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Coincidence or magic?

13 May

Gastech238romfordrd

There have been two significant set backs for Councillor Ahmed Noor this week as he fights for his political career after Newham council served him with an enforcement notice for using 238 Romford Road as an HMO (‘house in multiple occupation’) and not commercial offices.

On Monday night an outraged Labour group suspended him, pending an investigation into his conduct. That will be carried out by the chief executive, who will present a formal report to the mayor.

And yesterday Private Eye led their Rotten Boroughs page with the Romford Road enforcement notice story. A number of his fellow landlord councillors also got a name check. None of them will thank him for that.

I understand that Noor’s defence is that he let the building out to another company and they are the ones responsible; he didn’t know what was going on.

If that doesn’t work he can try another excuse: the council is wrong and the property is being used as offices. 

In a happy coincidence of timing, on May 5th – just a week after the enforcement notice was served – a company called Gas Tech Heating & Plumbing Ltd tweeted that 238 Romford Road was its new head office. It also posted the news on its Facebook page.

You can see from the photo above that their signage now covers all of the windows – even those on the upper floor with curtains drawn.

According to the Companies House website Gas Tech is a “Non-trading company”. No doubt this will change when the company files its next return, due in August.

Out of curiosity, I went round to take a look at the property yesterday evening after work. There were two men sat in a Gas Tech van on the forecourt. They got very agitated about my being there. I was told that this was private property and that I should leave immediately. After I mentioned the Private Eye story and outlined its contents they claimed to know nothing about any of that. I was told, at great length and at considerable volume, that I should find something better to do with my time and that I was only doing this because I’m bored; I need to re-establish a relationship with my creator. 

While this was going on three other people walked up – unchallenged – to let themselves into the building through the locked steel grill and front door beyond. None were dressed in overalls, nor were they carrying plumbing tools. 

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Less is Noor

11 May

Given his recent legal problems you’d expect Councillor Noor might worry about not having time for constituency casework.

But it turns out this won’t be a problem for him: he barely does any.

According to an FOI response released in March, the council’s casework tracking system records him as having been assigned just one case in the four months between September and December 2014.

His fellow Plaistow South councillors have been shouldering the whole burden of citizen concerns. Aleen Alarice had seven cases, while Neil Wilson took care of 24.

Ah well, you might ask, Ahmed Noor is a new councillor, so perhaps it’s all being given to more experienced colleagues while he finds his feet?

Nope. Our two freshman councillors in Forest Gate North give the lie to that theory. Rachel Tripp was assigned 36 cases over the same period and Seyi Akiwowo 30 cases. Even Beckton’s Tonii Wilson, elected at a by-election in mid-September, picked up 14 cases.

In the year since his election Cllr Noor has collected more than £10,000 in allowances. Besides being a total embarrassment to the Labour party, what he he done to earn it? 

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Election results – 2015

8 May

East Ham

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Stephen Creswell Timms Labour 40563 78%
Samir Jassal Conservative 6311 12%
Daniel Charles Oxley UKIP 2622 5%
Tamsin Julia Mucha Omond Green 1299 2%
David Thorpe Liberal Democrat 856 2%
Mohammed Farid Aslam Communities United 409 1%
Lois Austin TUSC 230 0%

 

West Ham

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Lyn Carol Brown Labour 36132 68%
Festus Akinbusoye Conservative 8146 15%
Jamie Ross McKenzie UKIP 3950 7%
Rachel Anne Collinson Green 2651 5%
Paul Reynolds Liberal Democrat 1430 3%
Andy Uzoka Christian Peoples All. 369 1%
Cydatty Bogie Communities United 115 0%

 

Stratford & New Town – council by-election

Candidate Party Votes Percent
Charlene McLean Labour 4607 57%
Matthew Gass Conservative 1778 22%
Isabelle Clare Anderson Green 1170 14%
Jamie Ross McKenzie UKIP 403 5%
Joe Mettle Christian Peoples All. 99 1%
Bob Severn TUSC 70 1%

 

There’s really not a lot to say about any of this. The results were a forgone conclusion even before the candidates were formally announced, though Stephen Timms’ 78% share of the vote is certainly eye-catching. I doubt there’s another MP in the country with as much as that.

