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EXCLUSIVE From 2015 to 2022 the number of senior staff in the Town Hall grew nearly fourfold, the cost of employing them did too, but service levels remained average

January 9, 2024 Cllr. Grace Williams, LBWF finance, LBWF spin 0

What follows looks in greater detail at an earlier post’s revelation (see links) that in the past few years, despite repeatedly complaining about government imposed cuts, LBWF in fact has spent millions more from the public purse appointing expensive senior staff.  To get a better handle on this surprising development, I have analysed the annual series which LBWF publishes about its senior staff (here defined as everyone from the chief executive, paid £217,762 p.a., through the different directors and heads, down to grade PO8, paid £50-55,000 p.a.), focusing particularly on the period 2015 to 2022, when the data was presented in common format (regrettably, a 2023 update has yet to appea... »

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LBWF embarks on staff redundancies but quietly admits that it’s allowed senior staff hires to mushroom, even as resident satisfaction with the council plummets

December 19, 2023 LBWF spin, Redundancies 0

LBWF never ceases to amaze. Take its current voluntary redundancy programme. Of course, the timing, just before Christmas, is deplorable, and says everything about how little the Town Hall leadership really cares for those who work for it. But putting that point aside, it’s very interesting to see how LBWF justifies itself.  Predictably, the story being spun for public consumption is that ‘the urgent need to address financial constraints’ stems from ‘reduced government funding, a challenging economic climate and escalating service demands’, in other words, ‘it’s nothing to do with us, gov’. But internal briefings introduce an important qualification. For it turns out that in recen... »

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The Sunday Telegraph reports the ‘misery’ that speed humps are causing in Chingford

December 11, 2023 LBWF spin, Mini-Holland 1

Yesterday, the Sunday Telegraph published a long story about the Chingford speed hump saga, which is archived here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/10/speed-bumps-bring-misery-to-london-borough-chingford/ Amongst the many striking observations included are the following: ‘Shanta Prasad was born in her home on Chingford’s Old Church Road in 1964 and has lived there ever since. In all of those 59 years, she has never had any trouble sleeping – until last year, when London Borough of Waltham Forest installed a speed bump outside her house. “As soon as they were installed, our houses started to shake, it’s a busy arterial road, and when you get buses and lorries, it’s like Formula... »

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LBWF, the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act: the obstruction and harassment of residents asking lawful questions continues

November 23, 2023 Freedom of Information Act, LBWF spin, Mark Hynes 0

In the past few years, this blog has repeatedly revealed that LBWF obstructs local residents using the Freedom of Information Act (FIA) and the Data Protection Act when they are judged to be broaching issues that the Labour leadership considers controversial or likely to damage its reputation. A new case confirms that this disreputable trend continues, and is suggestive, too, about whether LBWF’s Director of Governance and Law, Mark Hynes, who is also Data Protection Officer, has any culpability.  The story can be summarised as follows. During the summer of 2023, I discovered that between 2015 and 2020 LBWF had contracted Amey to manage asbestos removal work in the Town Hall basement, m... »

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Cllr. Williams’ statement about Remembrance Sunday: embarrassing and crass

November 10, 2023 Cllr. Grace Williams 0

In her weekly e-mail to residents sent out yesterday, the 9th November, LBWF Leader Cllr. Grace Williams tells us, next to a graphic of two red poppies, that ‘This weekend I, like many of you, will be remembering and honouring people who have lost their lives as a result of war’. But Remembrance Sunday isn’t about ‘those who have lost their lives as a result of war’, in other words the dead in every conflict since time began. It is much, much more specific than that. The British Legion explains: ‘Remembrance Sunday is a national opportunity to remember the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our freedoms and protected our way of life. We remember the Armed Forces, and their... »

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