Councillor Report to West Ham Ward 1.7.18

"Dear Members, Firstly, may I apologise for the lateness of this report. The past few months have been exceptionally busy (for all of us).

Many thanks to all everyone who supported Cllr Whitworth and myself to be reselected as your candidates in the elections in May and for all your help in us being re-elected with such massive majorities.

Welcome to our new ward colleague Cllr Charlene McLean and at the same time best wishes to my former West Ham colleague, Cllr Freda Bourne upon her retirement.

Congratulations to Cllr Whitworth on being elected by Newham Labour Group to be a Chair of Scrutiny and Cllr Mclean upon her appointment as Deputy Mayor by our new directly elected Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz.

Shortly after the election I was also appointed by the Mayor, as Cabinet member for Housing Services and Chair of the Investment and Accounts Committee.

I have taken a leave of absence from my employer to carry out the role which so far, at least, I am finding fascinating but extremely challenging. Newham has nearly 26,000 households on its waiting list; private sector rents and house prices have shot up and arguably, we have the highest rate of homelessness in the country. While we will not solve the housing crisis in Newham without a change of government there are significant steps we can take to make a real difference.

Surgeries and case work

I have attended 2 surgeries per month in Vicarage Lane Community Centre and Brassett Point Residents Association room. However, from next month due to the problems with Vicarage Lane (see “ward issues”) I am changing location and times as below :-

· Stratford Library – 1st Saturday in every month 10am-11am

· Brassett Point – 1st Wednesday in every month 5pm-6pm.

Examples of recent casework involve overgrown trees, disabled adaptations disrepair, “Right to buy” dispute over valuations, boundary wall disputes, home visits about damp/disrepair. I have made a number of repair reports via “Love Newham” app, I am still unimpressed with repair failures in the Church Street block run by One Housing Group despite a second meeting with management and residents.

Ward Issues

Planning application in Abbey Road
An application for a huge private tower block next to the DLR station has now been submitted. Many residents are extremely concerned about the development. I have met with residents and developers and have submitted the concerns of residents. There will be future meetings. Cllr Whitworth is now on the Strategic Planning committee so will have to step back on this issue.

Durul Jannah Community Centre, E15 – Planning permission
Unfortunately a change in planning permission for this centre was refused and trustees are considering an appeal.

Apart from this set back there was a very successful awards event at the centre.

New Lifts
I have attended an evening LBN consultation meeting on lift renewal

Other Issues.

Workers Memorial Day 2018
On Saturday 28 April 2018 we had the most well attended event for many years. Many thanks for Lyn Brown MP and the Mayor (then a candidate) for attending and laying wreaths remembering all those killed at work or who have died of work related ill health at the Three Mills Green Memorial.

Rebecca Cheetham Nursery School
Due to time constraints I have been forced to resign as a School Governor but I have assured the school that if they need any help or assistance that they can still contact me. After 8 years it is probably time that they have someone new to replace me.

Lewisham By-election
With West Ham Labour colleagues I went on a canvassing session to this by election.

If any member wishes to contact me about this report to discuss any aspect please do not hesitate to do so.

Regards

John Gray
West Ham Ward Councillor

West Ham Ward Councillor Report 7 December 2017

Councillor Report to Ward 7 December 2017

WEST HAM WARD LABOUR PARTY tel: 0203 373 2615 or email John.Gray@newham.gov.uk

This is my bi-monthly written report. In October both I and my fellow ward member, John Whitworth, attended and passed a Labour Party candidate selection interview for the 2018 local elections. There will be local ward selections sometime in the New Year.

Our fellow ward Councillor, Freda Bourne, has decided not to re-stand but retire. Many thanks to Freda for her many years of service to the residents of West Ham.

Council IssuesResignation from Newham Fire Safety Scrutiny in Tower Blocks Commission
31 October I was forced to resign from being a member of this Commission because the evidence meetings are being held in secret. I did try to get this decision changed informally but was not successful. This secrecy is in my view completely unacceptable after the Grenfell Fire. We need complete openness and transparency to make sure such things never happen again.

Meeting with Director of Finance
22 November I met the Director and other senior managers with other Councillors to discuss our concerns about the Newham Council London Stadium loan impairment and pending huge investments into private sector renting (Red door ventures) and Commercial properties.

