Waltham Forest Council related stories 1988

IT would have been political spite if the Waltham Forest Council had taken up M. Bird's suggestion and left the Larkswood site derelict. This is, after all, what the Conservatives and their Liberal allies did when they closed the Whipps Cross pool, when they ran the council.

A Labour council could have said it was not prepared to have anything to do with a private sector company -Larkswood is being developed jointly with a profit-making leisure group.

A Labour council could have said putting money into Chingford was a waste.

But we did not. We looked at Larkswood and found it was losing money hand over fist and would cost a fortune to restore.

We found a solution to the problem by working with a company which has considerable expertise in the leisure field. The professionals told us this design would be a success and put their money where their mouth is -the new Larkswood Pool is being jointly financed.

We also went out to public consultation and made sure that all technical details of the scheme met planning requirements.When we got 1,000 signatures opposing the plan, I did thank the protesters--and do so again now.

We should all be concerned about the environment in which we live. If more people were concerned about their neighbourhood the borough would undoubtedly become a nicer place to live in.

However, when I received the petition at planning committee there was very little I could do to support the protesters.

Firstly, the Larkswood scheme meets planning criteria -McDonalds didn't.

Secondly, the protesters chose to oppose the scheme in general terms and not to pick out specific planning objections. In fact, it would have been very difficult for any planning grounds to be pinpointed, since technical officers of the council had examined the scheme in great detail and ensured that it complied in all respects.

Finally, as I have already pointed out to M. Bird, opposition councillors have never been able to come up with a single viable alternative to the Larkswood scheme.

One Conservative councillor has always voted in favour of the scheme when it has come to committees and many of the others voted in favour of it on occasion.

The Liberals, born populists that they are right down to their jelly-filled backbones, have such a chaotic voting record that it is impossible to describe. However, it is probably fair to say that, as with most major issues, the Liberals voted in both directions on this one.

JO BRIND (CLLR), Chair,
Waltham Forest Planning Committee.

PLANNING chiefs are to lay down tougher rules governing building materials and the internal layouts of new homes.

The move comes after residents welcomed a recent clamp-down on visual and environmental damage caused by small in-fill building sites.

Councillors have noted that in some cases planning conditions affecting the inside of homes are not being met.

It is thought developers are exploiting the recent property boom in which home buyers are more concerned about getting a roof over their head than checking planning conditions.

Now planning officers have been instructed to

make sure agreed materials are used, car parking is properly laid out and landscaping is of a good quality.

If they are not satisfied, officers will ask that orders be given that defects be put right at extra cost to the developers.

The committee is also to crack down on internal layouts.

Some people in a new flat have to live, cook and eat in one, small area.

In future, living spaces and kitchen areas must be separate and room size must be satisfactory.

Jo Brind, chairman of the planning committee, said; "It's in everyone's interest that we enforce planning conditions."

Rush to sign petition over bin bag rule

By ANDY COMBER

IRATE residents have been clamouring to sign a petition against new refuse collection rules which among other things ban dustmen from collecting rubbish from dustbins.

Waltham Forest Council ruled last month that in future, as a cost saving exercise, dustmen should only pick-up garbage left out in black plastic bags.

The council has also decreed that this policy should apply to old people's homes and flats.

As a result, claim objectors, there is likely to be chaos with people not knowing where to put their rubbish for collection.

Residents incensed by the new rules have been flocking to sign a petition organised by new Liberal Democrat Councillor David Worsfold.

Within 24 hours of his phone number being published in last week's Yellow Advertiser, Mr Worsfold had received over 60 requests for petition sheets in. his save-the-dustbin campaign.

He hopes to have collected more than 3,000 signatures by Wednesday night when a special meeting of the public services committee was due to be held to thrash out complaints.

Some residents are angry that they are expected to pay for the bin bags themselves when they already pay for the collection of rubbish through the rates.

The petition demands that:

* Refuse collections from dustbins should return immediately.

* A new scheme for collecting rubbish in bags should be introduced in the autumn after full consultation.

* Free bin bags should be distributed to all homes.

Leader of Waltham Forest's Labour controlled council leader. Neil Gerrard. said the hostile public reaction was caused by the insensitive wording of a leaflet publicising the new scheme.

"If councillors had seen that leaflet before it was sent out it would have been changed," he said.

He pointed out that a private contractor would also demand that bin bags be used to cut costs. Rumours that households were being limited to collections of just two bags a week were, he said, pure nonsense.

The cleansing department hopes to save £173,000 by speeding up collections. It hopes to beat outside bids to win the collection contract when the service is put out to tender.

BRING back dustbins! That's the call going out across the borough from the new Liberal Democrat councillor David Worsfold.

Fresh from his victory in the Leyton by election Mr Worsfold has launched a borough-wide petition to get the dustbin ban lifted.

"The ban on dustbins and the way it has been imposed has angered thousands of people of all political persuasions. With the special meeting of the public services committee to discuss the ban taking place next Wednesday we have a real chance of knocking some sense into this council.

"I have launched this petition so that we can show to the council just what people think about this crazy ban."

Petitioners are asking for collection from dustbins to be re-instated or for the new arrangements to be substantially altered.

RIPPED

Mr Worsfold said: "I can understand that it is cleaner and more hygienic for rubbish to be put in bags but if the council wants to insist that we do this then it should provide the bags free of charge.

"Also, it should agree to collect the bags from inside dustbins. Bags left in the street are easily ripped open by cats and dogs looking for leftovers of food so people must be allowed to keep them in dustbins."

IN FORCE

He hopes to collect several thousand signatures by the time of next week' s meeting.

In some areas, people are doing a door-to-door collection of signatures, some shops have the forms and the Liberal Democrats hope to be out in force in most shopping centres on Saturday.

Anyone who wants to sign or would like to have a form should contact David Worsfold, 4 Terling Close, Leytonstone. London E11 3NP or telephone him on 536 0985.

WHIPPS CROSS Hospital was praised last week for keeping its casualty department open 24 hours a day for the past eight years.

Local GP, Doctor Dewi Griffith congratulated hospital staff at Thursday's District Health Authority meeting for its impressive record.

Whipps Cross' achievement was highlighted after Labour councillor Jonathan Brind asked for details of the number of patients turned away from the authority's hospitals.

Said Mr Griffith: "I congratulate Whipps Cross for being able to hand in a blank sheet."

DHA chairman Sidney Wayne and other committee members echoed Mr Griffith's words.

"It is indeed good news and I hope it gets the publicity it deserves," said Mr Wayne.

Later, Assistant District General Manager Mrs Victoria Whitaker attributed the hospital's success to "good bed management".

"It is this, coupled with the hospital's belief it should offer the community this service at all times that has meant, unlike other hospitals, the department has never closed," she said.

£15m project to transfer acute services

Major development for Whipps Cross

WHIPPS Cross Hospital has been earmarked for a new multi-million pound development with the closure of surgical and medical services at Wanstead Hospital, reports Mick McGlinchey.

And the £15m project could be completed by spring 1991, depending on the outcome of negotiations with the North East Thames Regional Health Authority.

Waltham Forest District Health Authority met last week to discuss the proposals and members voted by a narrow seven votes to six in favour of going ahead with the plan.

