The Councillors are Revolting
In an extraordinary turn of events, some 30 councillors have filed a Letter of Appeal with Mayor Fiaz about the implementation of her new parking charges. That is half of the council. When you consider that some 25 councillors are on the payroll vote, it means that just about every other councillor is against Fiaz and Asser’s initiative. The opponents include sacked deputy mayor, John Gray.
Cllr Pat Murphy from Royal Docks seems to have brought together councillors from different wings of the party to oppose the mayor’s proposals. This makes it the second major opposition Mayor Fiaz has faced in as many months. Many of the same names oppose the ending of the free school meals programme.
The rebellious 30 (On London say 32) repeat what readers of this site will already know, that the public, when consulted, were against the plan. The Fiaz commitment to involving residents has been exposed and found wanting. She is happy to have public consultation at the heart of everything she does, unless the public wants something different. If the public doesn't want her plans, the public can go whistle.
The appeal asks the mayor to suspend the implementation until after the Covid crisis.
Let’s see what happens.
Fiaz might have some worries as half of the revolting members are in the north east of the borough, suggesting a geographical threat to Labour if she is unable to placate her constituents. This may be problematic, given the unfortunate way in which the council seems to have confirmed that it was racist in making crass assertions in respect of some minority communities when consulting on the proposals.
