Rainy Sunday West Ham Street Surgery - Labour delivers on funding for Newham

Last Sunday, despite the wet weather, we conducted our street surgery in the Abbey Road tower blocks. 

The views from the top were quite impressive. Although many residents were not home, those I did speak with were pretty positive. 

Concerns were raised about local crime and trust in politics, especially given the challenging week for the Labour Government. 

However, there was also a recognition that Labour has made significant contributions to Newham, particularly after 15 years of austerity, by providing Council funding based on actual need rather than just population size. 

This represents a truly progressive and socialist agenda. While there is much more to be done, this is a very welcome start.

Canning Town South Street Surgery

On Monday evening, I joined my fellow Labour candidates in Canning Town South for a street surgery in their ward. 

We managed to get into some of the newer blocks and chatted with residents about any issues or concerns they had with Newham Council, also conducting a quick survey. 

I teamed up with Rohit and Aderonke (not pictured) with John M, covering alternate floors in the blocks. Apart from a few residents who were busy cooking or eating, everyone I spoke to was interested and engaged. 

Common issues included ASB, parking, and litter, as well as specific concerns like ground rent, which Rohit was already on top of. 

Although the elections are still a way off, the response at the doors was positive, with no negativity toward Labour and some great conversations. 

As Newham Labour Group Chair, I’m making my way to all our ward street surgeries but hope to return to Canning Town South before May 7.

Abbey Gardens Street Surgery, the Plaistow Landgrabbers & Residents meeting on Trees

 

On Saturday, Adjoa, Sam, and I continued our street surgeries with supporters, having also done one the previous Monday evening. 

We spoke with residents in several streets near Abbey Road, visited the Community Gardens, admired the historic Abbey ruins, the plants being grown, and, of course, the bee section. I shared the local connection to the “Plaistow Landgrabbers” https://www.whatwilltheharvestbe.com/about/ and their motto, “What will the harvest be?” 

We then stopped by Abbey Road DLR station, where a poster advises visitors that if they’re looking for the famous Beatles zebra crossing, they’re in the wrong part of London—a reminder of the time a tourist asked me about it there. 

Later, Adjoa and I caught the tail end of a well-attended West Ham residents’ meeting on a proposal to plant trees in their street, chaired by my ward colleague Cllr John Whitworth. It was a lively but polite debate with strong views on both sides. 

On my cycle home, I passed the Clapton FC game, which you can now watch from a distance along the pathway.

West Ham and Manor Park Street Surgery

 

Last Saturday I joined my West Hammer comrades John & Varghese for our ward street surgery. We went to the historic heart of the ward - Church Street. 

As a local Councillor, I picked up case work on housing repairs - individual and communal, rubbish collection and bin sheds, planning issues (see middle top) and street homelessness. The reaction to us calling was all pretty positive and it was good to see again, local community activists and Labour Party members and chat about issues. The top left picture was us in the front of a very welcome Council new build development. 

This morning I joined Manor Park comrades, local Councillor Salim and Hassan. We knocked up the Wanstead flats side of the ward. The recent grass fire on the flats had obviously caused concern. While there was some polite push back from known opponents, it was overall very solid Labour. It is clear that some Labour supporters are very concerned with local and national Party issues but are still giving us the opportunity to earn their trust. 

As Chair of Newham Labour Group, I will be joining all Newham wards in their future street surgeries. 

West Ham Labour Street Surgery

 

After my static advice surgery on Saturday morning I joined local volunteers and Councillors to carry out a door by door street surgery in West Ham.

We knocked on the doors of residents and ask them if they have any problems or issues with Newham Council that they wish to discuss with their local Councillors. Usually, residents are pleased to see us (although a tiny number disguise it very well) and have nothing to report but are grateful for receiving our contact details and that we hold a local advice surgery every Saturday (apart from Bank holiday weekends and August). 

We started off with a modern housing association block managed by L&Q. I was concerned that there appeared to be some out of date notices regarding fire safety/disrepair actions posted on a communal board, which I will chase up with them. 

Next we knocked at a Council managed block which had recently had substantial environmental improvements but residents were very concerned with cleaning standards and access to recycling bins. There was also reports of ongoing damp and mould problems, which I will also follow up. Overcrowding is a huge issue with adult children forced to stay at home since they cannot afford alternative accommodation. 

I was pleased to see that the old Britannia Pub has also been refurbished and modernised. It will hopefully reopen soon. 

The final door knock was Victorian street properties and discussed reports of ASB, rodents and tree pruning. 

In total we had 87 contacts and finished off with a late brunch in a nearby cafe. 

On the way home I looked for a plaque on a wall in an adjacent street, which I believe is connected to a 1733 boundary post I came across the previous week while canvassing in Stratford see John's Labour blog: Labour Street Surgery in Stratford. I found the plaque which I had posted upon here in 2013 John's Labour blog: West Ham doorstep & Leaflet drop. 

It seems that land in Stratford and West Ham had been donated to support St Mary's Church in Rotherhithe. I wonder what the legal situation is nowadays? I am meeting former Councillor John Saunders on Tuesday evening and will ask him if he knows more. 

West Ham Sunshine Street Surgery

This morning we took part in a Street Surgery knocking on doors of residents around Old Barrowfield and asking them if they had any problems or issues with the Council that they wished to discuss with their local Councillors. 

