Posts

LBWF and COVID-19 (2)

June 19, 2020 COVID-19

In the latest edition of the ‘independent community newspaper’, the Waltham Forest Echo, LBWF Leader, Cllr. Clare Coghill, is particularly exercised by what she sees as government perfidy. Ministers had initially told local authorities ‘“spend what you need to spend and you will get that money back”’, she claims, but then ‘“back-tracked”’, with the current position being ‘“it is only directly coronavirus-related spend that will be reimbursed”’. The consequences, she adds, are grave. LBWF already has started ‘to dip into its reserves’, and if no further assistance is forthcoming, services will have to ‘“adapt and change”’. Cllr. Coghill is of course a politician, and her attempt to take the m... »

The East End Enquirer and Tower Hamlets council’s lack of transparency: a valuable investigation that unsurprisingly resonates in Waltham Forest

June 10, 2020 Mark Hynes, register of interests, Tower Hamlets

In the autumn of 2019, the website Love Wapping begat East End Enquirer, and from that point on, this new site for ‘investigative community journalism’ has broken many excellent stories, most of great interest to WFM readers. One piece that particularly catches the eye is entitled ‘Poplar Papers 9 – How Tower Hamlets Council avoids public scrutiny’: https://www.eastendenquirer.org/2020/05/poplar-papers-9-how-tower-hamlets-council-avoids-public-scrutiny/ This examines a number of techniques used to thwart prying eyes, including ‘Formal Complaints Delayed’, explained thus: ‘As many Tower Hamlets residents know, if they think LBTH has done them wrong they have to exhaust the internal LBTH compl... »

, ,

Goddarts House sheltered housing in Walthamstow: new facts, new controversy

June 4, 2020 Cllr.Louise Mitchell, fire hazards, fire safety, Goddarts House

Reproduced below is a letter that I yesterday sent to LBWF Chief Executive Martin Esom which focuses on some new material that has emerged about fire safety measures at Goddarts House sheltered housing in Walthamstow. The first issue raised with Mr. Esom is about the London Fire Brigade’s recently divulged claim that it was misrepresented in one or more of LBWF’s pre-2019 Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) reports on Goddarts,  specifically, ‘wrongly’ recorded as having endorsed the long-standing ‘stay put’ policy for residents in the case of fire. How could such a misrepresentation possibly have occurred, especially about something so important? What follows in the letter turns to the most re... »

, , ,

LBWF and settlement agreements: a bellwether in the post COVID-19 years

May 29, 2020 Post COVID-19

In the post COVID-19 years, it will be imperative that LBWF spends money wisely, and turns its back on past profligacy. The fact that LBWF’s Chief Executive currently earns substantially more than the Prime Minister is palpably absurd, and urgently needs rectifying, but there are also several other possible ways of making enduring savings. In February this year, the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TA) investigated local authority use of settlement agreements, with the latter defined as follows: ‘Settlement agreements are legally binding agreements between an employer and an employee that set out the terms surrounding the termination of employment. The purpose of settlement agreements is to resolve any ... »

The London Fire Brigade and fire safety at LBWF’s Goddarts House, Walthamstow, sheltered housing: the anatomy of a shambles

May 18, 2020 fire hazards, fire safety, Goddarts House

This post examines the role played by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) in the ongoing scandal about fire safety at LBWF’s Goddarts House sheltered accommodation in Hoe Street, Walthamstow – 27 flats, with the ‘occupancy types’ officially described as ‘Elderly, Hearing Impairment, Mental Health, Sight Impairment, [and] Wheelchair Users’.  First, some general background about the legislation which governs fire safety at Goddarts, and what role the LFB plays in relation to it. As regards the legislation, there are several statutes involved, but the most important, by far, is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (hereafter FSO 2005). For every building, it specifies, either the owne... »

, ,
Page 35 of 88«‹3334353637›»