‘ROGUE’ LANDLORDS CONSULTATION

Posted December 12, 2013

The Council has recently launched a consultation into Liberal Democrat proposals to tackle rogue landlords.  This consultation was launched following a Lib Dem motion to the Council last year.

Landlord licensing has recently been introduced in the neighbouring borough of Newham and if we can introduce this law in our borough then it would require all landlords in a selected area to be licensed.  If landlords did not meet certain standards and conditions then their license could be revoked, stopping them from renting out property.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan says: 

“Many residents are suffering in properties that just aren’t up to standard and paying too much for poor housing that is blighted by anti-social behaviour.  Selective licensing could give control to the Council to stop these rogue landlords from operating.”

Please see the Council’s draft document for information and consultation –

http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/Pages/News/selective-licensing.aspx

LABOUR ‘SHOULD APOLOGISE FOR SOCIAL HOUSING FAILURE’

Posted November 28, 2013

The following article appeared in the London Evening Standard on 11th November:

Published: 11 November 2013

Updated: 13:34, 11 November 2013

Labour should “apologise” for its poor record of building social housing, the party’s own London housing spokesman has said.

Tom Copley said it galled him that Margaret Thatcher’s government built more council flats and houses in a single year than Tony Blair and Gordon Brown managed over 13 years in power.

His remarks were attacked as too “bleak” by one of Labour leader Ed Miliband’s top lieutenants. But the Coalition Government’s housing minister said Mr Copley was right and called on Mr Miliband to say sorry.

At a conference organised by think tank the Centre for Labour and Social Studies, Mr Copley spoke about his role as Labour’s housing spokesman on the London Assembly.

He said: “As a Labour politician one of the things that really galls me is that there’s this statistic that more council homes were built in the last year of Thatcher’s government than were built in the 13 years of Labour government, and that’s something I think as a Labour Party we need to apologise for.” Official figures show only 6,330 council houses were completed from 1998 to 2010, compared with 17,710 in 1990 alone, which was Baroness Thatcher’s final year as prime minister. In one Labour year, 2004, the number fell to just 130 council homes completed.

Mr Copley called on his party not to “repeat this mistake”. He said Labour should allow councils to borrow more  for social housing without it counting as a rise in the national debt, to fund a mass house-building programme. But at the same event, Mr Miliband’s Commons aide Karen Buck, MP for Westminster North, said Labour’s record “wasn’t as bleak and hopeless as some critics would have us believe”.

Conservative housing minister Kris Hopkins, said: “Labour failed an entire generation by not building enough houses but Ed Miliband has been too weak to apologise.”

Waltham Forest Lib Dem Group Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“It is about time that the truth came out. We have heard a lot of Labour Party propaganda rubbishing the achievements of the Coalition Government may be the Labour Party should now apologise for letting down the Country by not building enough homes in the 13 years of Labour Government.”

PRESS RELEASE: NEW COMMITTEES SHOULD NOT MEAN ANOTHER £12,000 IN COUNCILLOR ALLOWANCES

New committees should not mean another £12,000 in allowances for councillors – Cllr Bob Sullivan

 

On Thursday the Liberal Democrat group voted against proposals that would mean more special responsibility allowances for councillors.

Lib Dems criticised the Labour group for using scrutiny politically to avoid any real scrutiny of council policies, whilst at the same time awarding  themselves more money.

The Labour council are splitting the health and adults committee into two new committees that will focus separately on public health and adults services.

They are creating two additional paid positions for their members who will take the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee, who will get an extra £8,000 and £4,000 respectively on top of the £10,000 a year they earn as councillors.

Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Bob Sullivan said:

 

“Labour are just creating more paid positions to reward their members. The current proposal could mean £12,000 in extra costs to Waltham Forest council tax payers.”

“There are a lot of ways Labour could ensure this doesn’t cost more money: Either by cutting these allowances across the council or by sharing the existing allowances for the old committee across the two new ones.

“Labour councillors should stop trying to hide their failures by stuffing committees full of their own members.

