There will be an evening local public forum with councillors in Wanstead following criticism of a plan to hold daytime event.

Geoff Horsnell, chairman of community group the Wanstead Society, said the timing of between 2pm to 5.15pm was "unfair" as it would mean working people could not attend. 

Wanstead’s forum will take place on February 18 next year.

Redbridge council has said people can attend any of the five meetings planned each month across the borough.

Councillors also aired their concerns about the timing of the forum, which controversially replaced more regular area committee meetings, which, unlike the new events, had decision-making powers and a budget.

Now it has been confirmed there will be an additional evening meeting in Wanstead, with the date yet to be confirmed.

In an email from Cllr Sheila Bain to Conservative councillors, which has been seen by the Guardian, she confirmed there will now be two local forum meetings in Wanstead.

She wrote: “I am happy to confirm that there will be an evening meeting in Wanstead. 

“As you know, we want to trial a daytime meeting format – in addition to the evening format – because there are some residents for whom daytime meetings are preferable and/or evening meetings are impractical.

“This is particularly true in our part of the borough where we do actually have a relatively high proportion of older residents

“I think the combination of an evening meeting and a daytime meeting in Wanstead is a good result for us. 

“This is not an intransigent council and community forums are by no means the only mechanism for public engagement.

“As you know, we’re going to be experimenting with this new format this year and learning from the experience.

“I think that’s the right way to go about things and, if I may say so, the decision has been taken and the borough would be better off if we all worked together constructively to make the new forums a success.”