More than 600 people flocked to a meeting last night to grill prospective council leaders ahead of the local elections.

Waltham Forest Council’s Labour leader Clare Coghill and Conservative leader Alan Siggers were put through their paces.

Representatives from schools, faith groups and residents’ associations came together to hold the politicians to account.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

More than 600 people packed into Goshia Hall, Walthamstow last night.

The event, organised by Waltham Forest Citizens, was held last night.

Politicians were asked directly to tackle issues of youth violence, crime and a lack of affordable housing.

Questions included: “Will you allocate 30 per cent of the Borough of Culture funding to new culture, sports and arts funding to benefit young people?” and “Will you ensure that 50 per cent of homes built on public land will be affordable?”

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Conservative group leader Alan Siggers committed to all requests put to him.

Cllr Siggers, a Conservative in a Labour stronghold, committed to all asks on the night. He did, however, admit that his becoming council leader would be difficult.

He said: “If I become the leader of the council… and for my next trick I’ll walk on water.”

His lack of confidence stood in stark contrast to Cllr Coghill’s surety.

She said: “If I become leader of the council… I will become leader.”

She also committed to all of the asks – except two.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Clare Coghill, Labour group leader, committed to all but two requests put to her.

She admitted that fully comitting to allocating 30 per cent of the borough of culture funding to projects that would benefit young people may be tough.

She cited the need to discuss how the funding was spent with many different groups.

Similarly, Cllr Coghill did not fully commit to ensuring 50 per cent of homes built on public land would be affordable after elections.

She said she would be happy to commit to 50 per cent across the council’s entire property portfolio, but not on each individual development.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Leyton Sixth Form students wore tshirts showing the ages of young people killed in the borough this year.

Highlights of the evening included an impressive rap performance about issues affecting young people by Dennis, a student at Leyton Sixth Form College.

A number of his classmates delivered a powerful presentation, wearing white t-shirts showing the ages of all young people killed in the borough so far this year. The youngest was 16.