The meeting originally scheduled for (Thursday) 13th January 2011 at Coppermill School has been cancelled.
The Council has decided to abolish Community Councils from the beginning of January 2011. They are to be replaced with "Community Ward Forums", which will cover individual wards, and will provide an opportunity for residents to meet directly with their Ward Councillors in the setting of an open meeting.
Last update: Sunday 9 January 2011
Sorry this website has become so out of date - not enough hours in the day!
This site is wholly unofficial and is maintained (very erratically) by the current Community Chair, Philip Herlihy. Nothing here is endorsed or approved by the London Borough of Waltham Forest, or any Member, or Officer. (Or anyone, really!)
Be sure to visit also the Council's official site for the Walthamstow West Community Council. You may also be interested in the discussions of local affairs that can be found on the Walthamstow Yahoo Group.
Budget dramatically increased from June 2008. More...
Comment: Does censorship affect Community Councils?
Comment: How big a voice should Councillors have in the Community Forum?
Links: A growing collection of external links of interest to local people.
Forthcoming Meetings:
- Monday June 15 2009 Walthamstow Academy. More details here as soon as I get my head above water ...
- Monday 5th October 2009
Note that the annual budget spend process will be launched at the next meeting, and both residents and groups should start planning their bids!
Last Meeting:
« We have a "Help Form" 
, available (orange). The idea is to make Community Councils more accessible. If there is any reason you prefer not to speak at the meeting you can use this form to ask a question, raise a concern, or make a comment (anonymously if you wish). The form is also useful when you feel the exact wording of your comment or question is important. The Chairs of the meeting will do everything they can to see that you get a reply before the next meeting.
Finally, there are Evaluation Forms available (yellow) - your comments are welcome and are studied carefully. »
These forms can only be accepted at a Community Council meeting
(Last update: 28 June 2009)
What's it all about?
- Philip Herlihy, (Community Chair) sounds off to Jenny Clarke (Waltham Forest Guardian) about the work of the Community Council.
- Who are the meetings for? More... More...
- Whose side is the Chair on? More...
- What have we achieved? More...
- An article (30 KB ) on Community Councils from the national "Councillor Magazine"
Last Meeting:
Monday 2 March 2009, 7:30 pm
Venue:Coppermill Primary School , Edward Road, E17 6PB
Post-meeting comments:
Another very lively meeting! Apart from the important presentations from the North London Waste Authority and our local Safer Neighbourhoods police team, it seemed that most of the residents present were keen to hear about (and comment on!) the proposal to convert the former St. James St library building into a drop-in centre providing services including drug treatment. One of our regulars had got wind of this from an obscure reference in a Cabinet document and had alerted the local press. We'd picked this up, and anticipated the interest - we had available a pretty full set of officers and councillors, including the Chair of Waltham Forest NHS (Cllr. Afzal Akram, also our Cabinet Champion), the Director of Safer and Stronger Communities (Robin Tuddenham), the Metropolitan Police Borough Commander (Mark Benbow) and other senior figures too numerous to mention. Strong feelings were expressed, ranging from the closure of the library to the proposed drop-in centre and extending to the status and regeneration of the "West Village" (Cllr O'Rourke's engaging term).
This was one of the best meetings I've had the privilege to be involved in. Resident after resident spoke with clarity and passion about things that clearly mattered to everyone there and (with just a little encouragement from me) listened attentively as officers and councillors made the case for the centre. We had the right people there, and they all spoke well, detailing the various complexities involved in a decision of this type. The best thing about it was that everyone was prepared to listen, and everyone learned something - not least the officers and councillors involved in this proposal.
Did it make a difference? I think it must have. It fell to John Macklin (one of our WWCC ward councillors, and Deputy Leader of the Council) to make the point that sometimes councillors do have to make decisions that are unpopular, but he also said that it's up to councillors to account for these decisions fully. We don't yet know if this proposal will go ahead, but it's clear that if it does then the Council as a whole will have to explain its decision-making carefully to our residents. That's just as it should be, and it's satisfyingly clear that the Community Council has been at the heart of this.
There's one other thing worth touching on (it came up during the wind-down period after the meeting). There's an argument that says where the council feels it has no choice over a decision - perhaps for legal, or financial reasons - then consultation is actually harmful. The reasoning goes that if residents come to believe that their input can't make any difference then they will (reasonably) see the supposed consultation is a sham and a deceit. I think I rather agree with this: if there isn't a practical choice, then don't appear to offer one. However, it's then vital for the Council through its appointed officers and elected councillors to carry residents with them by persuading residents that there really is no alternative. Community Councils have an important role to play in making these issues visible.
