Cllr. Grace Williams

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 st... »

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 eve... »

LBWF Leaders rattle the begging bowl, but splash £100,000 on ‘a conversation’ between seven floodlit buildings

January 25, 2022 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Cllr. Grace Williams, LBWF finance

Since the start of the pandemic, the respective Labour Leaders, first Cllr. Clare Coghill and later her successor, Cllr. Grace Williams, have returned to versions of the long-standing Labour complaint that LBWF is not getting a fair funding deal from the Tory government. Cllr. Coghill early on set the tone, stating in a press release of April 2020 that “‘If lockdown measures continue f... »

The recent Labour Leadership contest in Waltham Forest: a tale of Grace Williams, Liaquat Ali…and Clyde Loakes

July 30, 2021 Cllr. Clyde Loakes, Cllr. Grace Williams, Cllr. Liaquat Ali

As local news outlets have reported, in the election to find a new Council Leader following Clare Coghill’s resignation, the Labour Group has plumped for Grace Williams, with Liaquat Ali a close second. The general feeling on the Labour benches is that Ms. Williams will provide short-term stability, though many also believe that after the 2022 local elections, there will be a further Leadership co... »

Has LBWF got a child safeguarding problem? Judge in recent case condemns council’s ‘overwhelming failure’, while three other cases give cause for concern

April 27, 2021 Cllr. Clare Coghill, Cllr. Grace Williams

In recent weeks, Waltham Forest and London news outlets have reported the trial of a local mother and father, who stood accused of keeping their two children isolated at home for more than 14 years, thereby depriving them of schooling, access to medical care, recreation, and any kind of social life.  The outcome was that the father admitted child cruelty and neglect, and was given a community... »