Transfer

The development will mean the transfer of all acute services from the ageing Wanstead Hospital to new hi-tech wards at Whipps Cross, at an estimated yearly saving of £884,000 to the health authority.

A report claims that maintaining these services at Wanstead would have cost £7.25m, because of the repair work currently required at the hospital.

But Wanstead's two wards for the elderly. Heron and Galleon, will remain, with the possibility of the site being retained for non-acute purposes.

The move towards the concept of a single district general hospital at Whipps Cross will mean 125 new beds, with three surgical wards, one medical and one rehabilitation ward.

There will be provision for

out-patients such as a day unit with connecting theatres and investigation suites.

And there will also be a new 15-bed isolation ward, recognised as a priority by the health authority.

Space will be provided for medical secretaries and clerical staff, and there will be shops for patients, and residential accommodation.

Six options were offered at the meeting but the proposal to close down Wanstead's acute services was agreed on the recommendation of the authority.

Health Authority General Manager Miss Christine Hancock voiced her "confidence" that the North East Thames Regional Health Authority will provide the £15m for the project.

But Mr John London, representative of NALGO, said he was "less than convinced" that this would be the case.

And he added that the report contained some serious omissions, particularly on staffing.

In reply. Miss Hancock told members: "We have a strong commitment to build at Whipps Cross and we can convey that message to the Region."

She also said assurances would be given that all services will be reprovided on the new site.

But, she added, that could mean a long drawn out process of consultation with staff.

"Staff have been offered assurances in general terms, but you can't make people feel secure until you talk to the individual."

Public transport also came under the spotlight and not everyone was convinced at the report's suggestion that access to Whipps Cross would be "cheaper and easier" than to Wanstead.

Pointing to the "past reputation of London Regional Transport," Mrs Joyce Dunne said: "For some people travelling to the new site it could mean a £5 taxi ride. That is not a good prospect, especially for pensioners."

I WAS touched by Mabel Baker's letter in last week's Points from the Post and hope that she is not, as she says, on her way out.

Homelessness and poverty is not caused by lack of space or overcrowding, but simply because the

people with the money and power don't give a damn about the rest of us.

America is a vast country and certainly has the space and economic power to house all its people. What it doesn't have, and indeed never has had, is the political will to do so.

In Britain there was a time (in the fifties and sixties) when Conservative and Labour parties vied with each other to claim the tide of builder of the largest number of houses.

That was in the days before the press became obsessed with the idea of relative economic decline -as if the people of this country should somehow become impoverished because the people of another country were getting richer.That led to the election of the current Government with its policy that it doesn't matter what happens to the poorest so long as the richest get richer.

If Mabel Baker cares to | take a flight from Heathrow r to Glasgow and looks out of the window on the way, she will find that Britain is still a vast, largely undeveloped country.

Thanks to our farming we can now feed ourselves with less of this land than was once needed.

A caring Government, even a rational Government, would create new towns in some of these areas -directing firms there to make sure that people have jobs and also creating the best possible public transport | system.

|, It is very unlikely that the present Government with its cash register mind will do anything at all about fee homelessness. It was, after all, a major feature of Victorian Britain, and Mrs Thatcher is trying to drive us back to Victorian values.

JO BRIND(Cllr).

TWO women's battle to prove the council was wrong to allow a tiny terraced house in Leytonstone being converted to flats, has ended in victory.

The Local Government Ombudsman has upheld a complaint of mal administration made against the council by one of the women, Doris Hardy.

In a damning report released last week, planning officers are slammed for giving inaccurate information to councillors.

And the council is told to brief staff to ensure the situation does not re-occur and compensate the complainant for her troubles.

Waltham Forest's Planning and Implementation Committee agreed plans for the 67.4 square metre house in Worsley Road in June, 1987.

This meant departing from a policy prohibiting such conversions on houses under 85 square feet.

Councillors were swayed because the house was declared unfit for habitation and officers said it would be uneconomical to renovate it as a family home.

But the Ombudsman report concludes the application, turned down twice before, should never have been agreed.

It suggests information was not reported fully and accurately to the committee and if it had been permission would not have been given.

Officers are criticised for other errors, including not making a rear inspection of the site and not revealing windows in the conversion would overlook neighbouring homes.

Committee chairman Councillor Jo Brind said he "found the report fair, but the conclusions rather harsh."

Chief Planning Officer Mr Bob Bennett said he is taking the report "very seriously."

"I will liaise with the people concerned and report to the committee," he said. "They will decide what action should be taken in response."

For Miss Hardy and neighbour Mary Smith, who fought the plans, the Ombudsman's report comes too late. The conversion is already complete.

THE ever rightward lurch of the Conservative party appears to be continuing with the appointment of Bob Lacey as the party's candidate in this area for next year's European elections.

Mr Lacey tells the Yellow Advertiser that anti-racism is a socialist dogma. Not true. The Liberals, for example, have a clutch of anti-racist policies and they could hardly be called Socialists. .

In fact, not so long ago the objective of countering racism was common to all political parties in this country (except the National Front). The only dispute between the parties was the means to be used.

Incidentally, if the Tory party now opposes anti-racism that puts it in a very small ultra-right wing camp internationally. To find friends in other countries it will have to look to Mr Le Pen's ultra right wingers in France and the governing party in South Africa.

The Tories will find few friends in America.

Cllr JO BRIND,
St Helier's Road, Leyton.

THE new Leyton Leisure Lagoon swimming complex at Leyton Green will be officially opened next Spring, but some parts of the building will be in use before then.

Technical and man power problems have delayed the opening, says a council report.

By Kelvin Ross

HAMBURGERS and Big Macs won't be coming to Chingford.

The controversy over a McDonald's restaurant opening in Chingford ended this week when the fast food giant scrapped its plans to appeal against the council's decision to refuse planning permission.

Earlier this year, McDonald's expressed an interest in building a restaurant at 30-32 Old Church Road.

But the scheme was thoroughly opposed by local residents. and shop owners, and when the proposal came before Waltham Forest Planning Implementation Committee in July, councillors rejected it

The reason for the thumbs down was that planners felt the building would be totally unsuitable for Chingford Mount, causing severe traffic, litter, and disturbance problems.

Chingford MP Norman Tebbit, London Regional Transport, and the Metropolitan Police also opposed the scheme.

McDonald's then began proceedings to appeal to the Secretary of State against the decision.

Appeal

But this week McDonald's announced they would be withdrawing their appeal, giving no reason why.

The council's chief planner Bob Bennett said: "We are pleased that they have withdrawn, but are also annoyed because we spent a lot of money on preparing our case, and it looks like we won't be able to claim any of it back."

Now the council plans to contact the Department of Environment to try and work out if there is any way of claiming back its costs.

And the public inquiry has been cancelled.

(Gang of Five stories)

THE real reason for the walkout by Labour's five black and Asian councillors from a Waltham Forest Council meeting has been disclosed,

In an exclusive interview--to be fully published next week-Franklyn Georges and Narinder Matharoo have made it clear the refusal of some Labour councillors to support their motion of condolence for Pakistani President Zia was the "final straw" in a bitter behind-the-scenes row.

