St Matthews public meeting on Crime and ASB

A lovely picture from last Friday evening when Councillors and officers met Residents and Police to discuss how to tackle jointly crime and anti-social behaviour in the area (Forest Gate South ward adjacent to Romford Road).

The meeting was Chaired by Cllr Shaban Mohammed and went in my view really well with constructive but frank views expressed and received. Residents seemed to have been pleased with recent changes (thanks to the new ward Council Housing liaison officers who have been very proactive). Residents let us know that they expected us to deliver for them.

The Police and the Council undertook to support residents with improved enforcement action and also for housing to make improvements in order to try and "design out crime".

We also had a decent discussion about the impact that Government cuts to Police numbers and local authority grants has had. 

I have never been inside St Matthews Church before and did not realise how large it is and its beautiful stained glass windows. It parish war memorial from the first world war was also striking and it stuns you how many local men were killed in a relatively small London parish. There were also 3 family plaques on the walls remembering the war time deaths of young parishioners.

Green Point inspection and walkabout - the good, the not so good and art in tower blocks

Last week I went on an 8am "walkabout" in Green Point, Water Lane, E15 with local residents in response to complaints about the failure to repair the communal front entry door, which had led to strangers getting into the block to take drugs and causing pretty unpleasant anti social behaviour.

The door has now been repaired but it had taken far too long and while now secure, it still needs further works. I took the lift up to the top of the block with 2 residents (before they had to go to work) and the block caretaker (who was there doing his morning clean and not because he knew I was coming).

There is a problem with the communal bin chutes on the 10th and 8th floor, which are closed off and I which I need to investigate (there are working chutes on 9th and 7th); gaps in pigeon netting on communal balconies; a broken communal window that was reported in April; some strange seemingly redundant appliances; fire exit gates with FB locks? the ubiquitous abandoned Morrison's shopping trolley; an overflowing recycling bin; 3 redundant contractor bins on ground floor and faulty communal bulkhead lights.

We need to do better on communal repairs to this block and I will be asking for reports on recent repairs but the good side of the walkabout was that the block was gleaming and there was only 1 piece of litter in the entire block. Credit to the local caretaker Alex and his colleagues.  Generally the block did appear to be in a good repair condition.

I want the same standard of cleaning in all housing blocks, estates and streets in Newham and repairs to the same high standard.

I talked to the residents about having "Art in Tower Blocks" (Newham Council owns a large number of paintings and other art works which are stored out of public view and I have often wondered whether we could not exhibit this art safely in the foyers of our housing estates?).

They were interested but were rightly concerned with getting repairs right first.

While I must agree, I can't see why we can't do both? 

Communists, Masons & War: Forest Gate South Labour doorknock 18.3.17 with Lyn Brown MP

Picture collage from last Saturday in Forest Gate South ward,West Ham CLP, London. Our MP, Lyn Brown (with her Labour attack dog Cara), local councillors and party activists out knocking doors and talking to residents about Council services and national issues.

We also gave out leaflets on the Labour party campaigns about "Education not Segregation" and "Our NHS is underfunded".

I had an interesting conversation with some students from India whose home state Kerala, (and also in West Bengal state), is controlled by the Marxist Communist Party of India. They were not supporters but recognised that in their state they have the highest levels of literacy, women to men ratios and life expectancy in India.

While door knocking we had a discussion with long serving members on how in the 1970s the Freemasons in Newham Council (Councillors and Council officers - used to have a lodge in East Ham Town Hall) were kicked out of the local party and the Council for alleged corrupt practices.

After the canvass Cllr John Whitworth, Cllr Anam Islam and I went to see the excellent "Far from the Western Front" First World War Exhibition in the Minhaj-Ul-Quran mosque in Romford Road which is due to finish tomorrow. 

A two term limit for elected Mayors

Last Thursday at a very well attended meeting of my local Forest Gate North Branch Labour Party,
members voted overwhelmingly to support the below rule change.

