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A new study shows that the closure of police stations in Waltham Forest likely was a false economy, and may have actually aggravated criminality

May 2, 2024 Policing/crime

From 2011 onwards, Waltham Forest saw police stations in Leyton, Leytonstone, and Walthamstow close, leaving only Chingford open. There was much disquiet about this at the time, but senior police officers and their allies assured residents that money would be saved without any discernible impact on policing or criminality. Now a paper by Dr. Elisa Facchetti of the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests that the proponents of closure were almost certainly wrong. Dr. Faccetti focuses on London as a whole in the period 2011-16, when the number of open police stations declined by 50 per cent, and measures the impact of closures by examining the volume of crime and other relevant indicators in... »

Leytonstone cartoonist Woox on Michael Gove’s letter to LBWF about it’s severe maladministration of residents’ housing complaints

April 15, 2024 Housing, Woox

Item: ‘Secretary of State Michael Gove has written to the LBWF Chief Executive following a Housing Ombudsman report that finds LBWF guilty of severe maladministration in dealing with residents’ complaints’.  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/660d22dcfb0f77001aec66f2/220324_-_letter_from_SoS_to_Waltham_Forest.pdf (Reproduced by kind permission of Woox) »

LBWF’s latest employment tribunal case: allegations of serious Town Hall racism dismissed, but a sour taste lingers

April 10, 2024 LBWF spin, Racism

On 28 March 2024, The Times published the following story: ‘No leading lady worth that label in the golden age of Hollywood would have balked at being called “glamorous”. But Joan Crawford and Rita Hayworth were not slaving away in modern local authority offices, where, according to an employment tribunal judge, the term is “undermining” and “belittling”. The judge, Sophie Park, said that “in a business context … being described as glamorous is potentially inappropriate”. The word “could be taken as undermining or belittling the person being described, making them seem less serious and professional”. Jeniffer Campbell, a barrister and former beauty pageant winner, alleged tha... »

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‘Affordable housing’ in Waltham Forest: Labour councillors talk up their alleged achievements, but the data on completions is still dismal

March 18, 2024 Housing, LBWF spin

(cartoon courtesy of WOOX) It’s been widely reported that some Labour councillors are bragging about a supposed breakthrough in the local provision of ‘affordable housing’. Politicians habitually will trim to their advantage, obviously, but in truth this new claim is incomplete without careful contextualisation, as a glance at the data demonstrates. To start with, it is important to underline that, as previous posts have noted, the word ‘affordable’ is vague and often used confusingly, but what’s referred to as ‘affordable housing’ in fact encompasses housing let at four different rent levels, two, called Intermediate Rent and Affordable Rent, which aren’t really affordable at all, espe... »

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LBWF’s new core strategy, ‘Mission Waltham Forest: our plan for a more equal borough’: laudable response to austerity, or cynical political opportunism?

March 8, 2024 LBWF spin

 At its February meeting, the Council approved ‘Mission Waltham Forest: our plan for a more equal borough’ (hereafter MWF), comprising a new ‘strategic ambition’ and ‘core purpose’, which is to make Waltham Forest a more equal borough by 2030, plus a new and ‘radical’ way of working, very much ‘a break from… business-as-usual’. In detail, MWF will focus council effort and resources on ten different priorities, six about ‘the issues that matter most to our residents’ (homes, health, access to services etc.), and four about ‘how we must transform how we work if we are to deliver on our vision for the borough’. Throughout, it is underlined, the emphasis will be on involving and listening t... »

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