Lambeth slammed for £1,500 celebration of Northern line extension

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has been criticised after spending almost £1,500 of development money on a festival which celebrated the Northern line extension.

Lambeth council used the Section 106 cash – money paid by developers to compensate for the impact of a project on an area – to co-host an event marking the opening of the new line to Battersea Power Station Tube station in Wandsworth in 2021.

The £1.1billion lengthening of the line south west from Kennington saw two new Tube stations open, one at Nine Elms in Lambeth and another at Battersea Power Station in Wandsworth.

Labour-run Lambeth council marked the opening of the new stations by co-hosting the weekend Line of Light festival in October 2021 with then Tory-controlled Wandsworth council.

It was billed as an “outdoor celebration of the people and communities who live above the new Northern line extension, with a trail of sound and light.”

Tim Briggs, an ex-Lambeth Conservative councillor, branded the council’s use of Section 106 funds a waste of money.

Mr Briggs, who was councillor for Clapham Common until losing his seat at the May 2022 local elections, said: “Section 106 money is money from property developers to pay for the infrastructure that supports the development – roads, community spaces etc.”

The festival, which ran across two evenings in October 2021, featured light projections on buildings.

Cllr Sonia Winifred, Lambeth’s cabinet member for culture at the time, described the festival as a celebration of people who lived around the new 3km line.

She said: “The Line of Light festival is our way of celebrating those communities who live above the extended underground route.

“The theme is togetherness and connectivity.”

Lambeth council has been contacted but did not comment before publication.

Pictured top: Buildings between the new Tube stations were illuminated with lights during the 2021 festival (Picture: Lambeth council)