ONLY one person arrested in connection with rioting and looting in the borough last month is a known gang member, according to a council report.
More than 60 people were seized in connection with offences in Waltham Forest during the disorder which swept London following a fatal police shooting.
It had been claimed by politicians including Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith that there was a heavy gang involvement in the riots.
In August he told the Spectator magazine: "There has been gang war going on in Waltham Forest. Each postcode gang is at war with another. There’s evidence that they had a truce during the riots, and were swapping information with each other.
“I was talking to my borough commander (Chief Supt Steve Wisbey) in Waltham Forest and he said there was very good evidence that they moved around a lot and they were co-ordinating locations and some of the social media network.”
Yet a report published by Waltham Forest Council's Community Safety Scrutiny Sub-Committee this week claims that only around 20 per cent of rioters in London were linked to gangs.
The report, which also reveals there were a total of 134 reported crimes linked to the disorder in the borough, states that "we believe that only one of those arrested in Waltham Forest had any affiliation to local gangs."
Waltham Forest superintendent Adrian Hutchinson also downplayed the extent of gang involvement in an interview with the Guardian last month, but he would not be drawn on numbers.
The report, which is due to be discussed at a meeting next week, states that the three worst affected areas were Leyton Mills, Chingford Mount and Walthamstow Town centre.
It also reveals that there were 42 commercial burglaries reported in the borough, along with 10 attempted commercial burglaries, 23 cases of criminal damage and 10 muggings related to the disorder.
Of those involved, it states: "Approximately half of those charged with offences in Waltham Forest live in another borough and four fifths of those charged are aged 18 or over.
"We believe that only one in three has any connection with social housing."
The report concludes that council and police strategies helped prevent the violence from being worse.
It states: "The local strategy has been seen as a successful one. Incidences of disorder were kept to a minimum in comparison with neighbouring areas."
It added: "whilst the damage to the borough was significant it was not on the scale that one might have expected and that took place elsewhere."
It has also emerged that during the week of the riots Walthamstow police station and Leytonstone's Waltham House station were closed to the public because too many police staff were on the streets.
Chingford and Leyton police stations also had their opening hours reduced, although normal service resumed two weeks ago.
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