PRESS RELEASE: TACKLING ROGUE LANDLORDS

At the recent full council meeting, councillors voted in favour of a Liberal Democrat motion to introduce Selective Licensing in the Borough.

Selective licensing has recently been introduced across the whole of the neighbouring borough of Newham. Once in place the law requires that all landlords in the area are licensed and that license can then be revoked if certain conditions aren’t met.

Lib Dems want to use it to tackle rogue landlords and in particular the growth of anti-social behaviour in private rented properties, which now make up 32% of the Borough’s housing stock.

The motion called for a full consultation on proposals to introduce selective licensing in the Borough to tackle rogue landlords, although this was diluted by a Labour amendment, which instead simply referred to ‘an evaluation’.

Lib Dem Housing spokesperson Councillor Winnie Smith, who moved the motion said:

“We’re pleased that the council are now seriously looking into selective licensing. And we hope that the Labour group will now stick to the spirit of the motion and push forward with selective licensing.

“There is a clear need to tackle the growing problem of rogue landlords in the Borough. As we heard from Leyton resident Sharon Crossland in the council meeting, there are landlords in our borough that just aren’t playing by the rules and there is only so much that can be done at the moment without this new licensing power.”

“Many residents are suffering in properties that just aren’t up to standard and paying too much for poor housing that’s blighted by anti-social behaviour.”

Latest Controlled Parking Survey

The current FOCUS Parking Survey is getting a massive response across the south of Waltham Forest which faced draconian parking restrictions during the Olympic Games.

If you haven’t already received a copy you can download it here: Leyton 335

Completed copies of the survey should be returned to:

The FOCUS Team, 24 Thornhill Road, E10 5LL

It is also vital that every household completes, and returns, the Council’s consultation document, so that they receive a comprehensive view from of all residents. A recent article in the Waltham Forest Guardian suggests the Council would be happy with a 15-20% response rate.

Lets make sure they hear from everybody!

If you have not received a copy of the consultation, please ring the Town Hall on 8496 3000 today.

All replies must be sent to the Council by 22 October.

Leyton Focus 335

The latest issue of the Focus Newsletter is being delivered.

The lead story is a survey seeking your views on parking in Leyton. You will have, by now, received a consultation from the Council asking your views on whether you would like controlled parking restrictions to be introduced in your road.

The Lib Dems are stressing the importance of every household completing and return the Council’s consultation document, whatever your views, to make sure that the Town Hall has no doubts about the views of the majority of residents.

It also reports on the recent death of Neal Chubb, who was a very experienced local politician, who will be missed by the many people he helped over the years.

On the back page you will find some other local news together with details of the next ward meeting at the SCORE Centre on 9th. October.

I can confirm that the meeting will begin at 7pm and is scheduled to finish at 9pm. Unfortunately the times were not included in the Focus.

You can access the Focus here: Leyton 335

Oliver Close – residents’ survey report back

The recent Focus residents’ survey in Oliver Close identified that there was a problem with dog mess in Walnut Road, Robinia Crescent and the alley-way between the mosque and the fire station.

Following a report by the Focus Team the Council has said that action will be taken to identify the owners of the dogs concerned.

If you know who the owners are, please report it to one of the Focus Team.

Next Ward Forum – Tuesday 9th October

A Forum meeting

Our next Resident and Councillor ward forum meeting will be on Tuesday 9th October at the SCORE Centre in Oliver Road. 

The meeting will start at 7pm and is due to finish at 9pm

 The agenda will include an update and discussion on parking after the Olympics, a local Police report, and a discussion on the budget spend and how we are going to spend £10,000 next year. 

All Leyton Ward residents are welcome. 

 

 

Consultation – Proposed Controlled Parking Zone

The Council has decided to issue a Consultation Document asking residents in the temporary Olympic Parking Zone (G01-G10) for their views on the proposal to introduce an indefinite Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in their roads.

The consultation document is due to be issued on 24 September and has to be returned by 19 October.

PLEASE NOTE – Closing date now 22 October

The Council’s policy on the introduction of a CPZ is based on the views of the majority of residents, who return the questionnaire.

Whatever your views the Lib Dems stress that it is vital that the Council receives a response from every household regarding this important consultation. 

When you receive the consultation document, please complete and return it without delay.

Open Day at Leyton Bus Garage

Leyton Bus Garage, at Leyton Green, is celebrating its centenary this year.

It will be open to the public from 10.30 am until 4.30 pm on Saturday 22nd September as part of the national Open House event.

There will be a display of vintage buses as well as displays of the history of bus travel.

In addition there will be vintage bus tours to Stagecoach London’s newest bus station in West Ham, which will depart every 15 minutes.

PRESS RELEASE: THE FAILURE OF WORKNET

QUESTIONS STILL REMAIN OVER THE FAILURE OF WORKNET – COUNCILLOR BOB SULLIVAN

The recent failures of Worknet highlighted by Nick Tiratsoo still leave questions to be answered.

We know that £2 million was allocated for the contractor Widows and Orphans but we still don’t know what the targets and outputs were in each case or how much money the council actually paid the contractor in total.

Councillor Sullivan has now asked the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee for a review into the failure of the programme and will be pressing the council for further answers over the coming weeks.

Leader of the Waltham Forest Lib Dems, Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“In normal times this failure would be damning for Labour councillors but in these difficult economic times it is unforgivable.”

“It is unforgivable that they have let down our Borough’s unemployed, it is unforgivable that they have allowed this failure to go on unreported for nearly three years and it is unforgivable that most of this money will now not be spent on employment programmes for our Borough at all.

“The failure of this contract could even have implications across the council. We know we’ve had problems with our schools contractor and our waste contractor and taken together it starts to paint a worrying picture for council contracts as a whole.

“We clearly need a full enquiry to get to the bottom of how this happened before the council goes down this road yet again.”

 

PRESS RELEASE: Council should do more to get compensation for Leyton Traders

WALTHAM FOREST COUNCIL SHOULD DO MORE TO GET COMPENSATION FOR LEYTON TRADERS – COUNCILLOR BOB SULLIVAN

On 27 July 2012, in a press release on the Council’s website, Portfolio Holder Cllr. Mark Rusling described Leyton Marketas ‘“a great opportunity for Waltham Forest to celebrate the Olympics”’, and claimed:

‘We have worked with the whole community – including local retailers – to get their support for this unique project.’

The final sentence of the press release was unequivocal:

‘Waltham Forest Council created the new food market through an innovative partnership with North London Business and Skateco UK’.

Three days later, Waltham Forest News made the same point:

‘Waltham Forest Council created the market to help local businesses capitalise on the extra visitors that will be flocking to the borough during the Games’ (WF News issue 71, 30 July 2012, p.7).

Leyton Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“The Chief Executive of North London Business has already resigned over this, so traders are right to expect some compensation.”

“Cllr Rusling was eager to take credit for the market before the Olympics and he and this Labour council must now take their share of the blame.

“Clearly at some point in this saga one part of the council didn’t know what another part was doing.

“I asked the council weeks ago whether they will be giving out compensation to the traders and they have refused, putting the blame squarely with North London Business.”

“As a board member of North London Business, Cllr Akram is also in a unique position to influence this decision. I think most local residents would expect him and Cllr Rusling to be considering their respective positions.”

“At the very least councillors and Cabinet members should be putting pressure on North London Business and Skateco UK Ltd to reimburse some or all of the money to the traders who were sold promises of customers that never arrived.”