Michael was born in Waterloo and has lived the majority of his life in North Lambeth.

Full statement

As a council tenant he was chair of the Vauxhall Neighbourhood Housing Forum and of Lambeth Tenants’ Council. As a parent he was the Chair of Governors at Pimlico School, and is currently a governor of Hitherfield School.

He has led many campaigns, from stopping two Council proposals to develop Lambeth Walk Green in 2000, to getting a new Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank managed by a community trust, opened by the Queen in 2012. Michael led the campaign to stop the Garden Bridge, lodging a Judicial Review of the Boris Johnson folly - Boris promised it would be paid from private donations, but ended up costing the public purse £47m with nothing to do show for the money!

For the past 20 years he has run Waterloo Community Development Group, and most recently represented Lambeth Village at the Albert Embankment public inquiry, where they successfully persuaded the Secretary of State to overturn Lambeth Council’s support for four tower blocks.

Since becoming effectively a one-party state in 2014, Lambeth has stopped listening to communities, rational argument or due process. The result is principles upended, policy ignored, meagre funds wasted and social injustice multiplied. No party has the monopoly on wisdom. Michael is standing to help retrieve pluralism for Lambeth.

Lambeth is at the epi-centre of London's development industry, the biggest industry in London. But much development is unnecessary, delivers no public benefit, and merely creates a haven for off-shore investment and vacant buildings, which generate millions of tonnes of CO2 for no discernible purpose.

Vote for Michael Ball. Vote for a kinder Kennington, a fairer Lambeth, and a sustainable planet.