposition from housing activists. Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Leader of Southwark Liberal Democrats, said it was a “gross irony” that the Labour politician was now hoping to buy the house around 12 years later.

He said: “It’s a gross irony that the Labour councillor who flogged off the family silver is now buying lottery tickets for a chance to live in the very home he sold.

*Councillor Richard Livingstone, Labour member for the Old Kent Road (Picture: Southwark council)*

“With 19,000 households on Southwark’s housing waiting list, no new council homes built last year, and the council openly admitting that at least 20 per cent of applicants will never get a home—for some, their odds of winning this lottery are bizarrely better than getting help from Southwark.

“That should be a wake-up call. This isn’t policy, it’s managed decline. They’re hollowing out social housing in Southwark and replacing it with raffles and press releases.”

Despite the criticism of his political rival, Cllr Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat member for Borough and Bankside, admitted to London Centric that he had also entered the raffle to win the Georgian townhouse on Park Street.

*Despite the criticism of his political rival, Cllr Chamberlain admitted that he had also entered the raffle to win the Georgian townhouse (Picture: Eve Milner)*

Labour-run Southwark council decided to sell the property at 21 Park Street, along with neighbouring 23 Park Street, in 2013, despite opposition from housing activists who squatted the property for a period.

The council eventually sold the two houses to a property developer for £2.96million. At the time, Cllr Livingstone said that cash raised by the sale would “fund approximately 20 new council homes” in the borough.

Omaze, the company organising the prize draw, reckons 21 Park Street is now worth more than £4.5 million. Online entries for the raffle close on Sunday (April 27) and postal entries close on Tuesday (April 29). Cllr Livingstone, Labour member for the Old Kent Road, was approached for comment by the LDRS but didn’t respond.

Pictured top: 21 and 23 Park Street in Borough (Picture: Google Street View)