I didn't grow up in Lewisham borough so wouldn't know about the Tories in LBC, however I did grow up in Brighton which was a Labour council but which was starved of funds by the central authorities as part of Thatcher's program to reduce the influence of local government (which has carried on under Labour).
Sorry about the perceived politicisation of the issue, but all local issues have their route in a national debate (and vice versa). I'm more interested in whether this downturn is going to damage the LAs financially because of reduced revenues.
Check out Tessa Jowell's pronouncements on the approval of the second stage of the ELL extension if you want to see real politicisation of an issue - hilarious.