The Fiazites Strike Back

You might be forgiven for thinking that Newham Labour has been infiltrated by the Green Party. Of course, it might simply be that the chattering classes of Forest Gate don’t talk to anyone other than themselves.

We see the first example of this in the decision to go ahead with the West Ham Park LTN, completely contrary to the expressed views of their mayoral candidate for 2026. As we have noted, launching an unpopular programme just before an election is unlikely to win any votes.

But it may be that there are some in the Labour Party who don’t actually want Hussain to win. Hussain has indicated that he would like to “listen to the people”. Not a bad idea of itself. However, there are clearly some in the present administration who know what is good for the people and they intend to deliver it whether the people want it or not.

How else can you explain the decision to introduce four new safe school streets without any reference to the candidate or the Group? 

One trouble that Newham, and indeed almost any urban council have in introducing traffic restrictions, is that nobody believes the rationale that the council promotes. Making streets outside schools safer for children is almost a no-brainer. Everybody should support this idea.

This good idea comes with the added bonus of being a nice little revenue earner. Just like every other traffic restriction Newham have introduced. Residents rely upon their cars. Labour’s left in Newham sees this as “reactionary and car-centric”.

Of course, Mayor Fiaz could have sought to demonstrate the efficacy of safe school streets with evidence of children’s lives saved or the massive reduction in injury outside the school gate. That would shut up all the nay-sayers. Unfortunately there isn’t any.

The trumpeted research from Napier University concludes that there is a reduction in traffic volume and a reduction in pollution. So here, in brief are the benefits. Restricting traffic on certain roads means that fewer cars use those roads. Fewer cars means less pollution. Tens of thousands of pounds spent on research to discover what any five-year-old could tell you.

A reduction in pollution is a positive. But the finding is misleading. Unfortunately, the net reduction is zero. Drivers don’t stop using their cars because they cannot go up a particular street; they simply go up the next street, often on the other side of the school. It’s an approach to policy that makes the politicians feel good about themselves, but which doesn’t actually deliver what it says.

We don’t know what the cost of these initiatives is. Nor do we know the revenue that they will generate. We do know that Newham has a habit of enforcing restrictions, (and fining drivers) even when schools are on holiday, which rather gives the lie to the idea of making school streets safe for children. There can be little wonder that car owners in Newham have become rather cynical about the Mayor and what she says.

It seems that Candidate Hussain has a fight on his hands with the current mayor and the middle class leftists of Forest Gate who seem determined to make it easier for Mehmood Mirza to win in May and become the very first Non-Labour Mayor of Newham.