Meeting:
Monday 5 January 2009, 7:30 pm
Venue:Chapel End Junior School, Roberts Road, E17 4LS
- Agenda (149 KB )
- Responses (32 KB ) to questions asked at the last meeting
- to follow
- Evaluation (26 KB ) - a digest of comments from the last meeting - ouch!
- Minutes (34 KB ) of this meeting
- Minutes (82 KB ) of the last meeting
- Complete Slides (813 Kb ) from tonight's meeting (as PDF)
- This meeting provided an opportunity to vote for next year's Community Chair and Vice-Chair. More...
- The meeting is scheduled to finish at 9:30, but the doors won't be locked until 10:00 (prompt!) which should allow some time for informal post-meeting conversations while the room is cleared up.
Post-meeting comments:
Another lively meeting, and we over-ran again - perhaps we need to go back to the earlier start-time. Keith Hanshaw gave a spirited account of how the Council is improving its monitoring of street-cleansing and adapting to a changing situation. Questions were equally spirited!
Lots of people were there to voice opposition to the opening of an access to the recreation ground via Cheshire Close (Chapel End), and one brave soul all in favour, with very eloquent arguments made on both sides, after a detailed presentation by Nick Burton (head of the council's Greenspace department). A difficult job for councillors to resolve, as they couldn't ignore the strength of feeling but they also have to find a solution which meets the needs of the wider area. In the event it was decided to attempt to set up a wider study to look into issues like "designing out crime" while maximising the use that could be made of this land. Meanwhile, the Community Council funding is ring-fenced for this purpose. Similarly, the Higham Hill councillors had found very mixed opinions on developing a play area at Millfield Avenue, and that too was deferred while further enquiries are made. Not much time left over for other issues in the Community Forum - we need to manage this better.
Do see the slides for full details, including the latest statement on the Arcade site (P19).
Meeting:
Monday 9 June 2008, 7:15 pm
Venue:Lloyd Park Theatre
- Agenda (145 KB )
- Responses (48 KB ) to questions asked at the last meeting
- Update: Further correspondence regarding the appointments process (Head of Museum, Gallery and Archive Service).
- Evaluation (18 KB )- a digest of comments from the January meeting. ("Over-Egotistical Chair" ? Surely some mistake!)
- Newsround (1,723 KB ) - a copy of the "Newsround" presentation slides from this meeting.
Post-meeting comments:
- A lively and well-attended meeting, as we've come to expect (despite the footie on the telly). There was some heat over the fact that the building we were in is now scheduled to be demolished and replaced with an "open air arena".
- The Newsround is building into an interesting and popular feature - about 2/3 of residents filling in the evaluation forms say that they come to "find out what is going on in their local area", and this is a response to that. It's also a way of airing interesting items which we couldn't otherwise fit in. The "Screen on the Green" (or "Blare on the Square", depending on your point of view) drew surprisingly few comments - perhaps everyone was taken aback at the "visualisation" I'd put together a few nights previously. There's a copy of the Newsround slides available here - if you just want my image of the Screen, that's here.
- A significant part of the meeting was given over to the new Budget arrangements. More details here. Some residents (and some Councillors) felt that the process was rather rushed, and in truth it probably is. The problem is resourcing - the new process gives the Commmunity Council team quite a lot more work, and it was felt that the only time they could cope with it was over the Summer, which meant the first stage had to be completed by early August. Some residents wanted to postpone the process to give more people a chance to take part, but after a vote it was decided not to do this. However, the application form is available here, and can be accepted up to August 4th. Remember though, that this is the Community Council's budget, and the decisions will be made by residents and Councillors at the October meeting. We'll be monitoring how well this works, and looking for ways to improve things - comments welcome.
- We're expecting to change the style of the Minutes this time. You can read more about this here.
Meeting:
Monday 19 November 2007, 7:30 pm
Venue:Walthamstow Academy
- Agenda (68 Kb)
- Minutes (Sept 10th ) (41 KB)
- Responses (44 KB ) - These are replies to questions and issues raised at the last meeting.
This meeting was the first since the Review of Community Councils, in which views and suggestions from a wide range of contributors were sought. You can read the summary proposals. (19 Kb )
There was much discussion about the Library Service and other topics concerning the Arts, Leisure and Culture portfolio. Responses now available here...
We also voted on:
- proposals (9 Kb ) for our £10.000 annual budget, and
- who is to be Community Chair and Vice-Chair for the coming year - these are interesting and rewarding roles, and you can put your name forward on the night if you'd like to be involved.
Meeting:
Monday 20 November 2006, 7:30 pm
Venue:Lloyd Park Theatre
Among other things we voted on suggestions made at the previous meeting for projects for our Community Council's £10.000 budget.
