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LBWF councillors through the prism of their register of interest forms

March 23, 2016 LBWF, register of interests, Waltham Forest Labour Party

The LBWF councillor code of conduct requires each member to answer questions on a register of interest form at the beginning of their term of office, and then update as necessary, with the results being published on the authority’s website. In 2012, the Waltham Forest Guardian reported that councillors were finding this requirement challenging. Some had missed out crucial details, with, for example, the Leader, Chris Robbins, neglecting to mention his family home. Others – incredibly – overlooked their party membership. A few had simply failed to keep their forms up to date. The full story is here: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9527377.WALTHAM_FOREST__Concern_over_councillors__... »

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‘Forget the homeless, what about the coffee drinkers?’ LBWF v. The Christian Kitchen (Part 2): the council gets a walloping in court

March 22, 2016 Christian Kitchen, Cllr. Clyde Loakes, Cllr. Marie Pye

We published Part 1 of this story some months ago (see the link below in Related Posts). Our correspondent now provides the sequel. ‘The Christian Kitchen has been feeding the homeless in Walthamstow for over 20 years. On the 17 April 2013, LBWF revoked its longstanding licence to operate from the Mission Grove car park (located just behind the High Street), citing the apparent incidence of associated anti-social behaviour, and a desire to regenerate the immediate area. In Part 1 of this investigation we documented how veteran councillor Terry Wheeler made known his opposition to the licence decision in a letter to Labour Group colleagues.  Here, we turn to what happened subsequently, lookin... »

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STOP PRESS: Cllr. Ali gets Guido-ed

March 18, 2016 Cllr. Liaquat Ali

The portly one gets the full GF treatment: http://order-order.com/2016/03/18/will-khan-name-and-shame-the-ali-family/ How long will ‘Strong Leader’ Robbins keep standing by this embarrasing liability? »

Selwyn Primary School, Highams Park: demolish in haste, repent at leisure?

March 17, 2016 Asbestos at St. Mary's School

A local resident writes as follows:   ‘Waltham Forest Council (hereafter LBWF) wants to demolish Selwyn Primary School in Highams Park and replace it with a modular building block of the same capacity. Executive head teacher Maureen Okoye appears to be spearheading the plans. Shortly after she took over running Selwyn there were allegations that she had a “dictatorial” style, and treated staff “unfairly”. Eventually, 12 teachers resigned in unison, leading Ms. Okoye to comment (in what must be one of the understatements of the year): “when you introduce new ideas there will be a bit of resistance”. The Waltham Forest Guardian covered the story at length here: www.guardian-series.... »

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John Cryer’s moonlight flit – the speculation continues

March 11, 2016 John Cryer MP

A corespondent with his finger on the pulse of Labour politics revisits the Cryer flit: ‘Back in July 2015, we reported that one of our local Labour MPs, John Cryer, had moved to Lewisham two months after retaining his seat in the General Election, prompting various wags to call for the house he had sold to be awarded a blue plaque in honour of his relatively brief residency [see ‘John Cryer MP Once Lived Here’ – linked below]. News of Mr. Cryer’s move slipped out rather haphazardly, though it must have been planned for some time, and this provoked a degree of comment. Sundry residents felt that he should have been more forthright, sooner. Local Labour activists, too, were unamused, es... »

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