A note for readers…
This is a personal blog, which aims to scrutinise the powers that be in Waltham Forest, from the Council (hereafter London Borough of Waltham Forest or LBWF), both elected members and staff; to our MP... »
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Cllr. Clyde Loakes makes Private Eye
From Private Eye No.1532, 9-22 October 2020. Cllr. Loakes, of course, is no stranger to these kind of controversies, see, for example, the story retold in the links. It is also arresting that someone ... »
London Borough of Waltham Forest: the local authority that can’t even finalise its annual accounts (3)
The saga of LBWF’s failure to complete its 2018-19 accounts – originally due, as for all other local authorities, on the last day of July 2019 – continues, and indeed seems to have no very clear end i... »
The Labour Left in Waltham Forest: neither use nor ornament (1)
As anyone close to the action readily will tell you (if only off the record), Labour in Waltham Forest is split down the middle. Labour Party One consists of Walthamstow MP, Dr. Stella Creasy, the LBW... »
LBWF and fire safety at Northwood Tower: yet more jiggery-pokery?
The antics of LBWF never cease to amaze and (for those who appreciate dark humour) amuse. A fresh example has just emerged. In the last few years, fire safety at the 21 floor, 99 flat, Northwood Tower... »
Fire safety at LBWF’s Northwood Tower in Walthamstow: a further chapter in a long-running and dismal story
From August 2017 onwards, the Waltham Forest Echo journalist Michelle Edwards has repeatedly warned about the perilous state of fire safety measures at Walthamstow’s 21 floor Northwood Tower. Shocked ... »
LBWF and COVID-19 (3)
With the passage of time, there is growing clarity about how LBWF has been affected by COVID-19, and to what extent the impact is being mitigated by special support received from the government. The f... »
LBWF and its Freedom of Information Act failings: now the Information Commissioner’s Office directly intervenes UPDATED
Past posts have covered LBWF’s increasingly unsatisfactory record in handling Freedom of Information (FOI) inquiries – its delays, illegitimate evasions, ignorance of the legal framework, and so on. H... »
LBWF ‘communication’ with local residents: the yawning gap between rhetoric and reality
As this blog has previously reported, though LBWF stridently declares that it wants to ‘communicate’ with residents, even help them become ‘active citizens’, able to drive policy, what transpires on t... »
Cllrs Anna Mbachu and Victoria te Velde: register of Interests controversy re-surfaces UPDATED
Given the frequency over the years with which they have been discussed by this blog, it might be thought that councillors’ register of interests (RoI) forms now must be a non-issue – all present, up-t... »
LBWF and COVID-19 (2)
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 h... »