Posts

Council Leader Clare Coghill, trader Asghar Jilow, and the controversy over Walthamstow Street Market

June 12, 2017 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Mini Holland

In recent months, there has been a good deal of controversy about the future of Walthamstow’s famous street market and the shops that surround it. LBWF is involved in a strategic review, but many traders remain unimpressed, arguing that this is pointless because it fails to address two debilitating problems, which they believe are Mini-Holland and the authorities’ failure to clamp down on crime and ant-social behaviour. One trader, Asghar Jilow, has been especially vocal, and I reproduce below (with permission) some of his correspondence with the new LBWF Leader, Cllr. Clare Coghill. What is p... »

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Knife crime in Waltham Forest: a nasty little scandal (4)

June 9, 2017 Gang Prevention Programme, Policing/crime

Responding to my follow up e-mail to members of the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee, its chair, Cllr. Masood Ahmad states as follows: ‘Just to confirm, the Scrutiny Committee for Communities has not received any data relating to Sanction Detection Rates during the year. However, I would like to reassure you that we looked at a range of performance indicators relating to community safety, which include data on the total number of recorded crimes, the number of “MOPAC 7” offences, and the number of re-offences by the gang cohort being targeted by the Gangs Programme. We also looked at ... »

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Extremism in Waltham Forest: an update (3)

June 8, 2017 Prevent

The BBC is currently reporting as follows: ‘Three terror suspects arrested in east London armed raids Three men have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences following a series of raids involving armed police, in east London. Two men, aged 34 and 37, were detained in Newham, while a third man aged 33 was arrested at an address in Waltham Forest. All three have been taken to a south London police station. The arrests are not connected to the attacks on London Bridge and in Borough Market, Scotland Yard said. In a separate investigation, counter-terror police made a series of arrests ... »

The E11 BID Co. apparently set to close, but big questions remain

June 2, 2017 E11 BID Co., Uncategorized, Waltham Forest Business Board

Word reaches me that the E11 BID Co. directors have decided to throw in the towel, and shut their company at Christmas. If true, this is good news, for although the E11 BID Co. claims to have put its disaterous past behind it, there are still enough flaws in its functioning to give grave cause for concern. Well-run companies, for example, submit their accounts on time. But the visitor who looks up the E11 BID Co. at Companies House today is greeted by the following: Meanwhile the E11 BID2 Ltd. remains as big a mystery as ever. We know that LBWF now feeds this recently created entity the BID le... »

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Knife crime in Waltham Forest: a nasty little scandal (3)

May 30, 2017 Cllr. Liaquat Ali, Policing/crime

Cllr. Liaquat Ali MBE JP is the long-standing LBWF Cabinet portfolio lead for community safety and cohesion, a position which involves, amongst other things, responsibility for the local ‘crime and disorder’ and ‘anti-gangs’ strategies. In recognition of his Cabinet role, and in addition to his councillor’s allowance, Cllr. Ali receives the sum of no less than c. £21,000 p.a. Most people will assume that, as a well-paid portfolio lead, Cllr. Ali rigorously attends the Waltham Forest Safer Neighbourhoods Board (WFSNB), since (a) he is listed as a member of that body (he even include... »

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Knife crime in Waltham Forest: a nasty little scandal (2)

May 15, 2017 Cllr. Liaquat Ali, Gang Prevention Programme, Policing/crime

Following on from my recent knife crime post I e-mailed all the councillors on the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee as follows: ‘Dear Councillors, Please note the following: http://www.walthamforestmatters.org.uk/2017/05/05/knife-crime-in-waltham-forest-a-nasty-little-scandal/ The knife crime figures plus associated Sanction Detection Rates (SDRs) are a real scandal, blighting the lives of many young people right across the borough. In particular, I am interested to know what if anything you have done about the risible SDRs. Is it not time for a full inquiry as to why (for many seriou... »

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Knife crime in Waltham Forest: a nasty little scandal (1)

May 5, 2017 Gang Prevention Programme, Policing/crime

The Waltham Forest Guardian’s Joe Roberts recently reported that between April 2016 and April 2017 there were 384 knife crimes in the borough, 34 per cent up on the previous year. These figures are shocking enough in themselves, but data released in response to a new Freedom of Information Act inquiry reveals that the surge in such violence has a further worrying dimension. Police performance in clearing up crime is measured by Sanction Detection Rates (SDRs). Briefly, a ‘sanction detection’ is recorded where a suspect has been identified as responsible for committing a particular offense, and... »

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John Cryer MP: a news roundup

April 28, 2017 John Cryer MP, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

When John Cryer moved his home to Lewisham in 2015, many Labour party members hereabouts were disappointed, as they believed he had pledged that, as long as he represented Leyton and Wanstead, he would live there too. But any outright criticism was muted, because Mr. Cryer seemed motivated by the most touching of human concerns. He had recently married Labour activist Ellie Reeves, and they now had a very young baby. The reason for the move, he explained, was all about his wife and child. As he told the Waltham Forest Guardian: ‘“After our baby was born in January we both found it very difficu... »

The E11 BID Co. saga continues

April 17, 2017 E11 BID Co.

As this blog has extensively documented, Leytonstone’s Business Improvement District (BID) scheme, and more particularly the company that is supposed to run it,  the E11 BID Co., have rarely been free from controversy. Now fresh revelations suggest that the worrying pattern continues. On paper, the way that the BID works is fairly straightforward. Each business rate payer in Leytonstone is billed annually for one per cent of their property’s rateable value; the money is collected by LBWF and then passed on to the E11 BID Co.; and the latter then uses it to make the area commercially more... »

Councillor Saima Mahmud’s surreptitious Town Hall award ceremonies: a further update

April 5, 2017 Cllr. Saima Mahmud, Uncategorized, Waltham Forest Labour Party

Regular readers of this blog will remember that last year’s Mayor, Cllr. Saima Mahmud, hosted surreptitious award ceremonies, organised by two private citizens, in the Mayor’s Parlour; and that the beneficiaries of these events included several controversial figures. The most unpleasant without doubt was the Pakistani Senator Sirajul Haq, a man known, amongst other things, for ranting about the Jews and opposing legislation on domestic violence – in other words espousing views which are not only abhorrent in themselves, but also (important in this context) diametrically opposed to LBWF communi... »

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