This handout (37 kb ) has more information. Here is a summary (12 Kb) of the options on which residents voted at the meeting. More detailed information (everything we have) can be found here (30 Kb) ,
We're also inviting volunteers to become our "Observer" on the Police-Community Consultative Group. You can find an application form and more information about these lively and interesting meetings here (18 Kb) . Note that anyone can attend these meetings, but it would be helpful to have a specific observer from the Community Council who could alert us at future meetings to issues affecting this area.
You can download the presentation from the Primary Care Trust "Fit for the Future" (220 Kb) .
Meeting:
Monday 4 September 2006, 7:30 pm
Venue:Chapel End Junior School, Roberts Road, E17 4LS
- Agenda (35K)
- Minutes (June 28 - Nb Draft only ) (52 Kb)
- Responses (66K) - These are replies to questions and issues raised at the last meeting.
- Evaluation summary (24k ) - compiled from comments made on the Evaluation Forms after the meeting (and discussed in detail by the CC team!)
Cllr Afzal Akram (Cabinet Portfolio holder for Community Safety) with Chief Inspector Mark Benbow (Met Police Borough Commander) presented this brief statement (23Kb ) on the recent arrests in connection with an alleged terrorist conspiracy. To allow more time for discussion of this and other "hot" topics, it was decided to defer item 7 (on Youth Activities) to a later meeting.
We asked residents for new suggestions for projects for our Community Council's £10.000 budget. You can still submit suggestions by ringing the Community Council team (020 8496 3000) until Monday 11 September - after that the existing suggestions will be costed and evaluated before the next meeting.
This handout (37k ) has more information.
Post-meeting comments:
- A lively and well-attended meeting! Less discussion emerged on Community Safety than might have been expected, but what was said was cogent and - I thought- ultimately uplifting. Cllr Terry Wheeler received yet another grilling on the Arcade site as he explained that the next milestone would be a Cabinet meeting in November which would review a revised plan - these grillings do seem to come with that Portfolio! Several residents were very exercised over a proposal (clearly at an early stage) to build a new Willowfield School behind Edward Road. Those three topics accounted for the entire Community Forum.
- The "budget" workshops worked well - residents gathered in Ward-based groups with their local councillors to thrash out ideas on how the annual £10.000 might be used. Altogether I ended up scribbling (!) 18 wide-ranging suggestions on a flip-chart - it's clearly just as well I'm not responsible for the minutes...
- We heard from Martin Esom - the new officer with overall responsibility for Environmental Services, after watching a short DVD which gave us an idea of just how wide-ranging that responsibility is. Residents, still in their ward groups, compiled lists of outstingind issues for analysis and action. Martin then set out his vision of the priorities and challenges ahead, and explained the pressing reasons for the element of compulsion entering the area of recycling.
- I still don't have a satisfactory solution to the situation where a resident won't accept that his or her "one last point" really does need to be taken off-line, or the viability of the remainder of the meeting comes under threat. The Chair's job is to act on behalf of the majority of those present, and when one individual tries to shout down the Chair, they are effectively trying to shout down everyone there. This time we'd almost passed that crucial point when the next Agenda item would have had to have been abandoned if it wasn't started immediately, and I'd already "tested" the wishes of those present by tentatively offering that option. The sense of the meeting was clearly that we should proceeed, so I had little alternative to talking over the top of the individual concerned as I introduced the next item (and taking a mouthful afterwards when everyone else had settled into their ward groups). That's the worst bit by far of chairing these meetings. Dimbleby doesn't seem to have these problems on Question Time. (sigh...). Otherwise - a great meeting!
Meeting:
Wednesday 28 June 2006, 7:30 pm
Venue: Stoneydown Park School, Pretoria Avenue, E17 6JY
- The official Agenda, Minutes and Responses should be available here shortly. Meanwhile, here are some dodgy pirate copies! :
- I asked Cllr Terry Wheeler, who has taken over the Cabinet Portfolio for Enterprise and Investment to give us a brief summary (203 Kb) of progress on the Town Centre redevelopment, and he was good enough to agree to attend and answer questions.
- The agenda included a presentation on the latest proposals for development around Blackhorse Lane.
- Inspector Jane Connors (Met Police) who oversees the Safer Neighbourhoods teams for the borough, explained how the system works. Residents separated into workshop groups to discuss this new provision, feeding back to the meeting.
Post-meeting comments:
- I'd fallen to the temptation to pack too much into the Agenda, and there simply wasn't enough time for questions. Also, my well-intentioned notion that it would be better to allow further questions to be raised (and minuted) with the intention of distributing responses only after the meeting was a daft one, and I won't try that again! It can be difficult to balance a wish to include important topics against a very real need to allow them enough time, especially after a five-month gap. It was a great meeting, and a very lively one, but we could probably have filled a full working day!
