Posts

Cllr. Limbajee, Cllr. Mbachu, their register of interests forms, and LBWF’s Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes: the controversy continues

The controversy over the register of interests forms posted by Cllrs. Khevyn Limbajee and Anna Mbachu, covered by this blog recently, is mushrooming, with even the officer in charge of enforcing the rules, LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes, apparently struggling. Let’s take Cllr. Mbachu first, because her case is fairly straightforward. It will be remembered that she has been a director of an ‘active’ company called Knice Industries Ltd. since February 2016, but has never disclosed this fact on her LBWF register of interests form; and that when challenged about this in mid-October 2017, Mr. Hynes excused her non-declaration in part because ‘the councillor... »

Islamist extremism in Waltham Forest: a disturbing new episode

In the past week or so, much of the press has covered the trial and conviction of Forest Gate Isis supporter Umar Ahmed Haque on a number of serious terrorist offences. During Mr. Haque’s trial, the court heard extensive evidence about his activities at two schools and a madrassa in East London, where (amongst other things) under the guise of teaching ‘Islamic Studies’ he ‘re-enacted attacks on police officers and showed…videos of beheadings’. It is estimated that 110 of his pupils were ‘radicalised’, a third so seriously that they are now receiving long-term safeguarding support, of course at the taxpayer’s expense. Much of Mr. Haque’s proselyting, it is reported, occurred in Barking, but s... »

Cllr. Khevyn Limbajee’s register of interests form: another case of Waltham Forest-itis?

Over the years this blog has periodically revealed that LBWF councillors have surprising difficulty keeping their register of interests forms as accurate and up-to-date as the agreed standards require, a very obvious example of Waltham Forest-itis. Now another possible case of this unfortunate malady may be on the cards. Cllr. Khevyn Limbajee is the Cabinet portfolio holder for housing, who, with his estate agent chic and penchant for social media, syncs so perfectly with the ongoing middle-class takeover of the Labour Party. As of today, Cllr. Limbajee’s register of interests form, posted on the LBWF website, includes this about his current job: No room for doubt there, then: Cllr. Li... »

Waltham Forest’s Safer Neighbourhoods Board and MOPAC funding: the scandal continues

A post of September past (see link below) reported that, though in FYs 2015-16 and 2016-17 the Waltham Forest Safer Neighbourhood Board (WFSNB) had been allotted £78,000 of Mayor’s Officer for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) funding, and promised to rigorously track how this was spent, it had so far failed to submit anywhere near the required number of monitoring reports. Now it has just emerged that nearly five months down the line, this regrettable situation persists, with MOPAC admitting that the WFSNB’s end of year monitoring forms for 2015-16, plus the mid-year and end of year monitoring forms for 2016-17, are all still outstanding. To put it bluntly, this is quite disgraceful. It is u... »

LBWF and public-private partnerships: (2) North London Ltd.

LBWF’s relationship with North London Ltd. (NLL) illuminates a second way of organising public-private partnerships. NLL is a private company, formed in 2005, whose business is ‘Other service activities not elsewhere classified’. LBWF has close links with NLL, not (as with NPS London Ltd.) because of share ownership, but rather because of, first, mutual involvement in a network of allied institutions, and second, the fact that for the bulk of its history NLL has been something of a factotum, the authority’s chosen vehicle for the local implementation of a variety of programmes, some originating in Waltham Forest, others elsewhere. Thus, in the years to 2012, when LBWF paid NLL in all £... »

Page 49 of 88«4748495051»