Charlene McLean was easily returned to the council, with what is now the highest personal vote of any member. Something she might mention to Sir Robin when she sees him at Labour group on Monday!

In West Ham Festus Akinbusoye, the Tory candidate, put up a decent show in what he knew was an unwinnable seat. I don’t share his politics, but I can’t help but wish him luck for the future. The Conservatives made a lot of fuss about the number of new BAME candidates they had selected, while neglecting to mention that they were all in hopeless seats. If there’s any justice central office will give him a crack at something better next time. Samir Jassal’s ‘Vote for Firstname Lastname’ blunder on his leaflets – which went viral and even appeared on Have I Got News for You – is unlikely to be looked on so kindly.

The Greens can be proud of their achievements too. A saved deposit in West Ham (by 12 votes – who says every vote doesn’t count?) and over 1,100 votes – a 14% share – in the Stratford by-election. Starting from a zero base in the ward that is impressive. 

There was some concern on Twitter this morning about UKIP coming third in both seats. Yes, they did. But it is a very, very distant third. The hard right continues – thankfully – to struggle in Newham.

Finally, as I predicted, the Liberal Democrats lost their deposits in both seats. Their failure to even put up a candidate for the council by-election shows they no longer have any real presence in Newham. Is that the sound of the world’s smallest violin I hear? 

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Wreckless Robin

6 May

Wreckless Robin

The phantom leafleter of Forest Gate struck again last night, delivering a pre-election message to local households.

Previous examples of the phantom’s work:

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Oh Noor!

5 May

Ahmed noor 323

According to the Newham Labour website, Ahmed Noor “is dedicated to making Newham a better place for everyone.” 

What could be more embarrassing for a local councillor than to be served with an enforcement notice by his own council?

That is the fate which has befallen Plaistow South’s Ahmed Noor.

Councillor Noor, like so many of his nominally Labour colleagues, owns a large number of properties in the borough that he rents out. One of these is at 238 Romford Road, Forest Gate. Quite properly, he lists this fact on his register of interests.

Unfortunately for Cllr Noor the property has at some time in the past ten years been converted from offices to ‘a house in multiple occupation’ without planning permission. Worse still, according to the enforcement notice (my emphasis added):

The conversion of the property to a house in multiple occupation provides a poor quality of accommodation which is to the detriment of the persons who reside there, and at a neighbourhood level, harms the objective of creating healthier neighbourhoods and delivering convergence. It is therefore contrary to policy … and the requirements of the Lifetime Homes Standards.

Given Newham council’s well-publicised determination to improve the quality of rented accommodation in the borough this is quite an extraordinary situation. 

And it could get even worse.

As part of its drive to improve local housing Newham has pioneered a private rented property licensing scheme: 

It is now against the law for any landlord to rent out a property in Newham without a licence. We work with the Metropolitan Police and other agencies across Newham to find unlicensed properties and take legal action. 

If you are found guilty you could face a fine of up to £20,000. You could also have control of your unlicensed properties taken away … and be ordered to repay up to 12 months rent to us or your tenants. 

A search of the property licensing database for 238 Romford Road produces no results. How exactly does Cllr Noor explain that? As a member of the council he can hardly plead ignorance – not that that would be any defence.

I’m sure the members of Plaistow South Labour party will be keen to hear what he has to say, as will his fellow Labour group members on the council.

Thursday’s by-election in Stratford & New Town is unlikely to be the last in the borough this year.

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Leading questions

27 Apr

Upton centre consultation

The council is ‘consulting’ on the future of the Upton Centre, which it suddenly closed late last year. One question – shown above – asks residents what their priority would be if the council had just over £4.4 million to spend on something; of course, redevelopment of the Upton Centre is right at the very bottom of the list of options.

When Sir Robin decided to bung £40 million – almost 10 times as much – into converting the Olympic stadium for the benefit of West Ham United FC and its multimillionaire owners, no such consultation took place.

And no-one was asked what they might prefer the council to spend such a vast sum on. 

UPDATE: The whole consultation is bogus. The bias is evident in the questions and in the assumptions that underlie them, as Caroline Tomes has explained on Storify.

