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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LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes gets knocked back by the Information Commissioner, and is caught out muddling evidence, while council resources drain away
This blog has periodically highlighted the slipshod way that LBWF administers its information services, and the waste of time and public money which often ensues. In the last couple of years, LBWF Dir... »
Town Hall shambles: Chief Executive Linzi Roberts-Egan slams the scheme that her senior managers have been using to appraise staff performance, branding it ‘not fit for purpose’
Sometimes LBWF surprises even those who have followed its antics for many years. As a previous post indicated, the Town Hall is now stuffed with several hundred senior managers, their number having qu... »
New investigation reveals that since 2015 LBWF has failed to comply with the official transparency rules, so limiting outside scrutiny and accountability
In 2015, the Conservative government introduced an updated version of the Local Government Transparency Code (hereafter LGTC) which set out the information councils must place in the public domain, an... »
Leytonstone cartoonist Woox on Lord Cryer and You Know Who…
(Reproduced by kind permission of Woox) »
The Whitefield School abuse scandal: who knew what, when, and why is there still a sense of unease?
Whitefield is a long-established academy school in Walthamstow with c. 300 pupils aged between three and 19, many of whom have severe or complex needs and are unable to communicate verbally. Over the ... »
LBWF’s top law officer Mark Hynes blocks a question about asbestos in the Town Hall for six months, and then gets an almighty rocket from the Information Commissioner
During the early 2020s, I spent a good deal of time researching LBWF health and safety matters, especially those which followed on from its 2015 court conviction for exposing staff and contractors to ... »
LBWF Monitoring Officer Mark Hynes rules that Cllr. Akram’s register of interests form is up-to-date and correct, and issues in the past were the fault of council staff
After investigating, LBWF Monitoring Officer Mark Hynes has ruled that Cllr. Akram’s register of interest form is up-to-date and correct, and issues in the past were caused because despite Cllr.... »
LBWF censured by an Ombudsman again, this time because it sent an invoice demanding £6,000 to a vulnerable resident…though when challenged admitted this was an ‘error’
Hardly a week goes by without someone from LBWF repeating the twin mantras that ‘Residents are at the heart of everything we do’, and ‘We are determined to be a Council that listens to and works ... »
A new study shows that the closure of police stations in Waltham Forest likely was a false economy, and may have actually aggravated criminality
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 offi... »
Leytonstone cartoonist Woox on Michael Gove’s letter to LBWF about it’s severe maladministration of residents’ housing complaints
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 residen... »