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... »
Homepage
Introduction
Posts
London Borough of Waltham Forest: the local authority that can’t even finalise its annual accounts (1)
Every year, like other local authorities, LBWF is bound by law to produce its annual accounts, using an external auditor and a timetable specified by the Accounts and Audit Regulations of 2015. But th... »
John Cryer MP and anti-semitism
All the recent talk of the Corbynistas’ anti-semitism brings to mind a post that appeared on this blog way back in 2017. That great advert for Labour meritocracy, John Cryer MP, had awoken from his us... »
The East London Credit Union’s collapse: major new revelations, and the bad odour intensifies UPDATED
As previous posts (referenced below) have pointed out, the collapse into administration on 11 September 2019 of that longstanding LBWF favourite, the East London Credit Union (ELCU), has left many que... »
Fireproofing flat entrance doors at Goddarts sheltered housing in Walthamstow: another LBWF fiasco, which has left vulnerable residents in danger, and will cost a great deal of public money to rectify
This post looks at what LBWF has done – in fact more accurately, has not done – over the past few years to make sure that flat entrance doors (FEDs) at Goddarts House sheltered housing in Walthamstow ... »
LBWF CEO Martin Esom, the Prevent anti-terrorist programme, and the politics of illusion
Perhaps curiously, given LBWF’s decidedly chequered record in identifying and addressing Islamist extremism, Martin Esom, the council CEO, chaired the pan London Prevent Board (LPB) from 2012 to late ... »
Councillor Keith Rayner revealed to have had some difficulty with, ahem, his own council tax payments
A valuable investigation by Lewis Berrill, Chief Reporter of the East London and West Essex Guardian, has revealed that in the past few years four LBWF councillors – Rajar Anwar, Kastriot Berberi, Jem... »
Cllr. Paul Douglas and the East London Credit Union: confusion reigns
As a previous post pointed out (see link below), the demise of LBWF’s beloved East London Credit Union (ELCU) throws up a number of as yet unanswered questions. Some recent correspondence adds t... »
Rebuked by the Information Commissioner’s Office, and revealed to have misunderstood the law, LBWF sails on regardless
As past posts demonstrate, LBWF has a poor record when it comes to issues around transparency, regularly failing even in terms of its statutory responsibilities. A recent case reinforces the cause for... »
The East London Credit Union crashes into administration, leaving several important questions unanswered
On 11 September 2019, the East London Credit Union (ELCU), trading as the Waltham Forest Community Credit Union, collapsed into administration. Simultaneously, the UK Financial Services Compensation S... »
LBWF and fire hazards in its housing stock: residents in Cann Hall’s John Walsh and Fred Wigg towers left in danger, as Labour averts its eyes
John Walsh and Fred Wigg tower blocks in Cann Hall are 15 storey identical twins, built in the 1960s, and each containing 117 flats. It would be nice to state definitively how many people have lived t... »