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Who wants to be a millionaire?

17 Apr

Ayesha Chowdhury 

Beckon lead councillor Ayesha Chowdhury owns a property portfolio worth in excess of £4 million

On Monday Newham council officers and the police forcibly took back possession of a flat in Stratford that had been occupied by its former tenant and the Focus E15 housing campaign. Jasmin Stone, the most prominent of the campaigners was arrested and later bailed.

It is the latest in a long line of incidents that highlight the chronic shortage of social housing in the borough and the council’s complete lack of interest in those who need it most. When anyone dares to challenge the mayor’s priorities – “developers, developers, developers,” to borrow a phrase – he has no hesitation in sending in the heavies.

The ‘developers first’ policy means that the gleaming glass and steel towers going up in Canning Town, Royal Docks and Stratford contain few, if any, affordable units. Properties are openly marketed to overseas investors with the tagline ‘no social housing’.

With hundreds of council homes being deliberately left empty and new builds aimed squarely at the investment market, the thousands of families on the social housing waiting list have few options. Demand for private rented accommodation has rocketed and rents have soared – along with the housing benefit bill – transferring wealth upwards into the ever-expanding pockets of the rich.

Which is good news for the large number of Newham councillors who are private landlords.

Take Beckton’s Ayesha Chowdhury, for example. She has amassed a portfolio of Newham properties that – based on estimates from property website Zoopla.co.uk – is now worth more than £4 million. Zoopla also provides an estimate of her potential monthly rental income. If all Cllr Chowdhury’s properties are let out at these rates she’ll be pulling in close to £19,000 a month.

  Purchase Price Current Value Increase Monthly rental
82 Downings, E6 £105,000 £238,000 £133,000 £1,100
95 Lonsdale Avenue, E6 £55,000 £165,000 £110,000 £790
6 Truesdale Road, E6 £122,000 £260,000 £138,000 £1,200
100 Park Avenue, E6 £72,000 £185,000 £113,000 £890
199 Tollgate Road, E6 £65,000 £172,000 £107,000 £828
10 Harrier Way, E6 £249,000 £370,000 £121,000 £1,700
27 Trader Road, E6 £198,500 £295,000 £96,500 £1,365
5 Hogarth Close, E16 £185,000 £296,000 £111,000 £1,588
47 Plymouth Road, E16 £140,000 £219,000 £79,000 £868
205 Tollgate Road, E6 £57,500 £152,000 £94,500 £732
18 Eric Close E7 £189,000 £264,000 £75,000 £1,021
96a Plashet Grove E7 £160,000 £188,000 £28,000 £903
5 Chelmsford Close, E6 £225,000 £334,000 £109,000 £1,546
203 Tollgate Road, E6 £160,000 £197,000 £37,000 £950
5a Hogarth Close, E6* £75,000 £195,000 £120,000 £1,000
39 Albatross Close, E6 £191,600 £287,000 £95,400 £1,380
20 Viscount Drive, E6** £205,000 £210,000 £5,000 £1,011
TOTALS: £2,454,600 £4,027,000 £1,572,400 £18,872

* New build – estimated construction cost

** My estimate – actual sale price not yet available

This might be portrayed by some as a story of hard work and a reward for enterprise. But until 2011 Cllr Chowdhury lived in social housing, paying a subsidised social rent while building her private fortune. She only moved into one of her own properties when the story appeared in the national press.

Despite this she was reselected as a Labour candidate for last year’s council election and rewarded by Sir Robin with an extra £6,679 a year as mayoral advisor and lead community councillor.

As the old saying has it, money goes to money.

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Where’s Robin?

16 Apr

The start of the election campaign has seen Twitter flooded with pictures of activists out doing their bit for the party. Newham’s Labour councillors have been doing their bit, in locations from East Ham to East Dunbartonshire.