Newham Council Meeting
4 December. Following the announcement that £52 million in loans and working capital invested by Newham Council in the London Stadium has been lost, I raised emergency questions to the Mayor about the need for an independent judicial led enquiry into what went so wrong and that we should pause before committing proposed new massive investments in other property until we found out what had gone wrong. The Mayor disagreed.

Surgeries and case work
I have attended 2 surgeries per month in Vicarage Lane Community Centre and Brassett Point Residents Association room. There has been a number of cases regarding ASB; drug dealing; parking; housing disrepair, service charge disputes, Right to buy, domestic violence and neighbour disputes.

Ward issues
20th Anniversary of death of Police Constable Nina Mackay.
On 24 October both I and Cllr Whitworth attended this well organised and dignified remembrance service of PC Mackay who was killed on duty in Arthingworth Street E15.

AGM One Housing Group Tenants & Residents Association.
On 30 October I was pleased to attend its inaugural AGM and really hope that we are starting to see a rebirth of the TRA movement.

West Ham campaigning & petition on lack of social homes in Ford Showrooms development
28 October we went door knocking in the ward with Lyn Brown MP with petitions calling on the developers to commit to more social homes.

9 November we went and delivered letters to new party members in the ward inviting them to a special meeting.

Durul Jannah Community Centre, E15 – First Anniversary
5 November I was a guest with Cllr Whitworth & Lyn Brown MP at the 1st anniversary celebration. Lyn gave prizes to the children who used the centre and reminded all of them that they like her could one day become MPs when they grow up.

Estate Inspection Ladywell Street
8 November I did another inspection with a Family Mosaic senior manager and local residents. While there has been some improvements in this estate the performance by some contractors is very poor and they need to be monitored much better and made to improve.

Rebecca Cheetham Nursery School
23 November I attended its School Governor meeting. Things appear to going well at the school and I have been pleased to have met parents recently who are very complimentary about it.

Xmas Hampers for Elders
The free hampers for elders is running late this year but if you can help collect and delivery these hampers to local residents please contact Cllr Whitworth or I.

Misc.
Pension Conference
10 October I was on a panel speaking to a Local Government Pension investment conference about ESG issues (Environment, Social and Governance).

Community Land trusts
12 October I helped organise a Newham Co-operative Party meeting on Community Land trusts which I think is something that we consider supporting in Newham. 

Local Authority Pension Fund Forum

17 October I attended the business meeting and in the feedback session about the pooling of Local Authority pension funds I stressed the need to have beneficiary representation on these new funds.  

Political/Community (outside ward)
18 October I went door knocking with local Councillors and members in Forest Gate North. We visited an estate to talk with local residents where a young child had been murdered recently in what was believed to be a gang related crime.

23 October there was a successful fund raising dinner for the 2018 elections sponsored in part by London UNISON Labour Link.

4 November “Solidarity Saturday” I was campaigning in the Thurrock Tory marginal with Lyn Brown MP.

London Labour Conference25 & 26 November I was a UNISON delegate to this conference and moved a successful motion on the private rental sector in London.

Black History event
4 November. After canvassing in Thurrock I attended a very well organised and informative event on Black History in Canning town Library. I very much hope next year that the Council participates in similar events.

Ramgarhia Sikh Gurdwara Temple
4 November. Next I went to the temple to help mark the 548th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Workers Memorial Day 2018
Date for future is Saturday 28 April 2018 when West Ham Labour Party and local trade unions will be remembering all those killed at work or who have died of work related ill health at the Three Mills Green Memorial.

If any member wishes to contact me about this report to discuss any aspect please do not hesitate to do so.

Regards
John Gray
West Ham Ward Councillor
JohndotGray2012aticlouddotcom

Councillor Report to West Ham Ward 2 July 2015

Councillor Report to West Ham Ward

WEST HAM WARD LABOUR PARTY tel: 020 3373 2615 or email John.Gray@newham.gov.uk

Ward meeting 2 July 2015

Thursday 4 June I attended the ward meeting at Vicarage Lane and then the joint ward social at Nando’s restaurant in Stratford which I thought went really well. We had some great political discussions about General Election result.

Friday 5 June I met a Housing officer from Family Mosaic Housing Association for an inspection of Ladywell Street, E15 with local residents. The officer agreed to look into a number of communal repairs and suggested improvements. I have chased Officer for an update.

