In 2012, the Waltham Forest Guardian reported that councillors were finding the requirement that they fill in and then update their register of interest forms to be 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... »
In March 2016, then portfolio holder for economic growth and high streets, now Group Leader, Clare Coghill travelled to Cannes in the company of LBWF CEO Martin Esom and ‘Assistant Director, Investment and Delivery’ Jonathan Martin, to attend Marché International des Professionnels de l’Immobilier (MIPIM), ‘the world’s leading real estate event for property professionals’. Their mission? To sell i... »
Lest there be any doubt about the matter, this excerpt from AEC Ltd, “Independent Report on the Potential Risk of Exposure to Asbestos during Refurbishment Works in 2011 at St Mary’s School Walthamstow” (NPSL, 2013), p.6 demonstrates that LBWF had overall responsibility for what went on at St. Mary’s, and also (according to AEC) specific culpability for the events that led to the likely expo... »
The Waltham Forest Guardian‘s Tom Barnes has just filed an online story reporting that, following a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Balfour Beatty Regional Construction, NPS London Ltd., and Squibb Group Ltd. today have been fined in all over £1m. for breaking various safety regulations in connection with the removal of asbestos at St Mary’s Church of Eng... »
This post turns from its predecessor’s focus on police priorities to police performance. For reasons that are unclear, the most up to date figures borough by borough on number of offences and related sanction detection rates (SDRs) are no longer widely circulated, but some careful searching has unearthed the table appended below. The series therein largely speak for themselves, and paint a rather ... »
Following on from my series about knife crime, this and the succeeding post look at wider aspects of policing in Waltham Forest. A sensible starting point is police priorities. Under Mayor Johnson, the focus was on the so called Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) Seven – violence with injury, robbery, burglary, vandalism (criminal damage), theft from the person, theft of motor vehicles,... »
There is a sobering post on the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s website, here https://antisemitism.uk/three-months-after-107-labour-mps-issued-an-ultimatum-to-expel-livingstone-the-labour-party-remains-a-dystopia-for-jews/ which looks at what has happened – or rather not happened – since Ken Livingston advised the world that ‘Hitler was supporting Zionism’. And for so... »
A petition has been started to persuade LBWF to publish the fire safety plans for the Fred Wigg and John Walsh towers in Cann Hall: It is really disgraceful, given all that has gone on both locally and of course in west London, to find the residents of the towers still having to resort to these kind of tactics to obtain basic information about their safety. To sign the petition, go here: https://... »
I hear from reliable sources that some of those community representatives who are currently listed on LBWF’s website as members of the Waltham Forest Safer Neighbourhoods Board (WFSNB) are both astonished and perturbed that their names have been made public, since they have never given permission for this to happen, and in addition claim that they have neither received any briefing about their sup... »
The results of the William Morris ward by-election are in, with Labour unknown Umar Ali romping home, followed by the Green’s Rebecca Tully, and our man, Walthamstow ‘born and bread’ Afzal Akram, bringing up the rear. Labour supporters are predictably jubilant on social media, but there is one puzzling comment that is worthy of note. In an extended interchange, a peer of Mr. Akram make... »