Posts

LBWF, Community Ward Forums, and freedom of speech

December 29, 2017 Cllr. Saima Mahmud, LBWF spin, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

As this blog regularly points out, LBWF devotes a surprising amount of time and attention to what PR spinners call ‘controlling the narrative’, that is vigorously promoting a particular, and self-serving, version of events, while at the same time seeking to sideline criticism. Recent developments add a further concerning illustration. Trevor Calver is a community activist in Chingford, a leading member of the Waltham Forest Dyslexia Association, a determined campaigner on issues ranging from asbestos to the preservation of free parking bays throughout the borough, and a one time Independent candidate, who gained a very respectable 869 votes at the 2010 council election, the best showing for ... »

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John Cryer MP intervenes in Labour’s 2018 local election selection process: bold, foolish, or both?

December 22, 2017 John Cryer MP, the Labour Party in Waltham Forest

A prominent member of the wide-awake club recently forwarded this Labour Party leaflet from back in September: It shows my old friend John Cryer, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, hyping three senior Labour councillors, Khevyn Limbajee, Anna Mbachu, and Chris Robbins, in the selection process for next year’s municipal elections. By intervening in this way, Mr. Cryer has broken no rules, but eyebrows will be raised, neverthelss, partly because such partisanship is considered bad form in Labour circles, but mainly because the trio who he has annointed all have baggage, particularly when viewed through the prism of what were once called ‘socialist values’. Let’s start with Cll... »

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Mark Hynes, LBWF Director of Governance and Law, cracks the whip

December 6, 2017 LBWF, Mark Hynes, register of interests

Against the background of the ongoing controversy about Cllr. Anna Mbachu’s Register of Interests form, LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes has circulated the following missive to councillors: ‘Dear Councillor, I am writing to remind you that if you own property in the borough that you let out, you must include address details in section 6 of your Register of Interests (RoI). In addition, your own address details must be included in section 6, regardless of the status of your tenure, i.e. whether you own or rent a property in the Borough. However this can be exempted in special circumstances from general publication if I consider it amounts to a sensitive interest. As Monito... »

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Cllr. Anna Mbachu’s register of interests form prompts new controversy UPDATED

December 1, 2017 Cllr. Anna Much, Mark Hynes, register of interests

A  post on this blog of early November, cross-referenced below, related that (a) though senior Labour councillor and chair of the LBWF Housing Scrutiny Committee, Anna Mbachu, had been a director of real estate property and letting company Knice Industries Ltd. since February 2016, she had made no mention of this fact on her register of interests form; and (b) when questioned about this LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes had responded as follows: ‘The company Knice Industries ltd [sic] is dormant and had [sic] never traded and that [sic] the councillor has applied to strike the company off the Companies House Register. I have advised the Councillor that strictly speaking the inte... »

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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 learning, with a final written report offering both an accurate summary of current practice, and suggestions for improvement. To date, the LGA has delivered more than 700 peer challenges, covering two-thirds of local authorities, and so it might be imagined that LBWF has participated at some point ... »

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