Posts filed under 'Council News'
Councillors Y and Z – and their “coalition” colleagues past and present – have some very serious explaining to do.
Read the Waltham Forest Guardian’s take on Waltham Forest Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF)/ Better Neighbourhoods Initiative (BNI) scandal HERE and the BBC’s report HERE.
Download and read the independent report (which only scratches the surface) HERE.
THURSDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE – HERE and HERE.
FRIDAY 4TH DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE – HERE.
MONDAY 11TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
FRIDAY 15TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
THURSDAY 21ST JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – PRIVATE EYE (22 January – 4 Feb. 2010 (No.1254), Pg 13, Rotten Boroughs section – reproduced below)
‘Munificent Seven
Question: WHEN millions of pounds of public money go missing, what does any self-respecting council do? Answer: Hold an inquiry. Unless the council is Waltham Forest, where so much dosh has gone astray it has held seven.
The most recent, headed by Sir Peter Rogers, chief executive of the London Development Agency, has concluded that money is still going awol due to poor procedures, lack of accountability and fraud. It remains a mystery where millions of pounds – no one is sure how much – of government money handed out under the Better Neighbourhoods Initiative (BNI) to help children in deprived wards ended up.
When auditors investigated allegations that several millions has been diverted from its intended purpose and spent on the Olympics instead, they found files that had been doctored and were “incomplete”.
Another inquiry conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that of 105 contracts awarded under the BNI, only three were done by the book. For example, a one-day event for teachers, organised by “community cohesion adviser” Munir Zamir, cost £26,000. Guest speakers were paid £6,000; “marketing”, “refreshments”, and a “Q&A session” all cost £3,000 each. Which makes a grand total of £15,000. Where the other £11,000 went has not been explained.
So far Waltham Forest’s hunt-the-money game has itself cost at least £100,000.
Kerrrching!’
THURSDAY 28TH JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
TUESDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
WEDNESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE – HERE.
December 30th, 2009
An absolutely lovely day out on Sunday supporting good friend Andrew Lock in his first ever London Marathon bid.
Andrew (pictured above after the race with wife Julia and I) is (amongst many other things) a superb runner and it was therefore no surprise to us that he managed to complete the race in an excellent 3 hours and 54 minutes.
But this year, the cause Andrew was running for made the event even more special.
Back in January, Simon Tucker (pictured above), a local Councillor in neighbouring Newham and a former councillor for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, who was also an extremely popular Leytonstone solicitor and community activist, suddenly passed away aged only 48.
Those of us who knew Simon (Andrew had served alongside Simon as a local councillor in Waltham Forest in the 1990s) were really shocked and many of his friends and comrades from Leyton and Wanstead still can’t believe he’s gone.
It was testimony to how loved Simon was that his funeral, held at St John’s Church in Leytonstone, was absolutely packed and was attended by both Harry Cohen MP and Lyn Brown MP, Sir Robin Wales and his Deputy Cllr Christine Bowden, Newham’s Greater London Assembly Member John Biggs, 33 Newham Councillors (including councillors from the opposition Respect and Christian People’s Alliance Party), at least 10 Waltham Forest councillors and umpteen former Waltham Forest councillors, representatives of local community groups, the Leytonstone business forum, and many many more.
Simon suffered from asthma and so Andrew thought it only appropriate to run for the charity Asthma UK, which supports British asthma sufferers and their families.
We know it might be too late to bring Simon back but Andrew hopes that some of the funds raised may be able to help other asthma sufferers.
Rest in Peace Simon.
You may be gone but you will never be forgotten.
Lots of love,
Andrew, Julia and Miranda
– To find out more about the work of Ashtma UK, go to: www.asthma.org.uk
April 27th, 2009
Last week, I attended the Mayor of Waltham Forest’s charity dinner to raise funds for diabetes and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan.
