A New Yellow Qube this December

Cllr Hashi met the residents association on 13th May 2025. He confirmed the Yellow Qube is likely to reopen as a youth centre in December and community sports organisations will be able rent the attached football pitch at a reduced rate.

Present: 19 residents

Guests:

Marvin Charles – Headteacher of City Heights
Cllr Dr Mohammad Hashi – Cabinet Member for community safety – mhashi@lambeth.gov.uk
Fiona McKeith – Lambeth’s Assistant Director of Valuation and Strategic Assets – fmckeith@lambeth.gov.uk

Apologies: Cllr Saleha Jaffer, Cllr Olga Fitzroy

Introduction by Cllr Dr Hashi

The issue with the Yellow Qube is currently being led by Cllr Dr Hashi, the cabinet member for community safety. It will soon transfer to Cllr Ben Kind, the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families.

Prior to the pandemic the Yellow Qube was run by an organisation that, in Cllr Dr Hashi’s words, “wasn’t necessarily delivering”. Lambeth Council took the following action to address this.

In September 2023 they wrote to the organisation addressing the lack of use
In March 2024 they wrote to the organisation terminating their tenancy. The organisation running the Yellow Qube called for a judicial review
In October 2024 the organisation withdrew their judicial review
In December 2024 Lambeth secured the building.

[Secretary’s note – The residents’ association also organised a 200 strong petition and frequent public meetings on the subject]

The plan is now

The outline plan for the Yellow Qube will be approved at the cabinet meeting on 30th June
The council will launch a consultation in July that includes local residents’ associations, local schools and local young people.
The letting process will commence in September.
A decision on the service provider will be made in November
The council hopes the service provider will start in December

A resident stressed the importance of making this consultation as wide as possible. It must include young people under 18 and people who don’t attend residents’ association public meetings.

Football Pitch

The Yellow Qube currently consists of three areas

The upstairs room, which will be exclusively for the use of the new service provider
The downstairs room, which is exclusively for the use of the City Heights E-Act Academy
The football pitch, which is to be shared between the two

Currently it is possible for the residents to rent the football pitch via an external letting agency the school uses. This charges commercial rents which one resident said was unaffordable. Cllr Dr Hashi said when the new service provider is installed it will be possible for community sports organisations to rent the attached football pitch at a reduced rate that is significantly less than commercial rents. They will do this through the new service provider. Mr Charles, the school headteacher confirmed he is happy with that. He said the school was waiting on those running the Yellow Qube to contact the school to arrange access for local young people.

Management

Cllr Dr Hashi said the idea was to give the new provider a 10 year lease with a 5 year break clause.

A local resident proposed a management contract rather than a lease-based model, with a fuller management contract where the services provided could be explicitly specified and where the service provider could be legally challenged if they failed to provide some services. A second local resident noted that a lease-based model might be a prerequisite for external funding, It was acknowledged that there should be further discussion of management models. The Lambeth team commented that they had in place established management models for entities such as Yellow Qube, but were open to discussion.

There was discussion of the need for rigorous monitoring. The council team indicated that the service provider’s outcomes should be reviewed every year. The need for more frequent monitoring was emphasised by several members of the audience

Cllr Dr Hashi mentioned there would be a governance committee and there is “Definitely an option” to have residents on the governance committee. A resident reiterated resident involvement on the governance committee was important.

In summary, all residents who spoke agreed

Local residents should be involved in governance and monitoring structures
The new service provider should be given clear and explicit Key Performance Indicators and timelines, though there was disagreement about the best method to enforce them.

The meeting closed at 1945. Neither Cllr Dr Hashi nor Fiona McKeith could stay for longer.

ENDS