Cllr. Clare Coghill

London Borough of Waltham Forest: the local authority that can’t even finalise its annual accounts (1)

December 9, 2019 Cllr. Clare Coghill, LBWF finance, LBWF spin

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 this year, the procedure has gone wrong, indeed very wrong, and now there is a lively post mortem in progress about who is to blame, and what are the likely consequences. As regards the 2018-19 audit, L... »

Love amongst the Leaders: Councillors Clare Coghill and Simon Blackburn

September 17, 2019 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Uncategorized

For the past few months, Labour members in Waltham Forest have been agog about the evolving private life of their supremo, Cllr. Clare Coghill. Now Cllr. Coghill has set the record straight, posting that she is happily embarked upon a relationship with the Leader of Blackpool Council, Simon Blackburn. People of goodwill from across the political spectrum will no doubt join this blog in wishing the... »

Cllr. Clare Coghill responds to a polite inquiry about Universal Credit: first there is prevarication, then she complains about ‘sexually aggressive’ abuse

June 26, 2019 Cllr. Clare Coghill

I try not to post about issues where I am directly involved, but sometimes it’s unavoidable, and what follows is a case in point. During September 2018, I signed a joint letter to LBWF Leader Clare Coghill inquiring about what steps the council was taking to mitigate the disastrous introduction of Universal Credit. The tenor of the letter was thoughtful, evidenced, non-partisan, and of course abou... »

Redevelopment in Waltham Forest: the shocking fate of Section 106 ‘planning gain’ UPDATED

April 18, 2018 Redevelopment

In recent years, there has been growing unease in Waltham Forest about the character of redevelopment, particularly in terms of the balance between public and private good. While LBWF in theory is charged with advancing the interests of local residents, there is a feeling that all too often it has tiptoed around the big property companies now operating in the borough, meaning that what is built te... »

The Waltham Forest Matters Annual Awards for 2017

December 29, 2017 Cllr. Alan Siggers, Cllr. Anna Mbachu, Cllr. Chris Robbins, Cllr. Clare Coghill, Cllr. Clyde Loakes, Cllr. Hather Ali, Cllr. Liaquat Ali, Mark Hynes, Martin Esom

It’s that time of year folks, and as this blog rapidly approaches the treasured 100,000 hits mark (OK, we admit it, 50,000 of them come from Cllrs Loakes and Robins) here are our awards: Picture of the year (From a couple of years back, true, but just too much of a cracker not to include) Sentence of the year ‘The company Knice Industries ltd is dormant and had never traded and that the coun... »

LBWF dodges the Local Government Association’s acclaimed peer review scheme, and it’s reasonable to ask: why?

December 1, 2017 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Independent Panel, Martin Esom

Since 2011, the Local Government Association (LGA) has run and financed a scheme called Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), which it sees as ‘a core element of our sector-led improvement offer to local authorities’. As the name suggests CPC involves small teams of experienced officers and councillors visiting participating councils in order to understand how they work, challenge assumptions, and share... »

LBWF Leader Cllr. Clare Coghill and knife crime: some issues that need to be addressed, and urgently

November 21, 2017 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Gang Prevention Programme, Policing/crime

According to the Waltham Forest Guardian, there were serious stabbings in Walthamstow on the 14, 16, and 19 November just past, leading the police to impose a section 60 order, which allows them augmented powers of stop and search. On 17 November, the Leader of LBWF, Clare Coghill, issued a press release: ‘”I fully understand that the community is concerned following the two violent in... »

LBWF Leader Clare Coghill’s MIPIM muddle (2)

October 20, 2017 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Redevelopment

After this blog’s previous posts about Council Leader Clare Coghill’s 2016 and 2017 visits to Cannes for ‘real estate’s Glastonbury Festival’, the Marché International des Professionnels de l’Immobilier (MIPIM), various correspondents have written in requesting further details, particularly about the cost. It is worth noting that in her ‘registered gifts and hospitalities’ ... »

Redeveloping Waltham Forest: some experiences from the periphery

September 22, 2017 Cllr. Keith Rayner, Cllr.Patrick Edwards, Cllr.Sally Littlejohn, Redevelopment, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

As a previous post indicates, LBWF is currently engaged in a major public-private programme to redevelop the borough. Much of the publicity about this programme centres on a few key hubs, principally Walthamstow. Far less is known about what’s happening elsewhere. So to rectify this situation, the following paragraphs focus on an unsung ward, Cann Hall, in the borough’s poorer south. First, some b... »

LBWF Leader Clare Coghill’s MIPIM muddle (1)

August 7, 2017 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Redevelopment

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... »

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