They are furious that council officers are being allowed to make preliminary vettings for jobs, so that selection panels see "who the officers want, when agreed council policy is for councillors to be consulted from the start."

And they are critical of education chairman Eddie Playfair in the controversy over the appointment of two head teachers. He should have been "asking a lot of Questions" on realising all the applicants were white and delayed the interviews.

"We are not saying we wanted black candidates, for it is the merit of the person at the end of the day which is the deciding factor, but we do want it to be seen that we have given all the opportunity to apply," explained Mr Matharoo.

Mr George commented: "At present we are in a state of limbo, thinking about our position."

Three of the five have not attended the last three Labour council group meetings, "because there was no point"

Said Mr Matharoo; "I know we are putting our political future at stake. I might not be a councillor again. But we are not looking for power, but influence in policy making.

"If current attitudes continue, there will be no black councillors and the community will not put forward black (Labour) candidates at the next council elections."

Both are angry with the way education officers ignored their repeated requests for information on the headship candidates and say that, despite the controversy, there have been further recent examples of interviews being held with officer-selected candidates.

Leyton MP Harry Cohen, at a local Labour Party general management committee meeting, said: "We need self discipline to save Waltham Forest from a hard-hearted, uncaring Tory future."

Waltham Forest Pakistan Welfare Society accused Labour councillors of "shabby, insulting treatment" of the Pakistan community.

It declared: "Waltham Forest has the second largest concentration of Pakistanis in the country. What kind of democracy can the Labour Party boast when not one single member sitting at present in the council chamber was born in Pakistan?"

INTERVIEWS for two borough head teacher posts went ahead last week amid a storm of controversy, writes Mick McGlinchey.

With growing confusion over the venue and time of the interviews, members of the Community Relations Council and five rebel Labour councillors held a press conference demanding the council re-advertise the posts.

And afterwards, a 20-strong delegation staged a demonstration outside the Town Hall.

The bitter war of words began in September when Councillors Amarjit Devgun and Narinder Matharoo stormed out of interviews for posts at Waltham Forest's Warwick and George Mitchell Schools after it was revealed no black candidates had applied for the jobs.

They claim the council did not act on its declared equal opportunities policy when wording the advertisements or advertise the posts in the ethnic press.

And at the conference Councillors Franklyn Georges, Mohammad Khan and Fazler Rahman backed the rebels and renewed their call to the council to scrap the interviews and implement, what they say, are more equitable procedures.

Mr Devgun referred to Race Relations Committee meetings of March 21 and April 14, where he said, members voted unanimously in favour of advertising all vacancies in two black and ethnic minority publications.

That decision was agreed at last month's council meeting and Mr Devgun said: "We do not say that advertising in the black press will overcome all discrimination, but it will certainly improve things."

He slammed the council's policy on equal opportunities: "How come an equal opportunities council still does not automatically insert an equal opportunities policy on advertisements.

"That any reasonable officer will sit back and not ask why this isn't the case I find hard to believe."

Firing a bitter broadside at colleagues on the council he added: "It is a sad reflection that it has to be black councillors who take up this position."

Justifying their course of action, Mr Georges said :"Black people and other ethnic minorities make up a quarter of the population of the borough. If we are to act as proper role models, especially for young people, then we must fight for their rights."

And answering claims that councillors were abandoning party affiliations for a single issue, Mr Devgun added: "We represent all our constituents but we must also ensure the weakest get the fair share of resources."

After the meeting, Mr Devgun expressed his anger at the presence of police officers in the Town Hall during the interviews.

THE bottom line in the row between five black and Asian councillors and their colleagues turns out to be not a simple black v white issue.

The root of their anger is a feeling that they and other councillors are being treated roughshod by Town Hall officers-and the local Labour "Cabinet" refuses to do anything about it.

They are, without a doubt, keen for the council to be seen to be fair to all sections of the community.

But it is senior officers hand picking applicants for jobs and providing their own short list for selection by councillors which is really riling them.

Councillor Franklyn Georges summarises their view: "This council has been run by officers. Councillors should take the decisions, officers should only advise."

Noble sentiments, but generally not practical. Action would be delayed.

But they do have a point when it comes to selection of key staff. The education department itself has recently been criticised in a consultants' report for its "jobs for the boys" attitude.

Quite understandably , a chief officer wants to mould his or her own team. But when you are in a job accountable to the public the normal rule book goes out of the window.

What is puzzling, though, is the second plank of the rebel councillors' outburst: the ruling Labour group's refusal to support them in confirming a March 29 Race Relations Committee decision, supported by the full council, on how the ethnic press is used for recruitment advertising.

Labour leaders rightly argue ethnic media advertising is limited by available finances. They claim that the committee's decision for 10 per cent of the advertising budget being used in the ethnic press is continued to be used.

But there would appear to have been a shift in policy since March. Their stance needs to be clarified.

We are glad that the rebel councillors have decided publicly to explain themselves (next week's exclusive interview is very revealing). Their silence did nothing to help race relations in this borough. Our hope is that they have learned from this mistake.

A ROAD which will bring "significant economic benefits" to Waltham Forest is planned in Leyton.

The road, linking Lea Bridge Road and Ruckholt Road, will divert heavy traffic away from some of the area's existing main roads, particularly Church Road, and serve a number of industrial firms.

A; detailed report on design and environmental impact has been requested by councillors and a timetable for the road's construction has been urged,

But the road's route and preferred junction points have been approved in principle.

Now a full-scale public consultation exercise is to be done and development sites along the routes are to be marketed.

Linking into the M11 Link Road, the relief route is expected to revive the fortunes of the Argall Avenue industrial estate.

Schemes promoting new jobs will be given maximum Town Hall encouragement.

Land for housing would not get a priority.

British Gas and British Rail Property Board have verbally offered to help market saleable land.

The proposal includes the sale of Ruckholt School for commercial use.

See Leyton Relief Road.

LAST Wednesday council leader Neil Gerrard denied the council had abandoned its equal opportunities policy.

He claimed that since 1986, initiatives had been undertaken to improve opportunities for black and ethnic minorities, and he denied the council was guilty of racial bias.

Referring to the "careful monitoring" of all advertisements, he told the Guardian: "As an example of what has been done, the proportion of black and ethnic minority appointments to white collar posts has risen from 17 per cent in 1986 to nearly 22 per cent last year. The percentages should be even higher this year."

And he said it would be "uneconomical" to advertise every job in the black press, in a time of serious financial restrictions.

But he added: "It is our policy to reach ethnic minorities through advertising in that press, and a minimum of 10 per cent of the advertising budget is now spent in those publications."

The atmosphere at the last full council meeting in Waltham Forest was closer to that of a public bar than a democratic convention.

Important decisions were made, amid the shouting of insults, personal abuse and general bitterness.

Interruptions from the public gallery were also common and non-constructive. The whole debate worked along a personal level, with each party trying to knock the other, rather than reach a sensible decision.

About the first hour at least five councillors had walked out over the rejection by some of their colleagues of a message of sympathy for Pakistan on the death of President Zia.

This was followed by a row over the proposed closure of Roberts Hall, a workshop for the disabled.

