Retiring current Streatham Constituency Member of Parliament, (which covers Weir Estate.) Mr. Keith Hill MP has been announced as the new Chair of the Lambeth Living Board.Mr. Hill will succeed Lynn Holman who has been Acting Chair since the start of 2009.

As Chair of the Board, Keith will be the lead on policy and strategy and continue the work that has begun to improve service quality to tenants, leaseholders, and freeholder and to help Lambeth Council qualify for Decent Homes Funding in the coming years.

The Labour MP, was selected by a panel which included Lambeth Living Chief Executive, Cathy Deplessis. The panel made their recommendation to the full Board on 16th September 2009 which agreed with the recommendation and Keith will be the board’s nomination for Chair at the Annual General Meeting at the end of September, though there is expected to be no opposition to his appointment.

Following the appointment of Keith Hill, Lynn Holman will be continuing in her role as Board Director. Ms Holman said, “I’m delighted with the appointment and wish Keith every success with his new role.”

Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council said, “I am delighted Keith Hill has accepted his appointment as Chair of Lambeth Living. Keith is a former Housing Minister as well as a highly popular MP here in Lambeth. He knows the patch, he knows the people, he knows housing policy and he has the energy and enthusiasm to make things happen. Keith is the champion our residents need to help Lambeth Living and get their services working better for the tenants and leaseholders they exist to serve. Keith has my full support and, on behalf of the whole council, I look forward to working with him to improve the lives of residents up and down Lambeth who want to see Lambeth Living turn round housing in Lambeth after decades of under-performance by the council.”

Keith Hill has been the MP for Streatham since 1992 and will retire at the general election. From 2003 to 2005 he was the Housing and Planning Minister with major responsibility for the Decent Homes programme of council house modernisation. Mr Hill will immediately begin to familiarise himself with his new duties as Chair of Lambeth Living and has announced that he will draw no allowance whilst he remains a Member of Parliament.

WERA Chair, Dave McEvoy praised the appointment “Keith has been a familiar face for many years and has served as an MP, we recently met him during a visit to the estate and his support in the Weir Link and I am delighted that he will be Chair with the energy and enthusiasm he has for improving housing and Lambeth. He has demonstrated to us that he is willing and more than capable to move things forward. We congratulate him on his appointment and wish him all the very best in his new role.”

Keith Hill MP is expected to take up the role immediately following the confirmation at the AGM.