My colleague, John Whitworth and I picked up a case work on estate management, disrepair and housing waiting lists. On the whole, we were well received and although most residents did not have any complaints, they appreciated being asked and given information on our surgeries and how to contact us if they had. We had in total 37 contacts of which 2/3rd also said they supported Labour. 

Many thanks to our local Labour volunteer activists Varghese, Mushtaq and Janet for their support. We finished off with Coffee and gossip at a local café. 

West Ham Ward Surgery then Door Knock

 

This morning I attended my Councillor surgery in the Vicarage Lane Community Centre (every Saturday apart from bank holiday weekends, one of us holds an advice surgery here 10-11am).

Afterwards, I met up with Councillor colleagues and local Labour activists to take part in a "Street Surgery" - knocking on doors in the ward asking residents if they have any concerns about local services and do they want to speak to their ward councillors about them. 

We had 2 teams out and the reception today was pretty good. I picked up case work around housing applications and complaints about ASB including neighbour nuisance. The majority of residents said they had no complaints about Council services (some people refuse to believe this but it is overwhelming true. It does not mean that we should be complacent in any way) and they are grateful that we have knocked on their doors to speak to them.  

One activist reported that he did get a ear bashing from a Reform supporter but it was cordial. 

I was also able to speak to supporters of the local Community group #LoveLondon15 who maintain mini community gardens on areas which had previously been fly tip hotspots and support the magnificent street art murals in the ward. 

Afterwards, most of us met up for coffee and delicious cakes in Sawmills café. I am still on Keto Low carb diet, so was sort of strong - and just enjoyed the coffee but the cinnamon buns there are simply  magnificent.

Street Canvass: West Ham Ward 28.10.21

This collage is from yesterday's street surgery in West Ham ward. My Councillor colleague, John Whitworth and myself ,was joined by Junaid and Ash (who is a new member of our ward). For the first time, in my experience, all 4 of us had access to the Labour Party "doorstep" app on our phones. 

This effectively meant there was no "board runner" (before this app canvassers had to wait to be told who to call at and then report back any info to the "board runner to record on paper, which would then have to be later on inputted online) and we were able to move and speak to more residents far, far faster than before. 

I picked up quite a lot of case work as a local Councillor - outstanding repairs (Housing Association), refuge staff leaving bins on pathways blocking disabled residents; more serious pavement trip hazards; ASB; payments for residents self isolating due to Covid and a long but respectful conversation with a proud Brit resident of Indian origin, who felt that Labour was "anti-Indian".  I hope at the end of this conversation he had changed his mind.  

We will hopefully be canvassing every Thursday from now on at 5.30pm to 7pm, meeting outside the ATL Café at 125 Plaistow Road, E15. Best to check out our ward Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Westhamward beforehand. On Saturday's we support solidarity campaigning in other wards. 

West Ham Labour in Church Street "on the knocker".

On Saturday we had a door knock surgery in Church Street, West Ham, E15. 

This is probably the oldest part of the ward. West Ham Parish Church of all Saints is over 1,000 years old. King Henry VIII is reputed to have met Anne Boleyn at the church, Charles Dickens apparently used to set his watch by the time on the church clock and I wonder if founder of the trade union GMB, local Labour Councillor and MP Will Thorne use to attend this church? He was probably I think a non-conformist.

All the properties we visited were either Newham Council social housing tenancies or bought under "right to buy". It was interesting that none of the properties we visited (bar one which was a leasehold) had tenants from Eastern Europe, which suggests it is a lie that people come over to this country and get "Council housing". 

The great thing about door knocking is that you never know what you are going to come across next. Early on I met one resident who is a NHS worker and I hopefully managed to persuade her to rejoin Unison.  

Another was very annoyed about a local parking problem which had taken ages to resolve. When I asked him whether he supported Labour, he looked at me in surprise and said of course he voted Labour!

A heavily pregnant Mum with Partner and 4 kids (one disabled) and another one obviously on the way, all housed in a 2 bed flat, asked for help. She knew that there was a chronic housing shortage and massive housing list in Newham. It turned out that she was having problems accessing the internet bidding system. She just needed some assistance to get on-line. 

There were serious complaints of anti-social behaviour about teenagers sitting on block communal stairs smoking, drinking and frightening residents walking past. This is completely unacceptable and action is needed to try and stop this.  All tenants and leaseholders are directly responsible for the behaviour of their children and their visitors. If they fail to control the behaviour of their children then they need to be held to account for this.

It was also clear that some business premises rented out by the Council were leaving their yards and flat roof areas in a mess. This needs to be cleared up. It will be in their leases to keep these areas clean and tidy.

There were also problems with communal lighting, insecure security doors and fire risks from inappropriate use of storage areas which I will be also taking up with Council commercial premises managers.

When I got home I uploaded the returns on line onto the Labour Party Contact Creator (as well as some other contact sheets that I should have inputted earlier but had been too disorganised).  The sheer scale of overwhelming support for Labour in West Ham ward is stunning but it is also very humbling and not to be taken for granted.

There is a genuine debate in this country about whether "class politics" and "labour  identity" is important or not anymore. I can say with a degree of certainly that yes it is in West Ham ward and in Newham generally. Even in the more expensive owner occupied areas in the ward we still get excellent canvass returns. Why this is I genuinely do not really know. I would like to know - in order to spread the magic for May next year and 2015.

(there was also for no obvious reason a lot of very friendly domestic cats about on Saturday - so I have included them in picture college)