Posts

LBWF’s Town Hall asbestos scandal: an update and comment

November 11, 2022 Asbestos at St. Mary's School, Town Hall asbestos

Local Democracy Reporter Josh Mellor yesterday posted a story on the asbestos scandal under the amusing headline ‘Council investigating itself over former town hall asbestos’, here: https://walthamforestecho.co.uk/council-investigating-itself-over-former-town-hall-asbestos#article What follows is a complementary commentary, looking initially at how my own concerns have developed, before turning to scrutinize the context and substance of the council’s response. The key moment when I realised that something was not quite right about the way LBWF was dealing with asbestos in the Town Hall occurred in July 2022. I had asked LBWF under the Freedom of Information Act for ‘a copy of the asbestos pl... »

How Cann Hall councillors communicate with residents…

November 7, 2022 LBWF spin

A resident writes: ‘We opened a community café and foodbank near that notice board, and wanted to put one of our A4 posters on display in it. We found out that – inexplicably – a local shopkeeper held the key, went to see her, and gave her a poster. She promised to put it up straightaway. Nothing happened. So we went to see her again. This time, she said she’d been busy, but promised to act. Nothing happened again. So we went to see her a third time, and on this occasion, because she wasn’t there, we gave a new poster to one of her staff, who promised to jog the owner’s memory. Still nothing. So we tried once more, again nothing happened, so we gave up. That notice board is a disgrace ... »

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Private Eye reports the new LBWF asbestos scandal (1)

October 24, 2022 Town Hall asbestos

From issue 1583, 7-20/10/22. »

Leytonstone cartoonist Woox on LBWF and the Freedom of Information Act

October 3, 2022 Freedom of Information Act, Woox

(Reproduced by kind permission of Woox) »

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Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request about the Walthamstow Mall, LBWF is caught out misusing one of the legislation’s exemption clauses, and has to eat crow

September 29, 2022 Freedom of Information Act

The LBWF e-mail pasted below is largely self-explanatory. However, the back story is less certain. Are LBWF officers really ignorant of the Freedom of Information Act’s Section 41? Or was this an attempt to pull the wool – to brandish apparent expertise, and bank on it not being cross-checked? Whatever the case, those involved emerge with little credit. In the recent past, because of Information Commissioner’s Office concern, Mark Hynes, who is LBWF Director of Governance and Law, as well as Data Protection Officer, has stated that all Freedom of Information responses are to be routed through his office and carefully checked before dispatch, in order to prevent these kind o... »

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