Saturday 6 June I meet West Ham CLP members at Stratford Station in order to go campaigning for John Biggs as Tower Hamlets mayor. I also went back to Tower Hamlets to campaign on the 9th and 11th (Election Day)

Monday 8 June I was pleased to hear that I had been re-elected as a member of the UNISON National Executive Committee for a third term of 2 years. In the evening I attended the Stratford and West Ham forum at Stratford Library. There was a very informative presentation by the Chair of Abbey Gardens, Torange Khonsari; important information on the proposed parking restrictions for the Rugby World cup (which may become permanent); a consultation on parking in Hartland Road and surrounding streets (at last!) and a report on Street Enforcement and applications for Community Grants.

On Wednesday 10 June it was the funeral of former Councillor, Alan Taylor, which unfortunately I could not make due to a work commitment. I attended my evening surgery at Brassett Point, followed by a meeting of the Council Investment & Accounts (staff pensions) Committee. There is a new contract for Actuarial services being proposed. I asked to make sure that we do not pick the actuary that has the most optimistic projections about liabilities and investment growth. There is also an “alternative financing...asset backed... pension plan” proposal which I have concerns about but will wait until I see the full details. After this meeting I was still able to make the end of West Ham CLP Executive Committee.

Saturday 13 June I had a morning surgery at Vicarage Lane. On Monday 15 to Friday 19th June I was away at the UNISON NDC conference at Glasgow.

Sunday 21 June I helped out at the reception and registration desk of the London Labour Party Mayoral hustings in the Old Town Hall in Stratford.

Monday 22 June I attended a “Safeguarding course” for school governors. I am the safeguarding governor for Rebecca Cheetham Nursery School. In the evening I attended the Newham local development planning committee and spoke in favour and responded to questions about the application for an “Educational Institute and Community Centre” in Plaistow Road by the Darul Jannah Trust.

Thursday 25 June I submitted a report expressing concerns to the Newham Cabinet meeting about proposals to give some Councillors and the Mayor a pension costing an extra 13.4% of allowances. At the West Ham CLP AGM in the evening I was re-elected unopposed as Agent.

From Wednesday evening to Saturday 4 July I will be in Manchester for the UNISON APF conference so I have given my apologies for the Ward meeting this evening.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if any ward member wishes any further details on this report.

John Gray
Councillor

Councillor report to West Ham Ward: February 2015

This is my written report as a Newham Councillor to West Ham ward Labour Party branch which meets every month. The ward thought to save time they would prefer written reports from Cllrs of which they could then ask questions.

Councillor Report to West Ham Ward

WEST HAM WARD LABOUR PARTY tel: 020 3373 **** or email John.Gray@newham.***.**

Ward meeting 5 February 2015

On 7 January I attended the Executive meeting of the Local Authority Pension Forum (LAPFF).  The forum believes that Council Pensions funds are being misled by accountancy firms about the profits and risks of companies they invest in.  They are taking advice by Cherie Blair QC on the matter and are lobbying the Financial Regulator for changes.

On 8 January I attend a finance committee meeting then full governors meeting of Rebecca Cheetham Nursery School, E15.  At the meeting the recent OFSTED report was discussed. The governors and staff were pleased that the school had gone from “requires improvement” to “Good” but were disappointed that they only narrowly missed obtaining “Outstanding”.

I did then go to the West Ham ward meeting that evening but it had finished early

On Saturday 10 January I held my surgery at Vicarage Lane community Centre. I had 3 cases - all involving housing issues.

On Wednesday 14 January I met with the Chief Executive of Newham Council, the Director of Finance and the Monitoring Officer with other Cllrs who are very concerned at the East Ham Campus overspend and unlawful expenditures.

On Wednesday 21 January I attended the AGM of LAPFF.  Please note that I am no longer a Newham Council member on the LAPFF and have reverted to being a trade union representative.

On Thursday evening 22 January I held a surgery at Brassett Point. Cllr Whitworth and I had swooped surgeries at my request due to a clash. I had one resident attend regarding a complicated planning dispute with a neighbour.

On Friday 23 January I meet up with the new engagement manager for West Ham and Stratford at the Stratford Library with Cllr Whitworth.

On Tuesday 27 January I attended a very moving and dignified remembrance event for Holocaust Memorial Day in the Old Town Hall in Stratford which was attended by our MP Lyn Brown.

In the evening I attended the Overview and Scrutiny commission meeting at East Ham Town hall where we scoped out our investigation into East Ham campus overspend and governance failures.

On Monday 2 February I attended a very interesting meeting of local Cllrs on Social media at  Coffee7 in Forest Gate. Publishing my Councillor reports on social media was one of the outcomes.