Simon Cordon moved to Lambeth in 1998 and has lived in Clapham for the past 16 years.

Full statement

He has served as a councillor elsewhere including as social care lead – where he pioneered involving people in designing their own services, such as ensuring children in care were included in shaping their own care plans. Locally, he sits on a Policing Oversight Board and has chaired Lambeth’s Leaseholders’ Council.

Simon worked in manufacturing and then in the charitable sector with the Terrence Higgins Trust. Between 2012-24, as operational head of London wide NHS sexual assault services, he oversaw the creation of the Capital’s first comprehensive NHS service for sexually abused children. He provided expert evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse regarding the shocking historic abuse in Lambeth’s children’s homes.

He advised the Scottish Government during their legislative response to child sexual assault, has sat on Met Police strategy (‘Gold’) groups, chaired a London-wide criminal justice partnership for 12 years and co-designed a statutory / third sector partnership for survivors.

Simon cares about injustice — whether international atrocities or pressures facing young people through barriers to home ownership or Brexit‑imposed limits on travel and work in the EU. Locally he believes in practical action. He contacted the police to propose a way to prioritise reviewing residents’ CCTV footage within existing resources — a change they agreed to. He is developing a plan to increase weekend litter collection on Clapham Common within current budgets.

Simon enjoys walking the Capital Ring with his partner and composes music as a hobby. “One reason I am standing is to counter Lambeth’s culture of ‘tick box consultations’ and ‘Town Hall knows best’. I want to use my experience of involving people in the decisions that affect them to champion a resident-first, resident-led Council.”