A BETTER WALTHAM FOREST IS POSSIBLE (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

A BETTER WALTHAM FOREST IS POSSIBLE

2:53pm Tuesday 4th May 2010

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Uninspired by the Tweedledum-and-Tweedledee party politics of Waltham Forest? Don’t boycott the election: one of the best ways to freshen up this borough’s stagnant political pond is to vote for an independent or small-party candidate. Read their manifestos and see if they speak for you.

Martin Duncan-Jones, standing as an independent in Forest Ward, wants to tackle the mess caused by the present Labour/Lib Dem coalition. Among the scandals, he notes: * Over £15 million of BNI money for helping the poorest wards simply disappeared, with no proper record keeping: nobody resigned, or was sacked or charged – but four senior managers suddenly went to work elsewhere.

* The prime site in the borough, the Arcade, has been derelict for seven years -- in which time Haringey built the Bernie Grant performing arts centre for less money than it cost us to keep the Arcade empty!

* When the Central Library was closed for refurbishing, over 200,000 books were destroyed. Then the reopened building leaked in 12 places for a year, causing huge damage, before anything was done.

Martin, a long-time local campaigner, wants to make the council more accountable and break the two-party stranglehold on local politics. He says: “I would like to see local people choosing their council candidates for themselves via a network of Residents’ Associations covering the whole borough. This will stop parties becoming inbred and self-serving. At present, proper scrutiny of decisions just isn’t happening. Too many councillors just think of themselves as local authority employees, or MPs–in-waiting, instead of serving YOU."

In High Street ward, Mike Gold and the Green candidates Anna Lindstrom and Kuan Phillips are also committed to cleaning up the council. Their commitments include: * carrying out a complete audit of council finances, especially outside tendering, * cancelling contracts where private companies do not deliver agreed services, and * stopping the sale of community assets including libraries, open spaces and recreation facilities.

In Chapel End ward, John Macklin, who pledged support for local services under threat while he was leader of the Lib Dem group, is now standing as an independent. And there are many others.

We don’t often get the chance to make a difference. Looking at the way Waltham Forest has stagnated during the past decade, voting outside the party-political box may be the strongest action we can take.