ChowdhuryAyesha 2015 Apr 04

Councillors Jose Alexander, Unmesh Desai, Ayesha Chowdhury & Susan Masters in East Ham

James Beckles 2015 Apr 11

Councillors James Beckles, Aleen Alarice and Terry Paul in West Ham

WestHamLabour 2015 Mar 28

Councillors John Whitworth, Aleen Alarice, John Gray, Julianne Marriott and Neil Wilson campaigning with Mike Gapes in Ilford

Tahmina Rahman 2015 Apr 04 2

Tahmina Rahman with fellow councillors Gray and Abdulmuhit

Mwarne 2015 Apr 13

A rare sighting of Forest Gate community lead councillor Rohima Rahman campaigning in Ilford with Unmesh Desai, Jose Alexander and Stephen Timms

WestHamLabour 2015 Apr 11

Lyn Brown talking to voters in Stratford with councillor James Beckles and by-election candidate Charlene McLean

Tahmina Rahman 2015 Mar 28

Eight Newham councillors on the doorstep in Scotland: Forhad Hussain, Ellie Robinson, David Christie, Joy Laguda, Hanif Abdulmuhit, Terry Paul, Lester ‘3 jobs’ Hudson and Tahmina Rahman.

There is one highly notable absentee from these pictures. Concerned citizens and Labour activists alike have to ask, where’s Robin?

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General election update

7 Apr

GE2015 predictions

The brainiacs at FiveThirtyEight.com have come up with constituency-by-constituency predictions for the UK general election.

Their prognostications for the two Newham seats make for predictable reading. I doubt it took them very long to come to forecast the winners or their overwhelming share of the vote.

If I had any quibble with their forecast, I’d say they have significantly over-estimated the likely Lib Dem scores. In my view, they’ll be lucky to save their deposits.

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Maternity blues

23 Mar

More embarrassment has been heaped on the mayor and his fellow councillors over the expulsion of Charlene McLean.

The Evening Standard covered the story under the headline Councillor ‘dumped’ from authority over time off after giving birth prematurely.

The story says local party members are outraged and quotes one ‘angry member’:

“This is a working class mother who had time off during a very difficult pregnancy and was then caring for an unwell, premature baby.

“Despite that, she was injudiciously dumped from the council. Charlene is a dedicated Labour member committed to her residents but not seen as a leadership loyalist. That’s valuable on a council with no opposition.”

The normally supine Newham Recorder also got in on the act, headlining their story New mum dropped as Stratford councillor in maternity leave dispute.

Both stories include the council’s claim that then-councillor McLean was misadvised by an unnamed officer and that neither senior officials nor the executive were aware of this.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Newham Council said: “In this case, an officer provided incorrect information to another member regarding statutory maternity leave and it appears this advice was passed on to Ms McLean.

“Neither the council’s executive or the council’s monitoring officer were aware that incorrect information had been provided to Ms McLean.

“Had the council officer or Ms McLean informed the monitoring officer or the council’s executive, steps would have been taken to agree an extended period of absence for Ms McLean.”

But documents released under the Freedom of Information Act throw this claim into dispute. Mike Law asked last year for details of the amount of individual casework allocated to councillors between June and September. The reply he got in October includes this:

McLean Maternity Leave 1 

He then asked a follow up about case work in October, November and December. That was answered last week:

McLean maternity leave 2

The information governance team knew she was on maternity leave, but we are supposed to believe Sir Robin and none of his executive did.

One of Charlene McLean’s fellow councillors in Stratford & New Town is Richard Crawford. Aside from being a long-standing friend and drinking buddy of Sir Robin’s he is also the full-time, 5-days-a-week mayoral advisor on ‘resident experience’. Odd that he either never noticed Cllr McLean’s absence nor thought to mention it.

Equally odd is that the other councillor who was on maternity leave at the same time had the fact announced on her profile page on the council website:

McLean maternity leave 3

Both of Farah Nazeer’s fellow ward councillors are members of Sir Robin’s inner circle of full-time advisors. They knew she was pregnant and was on maternity leave, but apparently failed to spot Charlene McLean was in the same condition.

The council’s executive are not the only ones who were selectively inattentive. I am told Labour chief whip Steve Brayshaw called two other councillors in – Sheila Thomas and Amajit Singh – to make sure they remained legal whilst ignoring Charlene McLean’s absence.

There is something deeply rotten in the state of Newham Labour. Claims of mayoral and executive ignorance are transparently an attempt to cover that up.

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