Past failures: overview – Waltham Forest Matters

LBWF and the anti-terrorist Prevent programme: is it wise to keep it in the closet?

Nick Tiratsoo July 28, 2015 LBWF spin, Martin Esom, Past failures: overview, Prevent

In early June of this year, I asked LBWF under the Freedom of Information Act for a list of its current Prevent contracts, with for each its start and finish dates, the name of the contractor, the value of the contract, and a brief description of what the contract aims to achieve. A few days ago, my request was refused, with LBWF arguing as follows: ‘Waltham Forest Council recognises the public interest in transparency and openness in local government; and in the context of this Freedom of Information request, such openness would increase public understanding and inform public debate about the... »

Martin Esom, past failures, Prevent, Private Eye, Waltham Forest Council, Waltham Forest Guardian

Documenting Past Failures: (11) some conclusions, part one

Nick Tiratsoo June 10, 2015 Past failures: overview

The previous ten posts in this series have looked at LBWF’s record of extensive failure over the past decade or so, and it is now apposite to offer some general conclusions. First, it is notable that, by and large, the cases examined share some common characteristics, which may be summarised as follows: (a) rule breaches On paper, LBWF has always possessed clear rules to govern programme inception and governance. Yet the evidence shows that these were often disregarded. Contracts were procured without seeking the requisite number of bidders; contract documents remained unsigned, sometimes und... »

Andrew Kilburn, BNI, Camden New Journal, Chris Robbins, Clyde Loakes, Common Purpose, EduAction, Elizabeth Phillips, Goss Consulting Ltd., Independent Panel, Jacquie Dean, Keith Rayner, LBWF, Marie Pye, Martin Esom, NRF, NRF Youth at Risk, O-Regen, past failures, Roger Taylor, Sir Peter Rogers, Waltham Forest Council, Worknet

Documenting Past Failures: (1) Introduction

Nick Tiratsoo February 4, 2015 Cllr. Clyde Loakes, NRF, Past failures: overview, The BNI

Over the coming months, and at irregular intervals, I’ll be posting Documenting Past Failures pieces, which will look at some of the episodes that I’ve been involved in since 2004, broadly in chronological sequence. To start with, I’ll be looking mostly at how LBWF used Neighbourhood Renewal Fund monies. The background is as follows. In 2001, the government launched a new National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal which aimed to reverse long-term decline in wards defined as ‘deprived’ by tackling key issues (such as poor health, worklessness, and crime), and at the same time... »

BNI, Clyde Loakes, LBWF, LSP, NRF, past failures, Waltham Forest Council

Some background: a short history of local scandals

Nick Tiratsoo February 2, 2015 Past failures: overview

Here’s an article that I contributed to the Dec14/Jan15 issue of Labour Briefing (which I reproduce with the kind permission of the editors). It looks at some recent Waltham Forest history, and gives more than a clue as to why this blog was set up. Waltham Forest’s missing millions ‘In 2009, spurred on by a spate of bad publicity about its flagship Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) programme, and premonitions that the Audit Commission was about to halve its star rating, London Borough of Waltham Forest (LBWF) appointed an Independent Panel, chaired by the LDA’s Sir Peter Roger... »

BNI, E11 BID Co., Independent Panel, LBWF, Michael Polledri, North London Ltd., NRF, O-Regen, past failures, Private Eye, Sir Peter Rogers, Waltham Forest Council, Waltham Forest Guardian