- One Councillor took issue with my decision during the Community Forum to take comments this time only from residents. He made the very reasonable point that he's a resident too, and that back-bench Councillors often have no other opportunity to comment publicly on vital issues that affect them and their constituents. See this Comment...
- In hindsight, I should have realised that a new Portfolio-holder (Terry) wasn't going to give us a plain progress-report on Cinema/Arcade/Library but would want to put over a wide-ranging vision for the future of the Town Centre. Of course, that stirred everyone up, and the topic dominated the Community Forum to the exclusion of anything else people might have wanted to bring up. At least we have the Help Forms!
- Because we ran out of time, I wasn't able to brief residents on the latest report on how last year's budget had been spent. You can download a summary here.
Meeting:
Monday 16 January 2006, 7:30 pm
Consultation: Mark Yeadon, Consultation Manager for LBWF, gave a presentation on "Consultation: Past, Present & Future", explaining how the consultation process is expected to work in the future. Download (81 Kb)
This meeting gave residents an opportunity to vote on our £10,000 budget. Residents had already narrowed spending down to three themes, and this time they voted on specific proposals for the benefit of our area.
Voting Results:
Residents' Priorities
| Project |
Votes |
| Football Pitches |
53 |
| Schools Environmental |
44 |
| Mobile Youth Club |
35 |
| Basketball Posts |
26 |
| Operation 'Payback' |
26 |
| Running Track |
21 |
| Play Equipment |
16 |
| Teen Seating |
14 |
| Street Warden Patrols |
11 |
Councillors' Decisions
| Project |
Allocation |
| Football Pitches |
£700 |
| Schools Environmental |
£2000 |
| Mobile Youth Club |
£5000 |
| Basketball Posts |
£3000 |
| Operation Payback |
remainder |
Only Councillors have the legal authority to make binding decisions at CC meetings - that's why the Chair changes over near the end of the meeting as the meeting enters a "formal" stage. In practice, Residents vote on priorities and then, as Residents watch and listen, the team of ward Councillors convert those priorities into practical decisions ready to be implemented. I believe this process works well, as Councillors are used to "haggling" and can usually tidy up any loose ends quickly and efficiently. We haven't yet had a situation where Councillors vota against the priorities of residents - when/if that happens I think we'll be in for an interesting night!
Meeting:
Monday 7 November 2005, 7:30 pm
- Venue: McEntee School, Billet Road,
E17 5DP
- Agenda
- Minutes of the previous meeting
- Responses to issues raised at previous meeting . This includes the Waltham Forest Direct response time statistics as promised by Cllr Blunt during the last meeting.
This meeting included a workshop in which residents combined in small groups to discuss new ideas for how to use our £10,000 budget for 2005/6. After discussion, residents voted for the following three themes as priorities:
Theme |
Votes |
Youth: |
57 |
Antisocial Behaviour: |
40 |
Parks: |
39 |
Next Steps:
- Anyone may submit a new proposal (for our area) aligned with one of these themes before 12th December 2005.
- Officers provide help with the assessment of cost and feasibility.
- Residents vote on specific proposals at the next meeting
There was also the chance to elect a new Community Chair and Vice-Chair. (In the absence of alternative candidates, both will carry on as before.) If you'd like to consider standing in the future, contact the Community Council team via 020 8496 3000. They are very supportive, and will be happy to explain what's involved and answer any questions you may have. Volunteers will be invited to introduce themselves briefly to the relevant meeting, after which residents vote for their preferred candidate.
In the second half of the meeting, there was a presentation on the latest plans for the redevelopment of the Blackhorse Lane area.
Note that presentations from the September meeting are also available for download. See below...
Meeting:
Tuesday 13 September 2005, 7:30 pm
There were presentations/discussions (available for download as PDF ) covering:
- Progress with the Town Centre (1,080 Kb - lots of pictures!)
- Refurbishment of the Central Library (81 Kb)
- Provision of GP's surgeries in the four wards and other health issues (24 Kb)
- New licensing arrangements (alcohol) (26 Kb)
... plus the Community Forum in which residents raise (more or less) any issue they choose.
April Meeting Cancelled:
Monday 11 April 2005
(Documents are in PDF format - Adobe Reader available here)
Meeting cancelled : As the General Election has now been announced, and the 11th April falls within the pre-election period, it has been necessary to cancel this meeting for legal reasons.
As I understand it, the Council's Legal team believe there is a significant risk that an individual or party may claim that they
have been "disadvantaged" in some way, and mount an action for
damages. In order to protect the public purse (and the whole electoral process) they believe the only thing to do is to cancel all events
where this risk may exist until the whole thing is over.
It's unclear how many other councils take the same view. PH.
The Walthamstow West Community Council