The sensible explanation for this closure was completely ignore and, instead, the incident was used to attack the individual councillors, the Labour Party in general and even unmarried mothers.

One Conservative councillor commented that, if Roberts Hall had been a home for unmarried mothers, then the Labour Party would have bent over backwards to help.

The whole procedure was messy, unprofessional and generally unacceptable.

The only factor preventing the meeting from being as humorous as Fawlty Towers was that sobering thought that this was how many big decisions affecting many people's lives were being made.

Lydia Wilmer,
Media Studies students,
Polytechnic of Central London

FURIOUS black councillors stormed out of Waltham Forest's full Council meeting last week revealing a deep rift in the Borough's Labour Party.

The five rebels refused to join their Labour colleagues in backing a Tory amendment to a motion calling on the Council to pay tribute to Pakistan's President Zia.

According to Tory leader Michael Lewis, the black councillors were unhappy about adding the name of the American Ambassador and other victims of the tragic plane crash to a message of condolence.

The motion to send the message to Pakistan's Government, complete with the extra names, was carried.

Minutes later the angry black councillors slipped out of the. Council chamber-leaving the delighted Tories to out-vote Labour in all the debates.

But a black Labour councillor admitted that the Zia issue was the final straw in a long running dispute.

He said the split started when certain key appointments were made in Council departments which plainly went against the Council's much publicised promise to be an Equal Opportunities Employer.

Tory leader Michael Lewis said: "Labour have really shot themselves in the foot this time."

I DIDN'T intend to write a letter to Points from the Post this week, but having seen Charles Morton's letter, I felt that I could not let the poor man down.

First, let me reassure him that I don't have to buy a copy of the Guardian. The council's press office provides a cuttings service.

Secondly, I would like to point out that reports of the death of the Labour Party are, in the words of Mark Twain, a little exaggerated.

Both the party and the country are suffering from the effects of a decade's rule by a Government which does not believe in the concept of society and is committed to dismantling the welfare state.

People used to say that although Britain was a less rich place in which to live than some other countries, it was a better more tolerant place. Now they just say it's an all round poorer place to live in.

However, I have great faith that the people who defied Hitler, and who pioneered the National Health Service and so many other public services, will one day renounce the greed and grubbiness that is Thatcherism.

Until then, Mr Morton, I'm afraid we're all in for a tough time.

JO BRIND (Cllr), St Helier's Road, Leyton.

WALTHAM Forest Council have been told there is no more money available for redeveloping its housing estates. The stark message was given by Cllr Clive Morton, chair of the Housing Committee, after a 1987-level meeting with senior civil servants.

The council wanted the go-ahead to borrow £63m for housing next year and asked Government to increase its Housing Investment Programme allowance.

Cllr Morton said: "They suggested councils might be allowed to borrow even less next year even though we pointed out demand for homes was rising and we have so far avoided use of bed and breakfast accommodation."

Education service is set for a major shake-up

WALTHAM Forest's education service is set for a major shake-up over the next five years.

The departments responsible for co-ordinating and implementing education policies in the borough have just come under scrutiny in an effort to make them more efficient.

Independent management consultants Coopers and Lybrand carried out the first stage of this review by looking at the strengths and weaknesses, systems and practices and external factors which make change necessary.

While this was going on though, the Education Department was already examining present and future needs and Chief Education Officer Martin Shepherd said: "Although we need to make a specific push in some areas, the process of continuing to review and change is here to stay.

"We all have to be managers of change including change within the education department. Managing that change is the key to the future."

The second stage of the review will focus on the highest priority areas and this will include the roles structure and organisation of the advisory team, an information technology strategy, staff and management development programmes and the borough's response to the Education Reform Act.

Commenting on the review, Cllr Eddie Playfair, chair of the Education Committee, said: "It is a good start to a vital process. Waltham Forest's Education service belongs to the people of the borough.

"Everybody has a stake in education and everybody's voice must be heard. People in Waltham Forest deserve the very best education service we can offer and we intend to do our best to meet their expectations."

WHEN you've got to go, you should be able to in comfort, with nice wooden seats, bright surroundings and a unisex attendant.

At least that is the convenient thinking of Waltham Forest Technical Service Committee members, although they did get a bit bogged down in a discussion over proposals to build public conveniences in the car park behind Co-op Leo's in High Road, Leytonstone.

The building will include toilets for men and women, plus a baby changing and feeding area.

There is to be a locked interconnecting door between the ladies and the gents which can only be opened by an attendant.

But councillors, concerned about the gender of the attendant, were told that male attendants were usually more acceptable by female users than vice-versa.

Councillor Chris Dunn agreed, joking: "I often go into female toilets and have never had any trouble!"

This statement by Mr Dunn, shocked fellow committee members.

£30,000 costs

Councillor John Wylie said he was "aghast" at the revelation.

Mr Dunn was asked if he had gone into the closet and committee chairman Denise Liunberg said she thought the expression was "to come out of the closet".

Councillor John Williams said the estimated staffing cost of £30,000 a year for the attendants was too high and Councillor Jane Watts said if they were going to be paid that much she would consider applying for the job herself.

But council officers explained the attendants would work two shifts and the convenience would be open six days a week, plus Friday evening to coincide with late night shopping.

It was agreed recommendations to build the lavatories as soon as possible and to make sure they were clean, bright and comfortable.

TEMPERS flared at last Thursday's Waltham Forest Council meeting when Councillor Michael Fish accused a Labour councillor of telling lies about him.

During a debate on vocational training for the long-term unemployed Councillor Clive Dunn (NOTE: a confusion between Clive Morton and Chris Dunn. Clive Dunn was an actor in a tv programme called Dad's Army. In this case the speaker was probably Chris Dunn, who had considerable expertise on these matters. Michael Fish was a member of a family that owned a jewellers.) said that Mr Fish had no idea how many places were available on Manpower Services Commission schemes and knew nothing about the MSC.

"He knows nothing about the MSC. He talks about there being 4,500 places but this is a myth."

Mr Fish immediately jumped to his feet shouting: "He is a liar, I do understand how the MSC works. I have spent some time there finding out about vocational training."

He was opposing proposals for a council survey into the needs, aspirations and skill levels of long-term unemployed.

Recommendations to set up a vocational training initiative pilot scheme were approved.

MAY I thank everybody in Leyton who contributed to our tremendous by-election win on July 7. We have already delivered a "thank you" letter to all 8,500 electors in Leyton Ward, but I want to add a public thank you to everybody who voted for me and helped during the election.

IT was indeed good of Mr Wray to thank those people who voted for him in the Leyton by-election. It was even better of him to show his true self after he had lost that election.

CAN I, through your pages, thank those 1300+ people in Leyton who voted for me in last week's council election.

VICTORIOUS David Worsfold celebrated in style after being elected as a Waltham Forest councillor.

COMPUTER programmer John Wray hopes he has his finger on the pulse of the Leyton electorate as well as the work-day keyboard-because he is Labour's choice in next week's votes battle.

A candidate for Leyton ward in the 1986 council election, Mr Wray is also a former governor of the Ruckholt Manor High in Oliver Road, Leyton.

Once a Liberal supporter, he will be contesting the seat on the poll tax, housing, education, rate capping and local democracy.