“They should be taking responsibility over their failures over jobs in this Borough and cutting their ‘special responsibility allowances’ rather than giving themselves more allowances.”

PRESS RELEASE: COUNCIL PHONE BILLS SOAR UNDER LABOUR

COUNCIL PHONE BILLS SOAR UNDER LABOUR

Over the last few years council phone bills have soared. According to figures released by the council mobile phone costs soared by over £110,000 last year costing taxpayers a total of £314,000 in one year alone, whilst landline costs also rose by £80,000.

Council tax payers are now forking out £860,000 every year for phone bills alone.

Cllr Bob Sullivan said:

“Labour need to get a grip on these soaring phone bills. Other council services are being cut whilst phone bills are going up and up.

“The council are putting more and more services online but clearly aren’t making any savings by doing it.

“This £190,000 could be helping us build a fairer society by investing in social services, it could help build a stronger local economy by investing in jobs or it could even protect local services like keeping open a library.

“Instead, Labour is proving time and time again that they can’t be trusted with our money.”

Save St. Joseph’s Hall, Leyton, from developers

St. Joseph’s Hall at the junction of Vicarage Road and Primrose Road

St Joseph’s Hall, on the corner of Vicarage Road and Primrose Road, has been boarded up for many years. The diocese is planning on selling the site to developers.

Mother Maria of the Marian Mission in Colchester Road, who deals with vulnerable children and families, is fighting to get the diocese to back her plans to refurbish the building and to continue to use it for children and families and to make it available to the local community.

Leyton Ward Councillor Bob Sullivan and Mother Maria pleaded her case to representatives of the diocesan board.

Currently Barclays Bank agree a mortgage in principle to cover the buying cost.

Fundraising has raised many thousand’s, but many more donations are needed.

If you would like to support the project to bring this building into community use and stop the developers, then please send your donations to:

Marian Mission for the Poor,

1 Colchester Road, Leyton, E10 6HA

PRESS RELEASE: LOCAL LIB DEMS RENEW CALLS FOR OLYMPIC TRADERS’ COMPENSATION

LOCAL LIB DEMS RENEW CALLS FOR OLYMPIC TRADERS’ COMPENSATION

Local Lib Dems have renewed calls for council action over the Leyton Olympic traders mess last year. The council has so far failed to take any responsibility for the mess despite heavily promoting the market before the Olympics, whilst it was clear the planned routes for Olympic visitors were outside the area.

Local Lib Dems believe this is an issue of trust and the council should be clear about its responsibility. If compensation is due from North London Business and not the council then Waltham Forest councillors should refuse to sit on their board if no action is forthcoming.

Leyton Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

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

 “I’ve repeatedly asked the council whether they will be giving out compensation to the traders and they have so far refused, putting the blame squarely with North London Business and Skateco UK Ltd.”

 “Yet councillors and Cabinet members have consistently failed to put pressure on North London Business and Skateco UK Ltd to reimburse the traders, who were sold promises of customers that never arrived.

“No action has been forthcoming from North London Business since last year so it is long since time for Waltham Forest councillors at the very least to refuse to sit on their board or, better yet, take some responsibility themselves.”

PRESS RELEASE: Local Lib Dems to criticise budgeting, waste and misleading statements by Labour

Last Thursday’s council meeting was rightly used to bring the Borough together after the awful attacks in Woolwich on Wednesday.

However, cancelling the speeches of the three party leaders also meant that the time usually devoted to scrutinising the council’s priorities for the next year and to review the last year was lost.

The speech prepared by Lib Dem Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan, before the attack took place, contained criticism of the council’s budgeting process, attacks on money wasted on unnecessary events and exposed the misleading statements being made by Labour over the £160 million they claim to be investing in the Borough in 2013-14.

Councillor Sullivan was to say:

On budgeting

“The councils’ recent finance report show that almost all council departments were reporting under spends.

“In accountancy terms an under spend is just as bad as an over spend because it means that there is something wrong with the budgeting process.  It also means that our services are not being carried out as planned and our residents are losing out.

“So what is going wrong with our processes? And how are we building this into our planning? The council can’t continue to plead poverty simply because it is over-estimating what’s needed in the budget.”

