Newham 65

Census data published recently reveals levels of car ownership in Newham in 2021 broken down by ward. Newham65 has been looking at the raw data to highlight the percentages cited below. These census returns from 2021 show 70% of households in Stratford were car-free. This is the highest in the borough, just beating Stratford Olympic […]

Newham Voices, the independent monthly newspaper of “Community News and Views” has published a front page opinion piece in their February 2023 print edition titled Why We Support the Strikers. The opinion piece begins “When Newham Voices launched in 2020, we told readers we would avoid taking a stand on political issues.” However it is […]

Politically and temperamentally, the deputy Mayor of Newham, the Chief Whip of the Labour Group and the cabinet member for Children and Young people are very different characters. The deputy Mayor, James Asser, has the experience of sitting on the Labour Party National Executive for a number of years. Depending on the politics of the […]

Newham65 would like to blog about what has happened at the Budget Working Party of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  But we can’t.  We know on the 8th November 2022, at a meeting with a suspect level of attendance, the Budget Working Party was established. Apparently there might be more candour from the executive […]

December 2022 has so far been dominated by images of picket lines and snow.  Solidarity to all striking workers who are rightly saying ‘Enough is Enough!’. The slightly unexpected snow has led to widespread disgruntlement about icey paths and impassable cycle lanes in Newham.  The benefits of our brilliant new low traffic neighbourhoods don’t appear […]

You might say that at the November 2022 meeting of Newham Council, Labour Councillors in Newham turned filibustering into an art form.  But to call it an art form, or suggest it has any faint whiff of political competence is absurd.  It was just embarrassing. Before the full council meeting due to start at 7pm […]

In advance of Jeremy Hunt’s statement to the House of Commons this week, seventy leaders of Labour Councils signed a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This was published on Twitter at 10:47am on Thursday. The letter called for “urgent funding for councils so that we can deliver front line services”.  The signatories included many […]

Newham Council has distributed an eight-page glossy magazine (cost unknown) with lots of photos of one person, so perpetuating its reputation for having a council publication that is a parody of itself. On this occasion the subject of the montage is the late Queen, and Newham65 extends its condolences to those who knew her. In […]

Congratulations to Lakmini Shah on being elected chair of Newham Council’s Labour Group. We look forward to seeing her and the group leader working together. Rohit Dasgupta has been elected vice-chair unopposed.

In Friday’s post, A tale of two motions, we said: “While no agreement was reached in the [August] meeting, proposed amendments were minuted [pdf] – despite not having been voted on – and from these we can infer Labour’s concerns about the wording.” In fact, we were incorrect about the source of these amendments. The […]