Wednesday 29th March 2023 saw some strange goings on at East Ham Town Hall.

Three Scrutiny Chairs, (Councillors Masters, Booker and D. Lee Phakoe) plus Cllr Chadha ‘called in’ the decision of the mayor and cabinet, to approve the additional spending of £24m on the redevelopment of James Riley Point.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been working.

On 29th March, they met to discuss James Riley Point and the escalation in costs.

Readers will recall that at a fractious meeting earlier this year, the former close comrades (Cllr Paul and Mayor Fiaz) found themselves in a hostile confrontation.

Basically, Paul suggested to Fiaz, quite strongly we are told, that her sums did not add up.

In order to build a “fairer Newham”, Newham Council (Labour) has increased its council tax rates by 4.99%. The Mayor of London (Labour) and the GLA have upped their demands by over 9%. Newham remains one of the most deprived boroughs both in London and the country.

It seems that there are some councillors who share our concerns about the escalating costs for the Carpenter’s Estate redevelopment. Readers will recall that we noted the decision from Newham Cabinet to nod through an increase in the costs of the refurbishment of James Riley Point of some 43%.

We reported a few days ago on the disarray in Mayor Fiazco's cabinet over their new Parking Tax. You know, the one to really help Newham’s hard-up residents get over the pandemic!

Readers will recall that Newham Council caved in to a handful of protesters about the use of the redundant library building in Canning Town.

After five years, Newham Council have indicated that they do have plans for “The Old” Canning Town Library building.

This is a report from the Newham Recorder.

Some years ago, at considerable expense, Newham Council invested in some litter bins that would automatically tell the council when they were full, (in the picture on the left, you can see the flashing red light).

This story just keeps on going.

On 2nd March the Telegraph reported the Keeling incident at the council meeting.

According to the report, Mayor Fiaz was so moved by the inability of her colleagues to refer to an individual in the plural that she has determined that the members of her Labour Group are in need of training. The Labour Group, it seems, will need instruction on how to express themselves in Newspeak.

Newham Council appears to have become the subject of news comment, for all the wrong reasons.

The narcissism and mock outrage of Cllr Keeling was revealed in a tweet from Chris Rose, (above).

Where to begin…

Cllr Keeling has made it abundantly clear that they (singular) is not/are not (?) a him. They (again singular) is a non- binary person.

We know that readers are unlikely to peruse the somewhat dry pages of the Budget Working Commission, however, as this is the first real attempt to hold the mayor to account, we have read through it and bring you the edited highlights.

There are 10 recommendations

This was the picture which accompanied a Newham Recorder article about the alarming number of housing applications received by Newham Council. The intention is obvious, to create the impression that these applicants and there were 500 new applicants in January, are currently living on the streets.

Amidst much fanfare and collective back-slapping the burgesses of Newham congratulated themselves on the sterling work that they had done amongst the street homeless population during the pandemic.

We are given to understand that the leaked letter, published on Open Newham, from the Budget Working Commission, has caused the mayor to get a little upset. (This we are told is an understatement.)

One of our correspondents reported upon a nice little earner that Newham Council has begun to use in Canning Town.

Clarence Road is a quiet street alongside a park. It is a cul-de-sac running off Star Lane.

In what must be a welcome development, our sources tell us that the Budget Working Commission has written to the mayor sharing their “concern regarding the Council’s financial sustainability and resilience”.

The letter is unpublished. So far, see a copy below.

Remember the travails of Newham Labour. One councillor was deselected for complaining about antisemitism within the Newham Party. At the same time, an antisemite was selected to stand for a seat in Canning Town South.

We covered this earlier.