"This election is about more than purely local issues," he said.

'It's a chance to show how in future all local issues will be dictated by a national government determined to destroy local democracy."

Mr Wray says he is committed to Leyton, as shown by his campaigning to get the M11 link road tunnelled and he is against the transport of nuclear containers by train through Temple Mills.

He believes Labour has a crucial lead on the issue of housing and Government plans to privatise council estates.

"Over the last two years the council has done a lot to improve life on the estates. All this will be lost if they opt out and housing is given to shark landlords for exploitation."

MORE is at stake in the Leyton ward by-election next Thursday than the simple choice of who will occupy a vacant seat in the Waltham Forest Council chamber.

Democrats seize Leyton in by-election shock

Report by Mike Jeremiah

LIBERAL Democrat David Worsfold is celebrating this week after winning a Labour stronghold seat by a majority of over 4,000 (NOTE: actually 400) and reducing Labour's majority on the council to just one.

And unions claim victory for all council workers

Report: ANDY COMBER

A YEAR-LONG wrangle between the council and cleansing staff has ended in victory for all council workers, claim union chiefs.

An industrial tribunal has decided that 13 cleansing supervisors should be able to count overtime earnings as a right under work contracts.

Waltham Forest Council had refused to recognise their employees' right to overtime earnings while reorganising work practices in preparation for competitive tendering.

The town hall

union Nalgo has hailed the decision as a test-case victory that guarantees conditions for all staff affected by service privatisation.

Alan Griffiths, the union's Waltham Forest branch secretary, said.' "This ruling means there is no excuse for such an attack on wages and conditions.'"

The tribunal was called in when negotiations broke down after, the unions accused the council of trying to drive down earnings by not recognising contractual overtime.

BIN bags may be made available to Waltham Forest residents free of charge after all, thanks to last week's council meeting walkout by Labour councillors.

Opposition councillors had opposed the policy from the start. And finding themselves with a majority, they seized the opportunity to strike a blow in the great black bag battle.

An amendment was passed squashing plans to sell the bags to residents at "the most economic price."

Council officers will now be told to investigate the possibility of providing 75 sacks annually to the public free of charge.

The matter will be considered further at a future meeting of the Public Services Committee.

But the thwarted Labour councillors slammed the opposition's argument that other land could be sold to make up receipts as "absurd."

Mr Lewis called proposals to sell Drysdale Avenue "spiteful, mean and vindictive."

"What the people who live in this area want is their field left alone," he said. "Dispose of other eyesores instead."

Democrat councillor Chris Millington agreed: "We agree with the Education Capital Programme," he said.

"But there are other small scale sites that have remained untouched for years. If we looked at them in detail we would find enough to cover receipts."

Councillor Richard Slack fired back: "Receipts of this magnitude need to be received in this financial year.

"If you fail to get those receipts it will put the education programme in jeopardy."

Council Leader Neil Gerrard warned members fighting for Drysdale to be ready to face the consequences.

"Bits and pieces up and down the borough will not bring in this potential capital receipt of three or four million," he said.

"If you vote for this be prepared to explain to people in this borough next year why the Capital Education Programme falls apart."

Education Committee Chairman Eddie Playfair said this week: "There was a certain amount of muscle flexing when the Tories and Democrats realised they had a majority.

"I think they took the decision without really thinking about it and in the cool light of day will realise there is no alternative to selling Drysdale.

"It will be discussed at the Resources Committee meeting on November 21 and I feel the decision will be reversed.

"If it is not, and we cannot generate receipts, there will be a massive gap, in the Capital Education project and the building work and upgrading in schools will be jeopardised."

Tory councillor Derek Arnold, on the other hand, backed the motion. He met President Zia when as Mayor in 1985 he visited the country and had grown to admire him in many ways.

The Democrats' amendment was agreed by a vote of 35 to 10 and the combined motion by 30 to 14.

Though they had "won" the five black members were disgusted at the lack of support from their own party.

They quietly rose and left the council chamber. Other Labour members walked out with them.

It was several minutes, and the Roberts Hall debate had already started before it became obvious to the opposition that the rebels would not return.

After the meeting, Labour deputy leader Bill Dennis spoke with undisguised anger.

"It's usual in any party that when the group does not go along with a motion, it is not put to council," he told the Guardian.

"The five chose to go against that. And now they have put our policies in danger.

"If this council falls, and our race relations and equal opportunities policies are watered down, I for one am not going to take the blame. The five councillors will carry the responsibility."

He added: "We are not going to be blackmailed into supporting unacceptable things just because we only have a majority of one."

Philip Arnold for the Democrats said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that the Labour Party is unfit to run Waltham Forest Council.

"They are torn by internal disputes and it is obvious they are bitterly divided."

Conservative leader Michael Lewis said: "I was amazed by what happened. It took us some time to become fully conscious of what was going on-we had no fore-warning.

"But, if any good could be said to have come out of this, it is that we have seven more weeks to work out something to save Roberts Hall."

Speaking from his home, Mr Rahman said: "I don't think that was the way for Labour councillors to talk about Pakistan when we have such a big community from there."

He said that even in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, where there was conflict with Pakistan, proper respect had been shown after Zia's death.

Take away our freedomto say whatever we want,and we have nothing left.

CONCERNING your report (Waltham Forest Extra, October 25) of the council debate on the sympathy declaration for the death of General Zia, I do not understand the reason for your statement "two councillors joined the pre-established rebels."

-This is nonsense. It is equally untrue that I and Councillor Khan had "declared before the meeting" that we would walkout.

I announced at the Labour group meeting that I would withdraw from the council meeting, but not the motion.

It is not the first time I have withdrawn from a council meeting through serious differences. They didn't care then, because they had a majority which enabled them to be able to afford to ignore it, however just the cause might be.

Now they are vilifying us because they have a majority of one.

The three councillors referred to by you are taking a stand in respect of their responsibilities assigned to them by the Labour group, and the race relations and education committees.

The appointment of head teachers is an issue for the council and the Labour group in particular; the expression of sympathies with the family of the late General Zia, the people of Pakistan and Pakistanis living in Waltham Forest is not.

In 1985, Labour supported General Zia and his regime, when the defeat of the Russians was not in sight.

It's a different story now he has defeated the Russians without the loss of a single Pakistani -civil or military -outside his borders and announced the date for a general election.

M. FAZLUR RAHMAN, Councillor, London Borough of Waltham Forest.

HAVING read Councillor Fazlur Rahman's letter in last week's issue and having watched very keenly what happened in previous weeks following five black and Asian councillors walking out from a full council meeting, I cannot resist some comments.

Pakistan is an independent country and there is a large concentration of the Pakistani community in this borough legitimately settled here. It is unfortunate, though, that there is no representation of our community in the local council, and there are various reasons for that, which I do not want to go into at this stage.

In my opinion the majority of the Pakistani community did not appreciate the way General Ziaul Haq came into power and how Mr Bhutto was treated and later sent to the gallows, having been in power for 11 years and having gained the sympathy of western powers. Because of the evident issue of a Russian invasion of Afghanistan and Afghan refugees, western powers had to express such sympathetic sentiments.

