COUNCILLORS were accused of “bullying” members of the public while they voted to approve the Local Plan.

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting was criticised for “heckling” while the housebuilding document – which says 17,250 homes need to be built by 2030 – was given the green light.

The full council meeting, at Ilford Town Hall last Thursday, saw passionate pleas from people in the community as they made a last-ditch attempt to halt the plans.

The Local Plan was approved unanimously by the council.

Mr Streeting told his colleagues that long-time protestor Andy Walker was “scaremongering” and using the plan for his own political gains.

Mr Walker runs the Redbridge Trade Union website. He is a passionate protestor for the ‘Save King George Hospital’ campaign – which aims to prevent the building of housing on King George Hospital’s land in Ilford; a site included in the Local Plan for prospective development.

Mr Walker, however, denied the accusations.

Meanwhile, Meenakshi Sharma, a member of the protest group Ilford Noise, voiced people’s objections to the plans.

The Local Plan states the aim is to build 5,300 of the 17,250 new homes in Ilford Town Centre.

Ms Sharma argued this was a disproportionate amount and said the burden for housing must be shared more equally across the borough.

In response, Mr Streeting challenged the protest group’s motives and called their previous objections to Project Malachi into question.

Project Malachi is a pop-up hostel for rough sleepers in Redbridge. The first temporary location for the site is Clements Road in Ilford.

Mr Streeting said: “Isn’t it rich of representatives of Ilford Noise to come to this council and lecture councillors on tackling deprivation when Ilford Noise has put in objections to Project Malachi which would take homeless people off the streets and give them homes?”

It was at this point that Mr Streeting, as Conservative councillors put it, began to “heckle” members of the public during the following debate.

Trying to calm the situation, Cllr Tom McLaren said: “We are dealing with members of the public and while we heckle each other and give each other a hard time, I don’t think it’s appropriate to show the same attitude towards members of the public who have come here to speak on behalf of other residents.”

Other Labour councillors then asked questions of the group.

Cllr Farah Hussain asked whether members of the group lived in private or rented accommodation and if they felt they were representative of the people of Ilford.

Similarly, Cllr Helen Coombes, who headed up the Local Plan’s development, asked if the group, in objecting to the plan, were prepared to stand in the way of local investment.

Tory and Liberal Democrat councillors rallied, accusing the Labour group of contempt, organised bullying and a lack of transparency, calling their conduct “disappointing.”

Cllr Ian Bond, of the Liberal Democrats, said: “This administration has shown contempt for democratic process, taking a swathe of decisions behind closed doors. We saw them treat those residents with contempt. This has been four years wasted.”

Cllr Emma Best, a Conservative, added: “This Labour administration has let down every single resident in this borough, and they couldn’t care less.”

In response, council leader Cllr Jas Athwal accused the opposition of voicing no opinion and doing nothing over the last four years until now, with elections looming.

He said: “The only thing I have contempt for is people who do nothing. You sat on your hands.”

He added his Labour administration had made some difficult decisions, but that progress had come as a result. He said he was genuinely proud of what Labour’s four-year administration had achieved.

After the council meeting ended, Wes Streeting MP tweeted: “After 8 years as a Redbridge councillor, the speeches tonight not only make me proud of our current leadership, but confident about our bright future with people like [Farah Hussain], [Khayer Chowdhury] and [Lloyd Duddridge].”