Many of my council constituents in Leyton ward come from Pakistan and many people living in my ward (including most of my close family) suffer from diabetes. It was lovely to celebrate Pakistan’s birthday with all the residents who came, as well as to learn more about what we can do to combat this serious illness.
I had an absolutely lovely evening. After speeches and a gorgeous chicken dinner, guests were invited to tuck into the heavenly vision of Belgian chocolate loveliness you see above, so that diet I’m (supposed to be) on just went straight out of the window 
It was also really great to catch up with and congratulate Britian’s first ever Muslim Member of the British Government(!!) Shahid Malik MP (pictured with me above), now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to the Department for International Development, on his promotion to Government.
Shahid is the greatest living example of hard work and the powers of persistence.
Congratulations again, Shahid!
Leyton’s Pakistani community is definitely proud of what you’ve achieved and I wish you well in your new role.
Two of my favourite members of the London Assembly, Waltham Forest’s London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold (pictured above right) and London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi (pictured above left) also attended the event to show their support for Waltham Forest’s Pakistani community.
I also got to catch up with mates and Labour party colleagues that I hadn’t seen for a while. Good friend and former local councillor for Lea Bridge ward Stella Creasy (pictured with me above) sat with us at my table….
….as did Cllr Faiz Yunis and the lovely Laura Bruni (who expertly ran my committee room on the day I was elected to the council last year – Thanks again, my dear! ).
Many thanks again to Waltham Forest’s Mayor and Labour council collegue Cllr Liquat Ali JP(pictured with me above) for organising a fabulous evening and raising a lot of money for diabetes sufferers.
Salaam aleikoom and a huge belated Happy Birthday to all of Leyton’s Pakistani residents for the 60th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan!
August 22nd, 2007
I had an absolutely smashing day out at the Waltham Forest Mela 2007 on Sunday.
The sun were shining, the bhangra was pumping and the yummy yummy food was hot, hot, hot!
Many thanks and a huge well done to the excellent organising committee, of which my good colleague Cllr Asim Mahmood is a key member.
I know that Cllr Afzal Akram, Waltham Forest Council’s Labour Cabinet Member for Community Safety; Jennette Arnold, Waltham Forest’s Labour Member of the London Assembly; and the excellent Neil Gerrard MP, Labour’s Member of Parliament for Walthamstow (all pictured with me above, left – right), all had a very nice time too
July 31st, 2007
Just got home from Coventry, where I spent the weekend on the final module of the ‘Fast Track’ programme of the Improvement and Development Agency’s (IDeA’s) excellent Leadership Academy for local councillors.
Since January, myself and other “young” councillors from all over the country have travelled up to the University of Warwick for some really great training on our role as councillors and almost everything involved.
This weekend, we took part in a really excellent sessions on the role of scrutiny, handling the media and a voice coaching and confidence session led by the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts (RADA).
For my part, It’s been great to find out that I’m not the only ENTJ in the local government world
Above is a picture of my course’s bunch at our “graduation” ceremony back in June (I missed the photo because I was too busy off chatting elsewhere as usual).
They are all really lovely. Despite our totally different political, geographical and personal backgrounds, we got on like a house on fire. Thanks to Tory Ben, in particular, for making me laugh out loud on more than one occasion 
Through the course, it’s also been really nice to get some space to “think out of the Waltham Forest box”, alongside my excellent colleague, Cllr Afzal Akram (pictured above right, at the Graduation Ceremony, with myself and Cllr Faiz Yunis, who was also on the Leadership Academy but in a different group to us).
As I’ve written on this site many many times before, Afzal is an extremely talented politician and is a great role model for kids in our local area, which – like me – he also grew up in. Afzal has a bright political future in our borough. Waltham Forest is lucky to have him.
I’m sure Afzal and the lovely Faiz (pictured above left ) won’t mind me thanking all the staff at the IDeA, on all our behalves, for the excellent sessions you’ve provided us with over the last few months.
I would thoroughly recommend this course to any “young” councillors who haven’t yet done it.
Click here for more information.
July 15th, 2007
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