Moreover, recent elections have shown that even after 11 years of rule, General Ziaul Haq and his civilian participants in power could not gain popularity. Hence many of them lost their elections very badly.

As a consequence, the Pakistan People's Party, of which Mr Bhutto was founder, has come into power after the most fair elections ever held in Pakistan.

I think local councillors are elected in their respective wards to serve local people on the local authority. They should not meddle with other country's affairs, because there is every danger of other countries being misrepresented or hurt.

M. AFZAL MALIK, Chairman, Pakistan People's Society, Walthamstow.

THE row about advertising of Headteacher posts drags on. Not representing headteachers I am unable to comment on the specifics, but perhaps some related background would put the row in context.

This union has long had reason to complain about poor employment practices in education. It's not all bad; our agreement for the redeployment of members in secondary schools worked very well. But there have been many incidents of a kind that rarely happen in other council departments.

With this experience we were happy to agree to the early appointment of a Principal Personnel Officer and to negotiate later about which existing staff should transfer from education. The Principal Personnel Officer has been in post since March: but no staff transferred to his management until early autumn. A key new post, of Recruitment Officer, has only been filled since October 10.

Now that the biggest and most complicated council service has caught up with the times, we're looking for early progress in our claims for proper contracts of employment for the dozens of special welfare assistants, assistant youth workers and crèche worker who have been treated as casual labour for years.

It would be good to get these, and other outstanding equal opportunities issues resolved before all concerned become totally engaged with the horrors of the Education Reform Act.

ALAN GRIFFITHS,
Branch Secretary,
Waltham Forest NALGO.

FOR the second month running, three Labour councillors walked out of a full council meeting -leaving their ruling group without a majority.

Mohmmed Khan, Narindar Matharoo and Amarjit Devgun left last Thursday's meeting after helping their group defeat opposition motions to disband the council's police committee and police unit.

The councillors' walkout was part of their continuing protest at the way the Labour leadership is handling the council's equal opportunities policy.

Although presented with their second chance to wield real power. Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors failed to deal the Labour group a knock-out blow.

An attempt by Labour to remove Tory Councillor Christine Smith from her role as the council's representative on the Community Relations Council following her recent attacks on race laws, failed after the meeting ran out of time.

CASTING VOTE

A special full council meeting may be held before Christmas to deal with the matter. The controversial plan to close Roberts Hall Occupation Centre squeezed through on the Mayor's casting vote after Conservative Doug Norman declared an interest and Liberal Democrat Pat Atherton abstained.

Opposition councillors blocked Labour's latest attempt to sell the Drysdale playing fields in Chingford for private housing to raise money for rebuilding the borough's secondary schools. The issue is to be referred back for further discussions.

Yellow Advertiser Friday, December 16, 1988

A BOYCOTT by three Labour members has left Waltham Forest Council drifting into the New Year.

If it continues, the party will lose the power to dictate the crucial policy review-setting priorities for the coming year -or the rate-fixing process.

Even now, it can't exercise its usual majority of one. Three Asians are continuing to stay away from meetings after making a brief appearance at last week's full council. They are Amarjit Devgun, ex-Mayor Mohmmad Khan and education vice-chairman Narinder Matharoo.

Two other rebels-for-a-season, Fazlur Rahman and Frank Georges, are again voting alongside their colleagues.

What will bring the three back into the fold remains unclear.

They are not communicating on an official level with Labour leader Neil Gerrard. Nor have they made any on-the-record statements to the Press explaining how they can represent their electors without voting on vital issues.

Because of their absence, cherished Labour policies, like the sale of Drysdale Avenue playing fields and the concentration of day care at Walton House, are again in limbo. Officers working on these and related schemes are rehashing reports instead of making progress on schemes. And the balance of power lies with the 12 members of the Social and Liberal Democrat party. (There are 29 councillors in the Labour party and 16 Tories).

The original walk-out at the previous full council was on the pretext of some Labour members' refusal to condole with the death of President Zia of Pakistan. But allegations by black members that the Labour leadership is not committed to equal opportunities policies are behind the row.

It came to a head in September when Mr Matharoo and Mr Devgun refused to serve on panels appointing head teachers to two Waltham Forest secondary schools. They claimed the jobs, like others before them, had not been advertised in a way likely to attract blacks.

Letterbox

YOUR reporter seemed to have failed to grasp the situation of the last council meeting (issue October 28), otherwise he would have understood that Labour's slender grip was on the verge of collapse due to the Brezhnevite factions opposing the condolence resolution on the tragic death of the President of Pakistan, General Mohammed ZiaulHuq.

The Labour group, including the Brezhnevites, had in 1985 supported the Tory/Liberal motion of the visit to Pakistan by the Tory Mayor, Councillor Derek Arnold, at the cost of the council, for calling on the same President of Pakistan.

Labour had then claimed that the purpose of such support was an exercise to build community relationships with the large local Pakistani population. All other pretexts by the self-acclaimed moralists to now oppose a condolence motion is sheer hypocrisy of the highest order.

Since then, the only significant changes have been that of the surrender and retreat of the Russian Red Army from Afghanistan due to the active role of the general, the announcement of the date of the election in Pakistan by the general and his assassination in a plane crash -all in 1988.

The most important difference between 1985 and 1988 seems to be that the political players on both sides were then comprised of all whites, as against the condolence motion moved and seconded in 1988 by two non-whites of the Labour

To reply to one pertinent question, if General Ziaul Huq was a "murderer", the British and international jurist organisations were the accomplices who were present throughout the entire deliberations of the murder trial. (The attempted hushed-up murder of the husband of a helpless lady.)

The Liberal/Democrat amendment on election was in effect merely a support to the action, of the general, by announcing the election and fixing the date for it

Frankly, there was no option for the non-white councillors to act otherwise after my deciding to move the motion of condolence; nor could the Tory/Liberals act otherwise due to their 1985 initiative. Labour was caught between the Brezhnevite spiritualists and the Gorbachev realists. So I don't blame them.

COUNCILLOR M. FAZLUR RAHMAN, Warner Road, Walthamstow.

THE council should s1987 calling itself an equal opportunities employer if it appoints two head teachers from existing shortlists, Labour leader Neil Gerrard has been told.

Waltham Forest Community Relations Council is supporting Councillors Amarjit Devgun and Narinder Matharoo, whose actions s1987ped the selection committees for the headships of Warwick and George Mitchell Schools at the last moment.

They complained because the jobs were not advertised in the ethnic minority press, or worded in a way to attract black candidates. All the applicants were white.

Paul Dowling, CRC chairman. has written to Mr Gerrard: "The CRC opposes the council's intention to make appointments from these discredited shortlists.

"To make appointments against the oppositions of Councillors Devgun and Matharoo shows profound insensitivity to the aspiration of the ethnic minority communities."

Mr Dowling says the two councillors have been subjected to personal abuse and criticism following their protest

INTERVIEWS for crucial head teacher posts were cancelled at the eleventh hour when two Labour councillors refused to serve on die selection panels.

They claimed the jobs were not advertised in a way calculated to attract a proportion of black applicants.

Last Wednesday, me four short-listed candidates for the headship of Warwick Boys School, Walthamstow, were actually sitting outside the interview room when they were told to go.