There was a really good debate with a wide range of different views and arguments expressed. I supported the rule change. At the same time the rule change was also being supported by (West Ham CLP) Forest Gate South Branch, Stratford Branch, Canning Town North and Manor Park Branch (East Ham CLP).

Supporters of the rule change made it clear that this was not about personalities but about principles and governance. This rule change is being supported nationally by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. It will now go to the West Ham Labour Party General Committee on Thursday 26 May and if it is passed it will be submitted to the National Labour Party to be possibly considered at our Party Conference in September.

On the same night Forest Gate North branch also voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion that paid Mayoral advisors should not hold Labour Party branch or Executive Committee officer positions. This was to improve good governance and avoid conflicts of interests. This motion will now go to the West Ham Labour Party AGM in June.

Proposed rule change for Party conference 2016

A two term limit for elected Mayors

"The Labour Party Rule Book 2016 Chapter 5 Selections, rights
and responsibilities of candidates for elected public office.
Clause I. General rules for selections for public
office. Sub-Clause 1. G. i. Alternative Procedures (page 20) ,
reads as follows:

‘For any mayoral selection the NEC may consider the use of
primary elections, subject to the absolute power of the NEC to
cancel or amend procedure, and subject to:
a. Procedural guidelines set by the NEC.’

Amendment

Add new sub-clause:

b. If a selected candidate is elected for two consecutive terms
he/she cannot apply for selection as the Labour candidate for the
same mayoral post for the following third term”.

“On the Knocker” in Forest Gate South

After this morning’s Stratford Street Stall we went off to Forest Gate with our Parliamentary Candidate, Lyn Brown. There had also been a local Labour Party stall in the ward this morning in Woodgrange Road which had gone down well I understand.

We had all three members of the local Labour Action Team who are standing for the Council with us. It was really good to be able to grab one of them to deal with any tricky case work.

On the whole there was a pretty overwhelmingly positive response to Labour. There are serious issues that were brought up and which need to be dealt with but a clear majority of electors that I spoke made it clear that they were not only going to vote for the Party but they were “Labour and Proud of it”.

MP wants to see constituents bleed – health checks at West Ham Tea/Coffee morning

Yesterday I helped out our MP, Lyn Brown, at her “Coffee/Tea Morning” event at Forest Gate.

It was held in the fairly new Council building in Woodgrange Road near the junction with Romford Road called “The Gate” (the site once of a “Gate” to the start of Epping Forest).

It is a modern day mix of Library, internet cafe and Council services (One Stop Shop), all under one roof.

We had a room at the back. Lyn and her parliamentary team had invited local people in the Forest Gate South ward to attend this event to discuss the provision of health services. Lyn had also arranged with the local NHS PCT to provide a health team to take people's blood pressures, check for diabetes, height and weight checks (health MOT) etc.

Normally, local Councillors are present but there was an “away day” for all Labour Councillors in Newham, so party members were helping out taking details of any local case work for councillors to follow up.

One of the local Party members who turned up to help used to be my former head of HR many moons ago! We are now of course (as always) very good comrades. My own GP also came in (he had heard about it at the local newsagent). Even though he has been my GP for the best part of 20 years (ish) I did not recognise him even though he recognised me. You know how it is often difficult to recognise people you know well formally when you meet them for the first time in an different environment.

Usually, when I am about to meet him at the real surgery, I am trying desperately beforehand to remember what is the recommended maximum limit for the consumption of alcohol units. Since he always gives me a health check practically every time I see him (unlike most clinics). It doesn’t help that I read once about a GP who said when he asked a patient how much he drank, he always doubled the answer as being nearer the truth.

Anyway, I at least always come away from these events on a high. You can be a little bitter and cynical about politics. These sorts of events, which encourage local people to meet up, discuss problems and get involved with their elected representatives, are I think just brilliant. The provision of health services in our borough is so important. It is equally imperative that electors are able to meet up with their Parliamentary representative to discuss their experience as the consumers of local health services and hold them accountable.

In the afternoon I went off to fight the good fight in Mile End East. I had an encounter with the "evil one" on which I will post later.