Scheming Lambeth Council conned Government inspectors to protect its position as London’s most improved council, then tried to cover it up.

The council opened up three “ghost libraries” a week before a vital inspection into the quality of the council’s cultural services so officers could boost failing performance figures.

It had panicked about what a poor inspection could mean for its overall rating.

When the Streatham Guardian contacted the council about the scandal - dubbed Librarygate - in October, the local authority strongly denied it.

But a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to obtain all council documents surrounding the mysterious opening of the three book-lending, “cultural information hubs”, has uncovered the council’s plot.

It intended - in its own words - to “dress up” the “temporary libraries” as information centres that would boost library opening times for the week of the inspection and allow them to pass the inspection.

Lambeth Council maintains its stance that it made “no attempt to mislead the Audit Commission on this”. A spokesman said: “The Cultural Information Centres were an innovative pilot scheme to promote council services, expand access to libraries and boost voter registration.”

But emails obtained through the FOI show the council intended to exploit loopholes in the Audit Commission’s inspection criteria, that meant inspectors only looked at data for the week of their visit.

The hubs were opened at Brixton Children’s Centre, the Union Road housing office in Clapham and the Marcus Lipton Youth Club in Brixton, the week before the March 31 inspection.

The “libraries” issued only 25 library books before closing six weeks later.

One issued no books at all, but each was costed at £12,700 to install and £5,325 to run per month.

The emails showed council officers feared they might be caught out by the Audit Commission.

A senior policy officer and a data analyst exchanged emails about whether inspectors would query if libraries had been funded from a different budget, the breakdown of what money had been spent on there, or check for the existence of the libraries on the council website.

But they decided to push on with the plan regardless.

Opposition councillor Julian Heather, said: “These revelations prove that there has been a conspiracy to dupe Government appointed inspectors. By attempting to falsify its record and then cover up the scandal, this Labour-run council has sunk to a new low.

"Can the inspectors rely on any information or performance data that this Council gives them?"

Lambeth Council’s spokesman said: “This was a really positive experiment and we are looking to expand this kind of outreach work, so we take services closer to our residents.”