The following evening's interviews of six would-be head teachers for George Mitchell School, Leyton. were cancelled that day.

There were 20 applicants, all white, for the Warwick job and 26, also white, for George Mitchell.

The posts were advertised in the Times Educational Supplement in May and shortlists were drawn up in July.

Councillors Amarjit Devgun and Narinder Matharoo say the advertisements did not match the council's own equal opportunities policies. The job descriptions should have been widened, and promoted in the black press.

Labour leader Neil Gerrard told the Guardian that the interviews were cancelled to avoid embarrassing the candidates. That did not imply support for the two councillors' views, and no decisions had been taken about the next steps.

He denied the suggestion that there was a split in the Labour ranks.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat members condemned the aborting of the interview process as "outrageous" and "irresponsible."

The row started just one day after the first black head teacher in Waltham Forest, Lloyd Davis, took up his post at Heathcote High School, Chingford.

Full reports on page 3.

I AM surprised at your irresponsible use of phraseological examples of Brixton and Bristol that could create a scare and fear of breaching peace and harmony within the community.

If you read your leading Comment again, I am sure you will realise that your questionable Comment could serve as an invitation to the racist element to start racial attacks due to the incitement of "generating a black versus white environment."

I am at a loss to understand if the unanimous support of the Tories and Democrats to the motion of condolence on the tragic death of the President of Pakistan, General Mohammed Ziaul Huq, was aimed at generating your predicted "environment." As a matter of fact, your Comment was devoid of any semblance of journalistic ethics of any type.

I object to your unwarranted use of phrases like five black and Asian councillors flexed their muscles and tried to get their own way," "danger of becoming lepers of the local political scene," "threatening to bust wide open race relations in the borough," "five rebel councillors" and such invectives.

It is crystal clear that the contents and style of your Comment was directed to damage the reputation of the councillors targeted for the attack, with the seeming intention to malign them on the one hand and to terrorise the community on the other.

Had it not been so, you would not have grouped the "five councillors" with the dossier of events like the council meeting, head teachers' issue, utterances of Councillor Christine Smith, CRC's role and such other unrelated matters.

Nothing could be more farcical than dubbing the CRC as "anti white" right at the time when an ex-councillor, Paul Dowling, is its chairman. I suppose I do not have to tell you the colour of his skin; at the same time, I guess he might not like to describe himself as a white man either, because he has earned his position by his services to the community and not on the qualification of his colour.

Your deplorable journalism stood exposed by the uncalled for caption of "Gang of Five" in the alleged news item filled with vituperatives, twisting of the facts and questionable reporting. The entire coverage gave the impression of the work of a gangster and not a reporter.

This Item in question cites Tory councillor Derek Arnold's visit to Pakistan to call on the President of Pakistan, Ziaul Huq, in 1985, when I was not a councillor. What has been deliberately omitted from the report is that the then Labour Executive of the Group, comprised mostly of the same handful of individuals as now, had supported such a visit and agreed to pay the cost from the council as well.

Since then, the only epoch-making difference, besides the fact as I had stated in my speech, has been the retreat of the Russian invaders from Afghanistan and the defeat of the Red Army. It gives the impression that the Brezhnevites had supported such a visit because there was then not even the faintest chance of the defeat of the Russians.

Now the picture is different General Ziaul Huq has forced the Russians to retreat and also declared the date for election.

To cut it short, I would like to summarise that it was high time to change their colonial attitudes still being harboured, should they relate to Russians in Afghanistan or the period of the Indian imperial era.

M.F.RAHMAN(Cllr).

Editor's footnote: Councillor Rahman's views are not shared by two of his Labour candidates. They met me soon after the Comment was published to share this newspaper's belief that there were danger signals sounding locally on race relations. Thankfully, any immediate possibility of a problem has now disappeared.

MANY Guardian readers will have been surprised that they will have had to wait another week for an explanation from Labour's five black and Asian councillors in Waltham Forest for their actions over recent weeks.

We live in a society in which racism is an ever present fact of life and in which institutional racism is still firmly established.

We can well appreciate the frustrations of these councillors when they encounter local government bureaucracy and its insensitivity in dealing with racial discrimination.

But we fail to see how the refusal of Labour councillors to back a motion of condolence for Pakistan's late President Zia in the council chamber constitutes a racist act.

President Zia seized power backed by army circles, put thousands of his political opponents in jail without trial, introduced laws which can only be described as feudal, made law and order a mockery and had his main political opponent, Mr Bhutto, hanged after a farce of a trial.

The manner of President Zia's death is certainly not a gloating matter but those who live by the sword...

His death is likely to lead to the election of a civilian government and the restoration of democratic rights. In these circumstances how can any local Labour councillor who has any regard for the truth support condolences for a despot whose policies were opposed by the majority of the Pakistan people? Unless there is more to this than meets the eye? Have these five councillors a longer view about their political futures?

Is this the beginning of a "break away" to capture the ethnic vote at the next council elections?

These and other questions will no doubt exercise the minds of local ward organisations of the Labour Party when they consider the actions of these councillors.

Whatever they decide we are of the view that what these councillors are doing has little to do with combating racism.

Rather it is pandering to a fundamentalism which has seriously damaged Pakistan society and can only assist racists here in Waltham Forest.

JIM YOUELL and JOHN COURCOUF,
Colchester Road,
Leyton.

I AM writing to you because I am concerned at the somewhat one-sided view of affairs that is appearing in the Guardian regarding the council's employment policy and practices.

The reality is that the Labour council places great emphasis on its equal opportunities policies, particularly those concerning employment. Over the last two years we have been painstakingly changing our policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants for jobs with the council have an equal opportunity of employment

This is, indeed, reflected in our recruitment statistics which show that in black and ethnic minority terms, we are recruiting black and ethnic minority staff in our Waltham Forest community. Overall, the statistics show that we continue to improve on the levels of black and ethnic minority people (men and women) that we employ.

Indeed, this picture is recognised at length in the annual report on race relations which went to the September 19 Race Relations Committee -"Noticeable progress has been made in implementing the council's equal opportunities, policies over the period (1987/8) under review."

Councillor Frank Georges, of course, chairs this committee and this quotation is in context of the section on personnel policies and practices.

Waltham Forest Council has done a lot in the last two years towards correcting the imbalances that have developed over a number of years previously. Change is achieved by patient and careful change to procedures and policies, not by mad rushes to the press on high profile issues, which do damage to race relations and equal opportunities.

Carefully we have totally changed the approach to recruitment. Policies and practices have and still are being changed. Staff are no longer allowed to participate in recruitment unless they have undergone equal opportunities training -the same will shortly apply to councillors.

Our policies in the use of ethnic minority press for advertising have been carefully thought through with respect to its main purpose of promoting a positive image.

However, recruitment is only part of the equal opportunities policy. Monitoring and targeting are important priorities that have been introduced in the last two years which will help us to identify weakness areas.

Steps such as have been introduced to provide training for black and ethnic minority employees in management to help them obtain senior positions in administration and teaching training schemes, have been developed by the women's and economic development units to help disadvantaged and unemployed black and ethnic minority people and women (let us not forget there are other areas of disadvantage, such as women and people with disabilities).

