Posts

Tower Hamlets and a ‘grant funding shambles’: echoes of Waltham Forest

February 13, 2015 Lutfur Rahman, Tower Hamlets

Mark Baynes at Love Wapping has just posted a very interesting piece on a Tower Hamlets council audit report which ‘paints a grim picture of an almost total lack of control in relation to the awarding and monitoring of grants across the borough’. As he observes, the report, which covers the period September 2014 to November 2014, ‘describes a culture within Tower Hamlets council that seems to have little or no interest in accounting for public funds. Issues identified included not verifying that grant money was actually being spent for the purpose the grant had been awarded, no monitoring visits to organisations, expense claims not supported by receipts and two Lunch Clubs ... »

, , ,

Waltham Forest Pool and Track: non-consultation and what we can do about it

February 12, 2015 Waltham Forest Pool and Track

Ian Capes and Amanda Connolly write: ‘Some of you may be aware that GLL and the Council are redeveloping Waltham Forest Pool & Track. A few of us locals are concerned that they haven’t run a meaningful consultation. The new plans (due to be approved in the next month) show a reduction in facilities; for the disabled, the elderly and parents and toddlers, along with taking away the diving pool. We are also hearing that the Dog Track Redevelopment are reducing their planned leisure facility, as they will be investing in the Pool & Track, so why are we loosing any facilities at all? There is an online petition to demand a meaningful consultation with all residents, clubs and... »

, , ,

Asbestos matters: Waltham Forest Council, PR, and keeping stum

February 11, 2015 LBWF spin, Town Hall asbestos

So you are an employer who has just been found guilty of breaking the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 – of running your affairs, in other words, in such a way as to endanger your employees and those who visit your premises. What do you do? Publicly apologise? Offer everyone involved some advice and support? Perhaps even take action against those who directly presided over the negligence? Most of us would expect (and do) all of these things. Yet after the recent court case, which has left LBWF in exactly the position I’m talking about, the only reaction currently discernible is…silence. Check the Council’s website for instance. The ‘Latest... »

, , , , , ,

Residents of Fredd Wigg and John Walsh Towers talk about gentrification

February 11, 2015 Fred Wigg and John Walsh Towers

Worth reading: East London Residents talk about gentrification in their own words by residents of Fredd Wigg and John Walsh Towers http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/residents-of-fredd-wigg-and-john-walsh-towers-speak-to-vice-102?utm_source=vicefbuk »

Tower Hamlets and Rotherham

February 10, 2015 Lutfur Rahman, Rotherham Council, Tower Hamlets

I have posted the recent reports on Tower Hamlets and Rotherham in the documents box on the left. Each discuses a disturbing range of pathologies, and more of these than is comfortable have echoes in Waltham Forest. For example, two passages from the Rotherham report particularly resonate: ‘RMBC [Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council] has a culture of suppressing bad news and ignoring difficult issues. This culture is deep-rooted; RMBC goes to some length to cover up information and to silence whistle-blowers’ (p.11). and ‘Cover up in RMBC needs to be looked at within the culture of a Council that, as has already been described, does not welcome challenge and chooses inste... »

, , ,
Page 84 of 86«‹8283848586›»