On the £160 million

“As for investment, Labour cabinet members seem to be sending confused messages about the £160 million that they’re touting around to residents through Waltham Forest News and the various announcements and videos that they’re making.

“Many residents have read the big figures plastered over their copy of WFN and have been asking me if the council could spend some of this money on local projects.

“Unfortunately the explanation is, that most of this investment is not council money and all of it is already earmarked and being spent on other things.

“The confusion isn’t helped when Cabinet members give confusing written answers at full council meetings. Such as when Cllr Rusling declared ‘We are investing £160 million in the borough…’ in a written answer in March.”

On events

“…under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal has only spent £9 million net on players over the last ten years.

“That’s less per year than this council are spending on events!

Although these events are said to be free, they are not really, as the council tax payers are funding them.

“It seems like every day this council feels more and more like a booking agent or a live music promoter, with over a million pounds planned for events this year.”

PRESS RELEASE: Lib Dems support the Christan Kitchen

The Christian Kitchen based in the Mission Grove Car Park

LOCAL LIB DEMS FIGHT TO SAVE CHRISTIAN KITCHEN FROM HEARTLESS LABOUR COUNCIL

Waltham Forest Council is demanding that the Christian Kitchen cease using the Mission Grove car park in E17 as the location for their daily soup kitchen.

The soup kitchen has rejected the allegations that their service contributes to local street drinking and anti-social behaviour and local Lib Dems and residents are supporting them.

Proximity to the Town Centre is important to a soup kitchen and Waltham Forest is taking this action without proper consultation.

The local Lib Dem Focus Team has been surveying residents about the issue and so far local residents are overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the soup kitchen where it is.

Waltham Forest Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Bob Sullivan said:

“It is crazy that this Labour council appear to be scapegoating this long established soup kitchen and demonising their service users.

“The Christian Kitchen has been a part of the local area for many years and is there to help the most vulnerable in our society. The soup kitchen has even offered compromises to the council but they have been rejected.

“This is a heartless act by this Labour council that is clearly not supported by local people.

“It seems ‘One Nation Labour’ has not yet made the journey to Waltham Forest from Ed Miliband’s Westminster bubble.”

PRESS RELEASE: Lib Dems welcome new bailiff laws

Waltham Forest Lib Dem leader Cllr Bob Sullivan has welcomed the new laws to tackle aggressive bailiffs planned by the coalition government next year.

Under the new laws, bailiffs will be stopped from using any physical contact when dealing with people who owe money and will be banned from entering people’s homes at night, or entering properties where children are alone.

They will also be banned from fixing their own fees and will have to follow a set fee scale.

Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“This is a welcome proposal from the coalition government that can’t come soon enough. I’ve had to deal with residents’ problems with over-zealous bailiffs for a long time and I can’t understand why the last Labour government let the current situation drag on for 13 years.

“Just because someone is in financial difficulty it shouldn’t mean they can be taken advantage of. Bailiffs should be forced to play by the rules and ensure fairer treatment for our most vulnerable residents.”

PRESS RELEASE: Labour cut free rat catching service

This year the Labour council will bring an end to their free rat catching service by introducing a new charge of £25.

They are also increasing the cost of pest control in other areas, putting up the cost of dealing with mice for those on council tax benefit from £60 to £75, a 22% increase.

Lib Dems have criticised the move saying it will cause more problems than it solves.

Lib Dem Environment spokesperson Councillor Mahmood Hussain said:

“This is a false economy. A growing rat population affects everyone. For every person that is put off reporting rats by this new charge, rats will spread further and faster across the Borough.

“Mice are a growing problem for residents too and it can often take two or three visits before they are cleared from your home, landing you with a bill of hundreds of pounds.”

“Just like their u-turns over parking charges and the living wage last year, it wouldn’t cost Labour much to reverse these bad decisions and back the priorities of residents.”

Lib Dem Leader Councillor Bob Sullivan said:

“Lib Dems will be finding money in our alternative budget to show that the Labour council could cut charges for mice and keep the rat service free if they wanted to.”