TERRY WHEELER (Cllr), Chair of Personnel Strategy Committee, Waltham Forest.

IT SEEMED like a foregone conclusion -but now Brent MP Paul Boateng will not be chairing a public meeting to launch the council's inquiry into racial harassment.

Ironically, it was the walk-out by five black Labour members at Waltham Forest Council's meeting which caused his name to be struck off the agenda.

Democrat Philip Arnold said Mr Boateng, former GLC member for Walthamstow, was a bad choice. His recent visit to South Africa had upset some members of the black community.

But Councillor Denise Liunberg, standing in for race relations chairman Franklyn Georges who had left the meeting, said: "You have to have someone well-known and respected in the black community if you want to show you are serious about dealing with racial harassment."

The depleted Labour bench was outvoted by the opposition.

Now the council will not just have to find a new chairman for the public meeting before it's held on November 7.

IT came as no surprise to read of the arrogance of the ruling Labour body on Waltham Forest Council when it came to expressing condolences to the Pakistani people on the death of the president (late though it is).

Despite what the Labour Party think, even the general assembly of the United Nations had a minute's silence in respect, as well as passing a motion of condolence for President Zia.

If such an astute body like the UN gave their sympathy then it just proves to me that Labour have shown once again their total disregard for the feelings of a large section of the community, not just in Waltham Forest but nationwide (the British Pakistani community numbers 450,000), and the Labour Party should not underestimate the power of the ballot box.

As I have previously pointed out on this page, the Socialist ideas of democracy, whether here or in Pakistan, are not necessarily the same as the majority, or even, as now appears, five members of their own group.

I would like to ask now that Labour have shown their true divisive and dictatorial nature, will good sense prevail from all sections of our community at the next council elections. I LIVE IN HOPE.

DANIEL McCORMICK, High Road, Leyton.

Report: ANDY COMBER

THE chairman of Waltham Forest Council's ruling Labour group has resigned -but denies that it is in protest at the soft line taken on the party's rebel councillors.

Mike MacNulty wanted four councillors who boycotted November's full council meeting to be disciplined for not toeing the party line, say sources.

His resignation is one sign of what seems a deepening crisis within the party caused by the dispute between the leadership and Councillors Frank Georges, Amarjit Devgun, Narindar Matharoo and Mohmmed Khan.

The four claim the Labour party is not fulfilling equal opportunities promises made in its election manifesto and laid down in council policy.

WORK PRESSURE

A move to resolve the wrangle by bringing in an outside arbitrator has been rejected by the four. Despite this, local party officials still want to go ahead with the arbitration idea.

Party members sympathetic to the rebels' position claim the Labour leadership is trying to stifle debate on the issues and slur the four by saying they are acting as a result of personal grudges.

Mr MacNulty, who had been Labour group chairman for five years, denies he stepped down over the damaging party wrangle, explaining it was because of pressure of work.

But a senior Labour councillor said: "Mike wanted them disciplined and when the group did not go along with him he did not feel he could remain as chairman."

Another source said Mr MacNulty along with two other senior councillors, wanted the rebels suspended from the group.

Deputy council leader Bill Dennis is chairing group meetings until Labour's annual general meeting next spring.

Another sign of the deepening split in the ranks is the news that five members of Walthamstow Labour party's general committee walked out of a meeting last month after the majority voted not to discuss the dispute and referred the matter to a watchdog committee.

One of the five said: "They are trying to s1987 a wide debate of the issues. What the committee did was unheard of. There were five resolutions from party branches and they ignored them all."

Further resolutions are to be tabled at this month's general committee meeting.

Council leader Neil Gerrard denied claims that the Labour leadership was trying to marginalise the black councillors. He said: "With a majority of one that is the last thing we would want."

And he said there had been no attempt to cover up the issues. "The number of meetings this dispute has been debated at in the last two months is untrue."

He added that the resolutions at the Walthamstow constituency meeting had been deferred, not ignored. He said: "Talking could have made things worse. It was decided to give a chance for arbitration to work."

Mr Gerrard said there were still attempts to keep arbitration going in some form even though the black councillors had rejected the idea.

Report: ANDY COMBER

INTERVIEWS for two borough head teachers posts went ahead last week amid a storm of controversy, writes Mick McGlinchey.

United opposition members succeeded in having the decision sent back to thp social services committee for further consideration.

Following a pro-meeting demonstration outside the town hall, the public gallery was packed with Roberts Hall users, carers and supporters.

Those in wheelchairs had been carried up to the council chamber because the lift is being rebuilt.

Scenting a possible and unforeseen victory, they cheered wildly as Conservative and Democrat councillors spoke out in favour of retaining the centre.

Said Tory Laurie Braham: The Labour party seems determined to destroy a community as well as a building.

The people working at the hall had shown how much they wanted to stay together."

His leader Michael Lewis claimed that the consultation process before the decision was taken was a sham.

"There was a meeting with carers, and a meeting with users to see what they had to say-then the Labour party went away and proposed a system which they proposed last year before this consultation took place."

Democrat Bob Sullivan said the real reason behind the closure was that the ruling party wanted to sell the site.

But Labour leader Neil Gerrard said the sort of services provided at Roberts Hall were out of date.

"You don't deal with people with disabilities by putting them in a tatty building at the back of a main road and giving them trivial work to do," he said.

Socia1 services chairman Evie Edworthy said she was enthusiastic about the services at other centres in the borough which would replace the work at Roberts Hall

And she asserted the reason fewer and fewer people were using the work centre was that young people wanted more stimulating activities.

After the vote, the meeting was suspended for a few minutes while the victorious campaigners left the council chamber.

The two Labour councillors who refused to interview candidates for the head teacher posts were condemned as irresponsible by Waltham Forests Liberal Democrat group.

SLDP councillors Pat Atherton and Clyde Kitson said the damage being done to the education service in the borough was uppermost in their minds.

In a joint statement, they told the Guardian: "The worst aspect of this farce is the effects that it will have on the pupils, parents and teachers in these two schools.

"Both are at a crucial stage after re-organisation and need the stability of a permanent head teacher.

"Both posts were advertised in May and the shortlists were drawn up in July. There is no excuse for the Labour councillors to leave it to the night of the interviews to throw in their objections and abort the selection procedure."

The two said that the borough's equal opportunities policy, which their party supports, was working well without any of the problems seen in some other Labour controlled boroughs.

And they added: "We hope that we will see no further attempts by individual Labour councillors to hold their own administration to ransom."

Mrs Atherton and Mr Kitson also criticised the Conservatives, whom they accused of feeding the national press with a biased view of the incident.

"The only effect of this can be to undermine the morale of the education service in Waltham Forest."

"Outrageous" was the word used by Conservative leader Michael Lewis to describe the dismissal of the four candidates for the Warwick School post without an interview.

He said:

* There were no educational or procedural reasons for not holding the interviews.

* The candidates had been selected for interview in accordance with the council's equal opportunities policy.

* The council could not direct people to apply for any particular post.

He feared that as a result of this decision, a number of schools could be left without head teachers for longer than necessary,

"It is very wrong for the Labour councillors to impose policy changes so late in the appointments process," he told the Guardian.

"If they wish to advertise these posts in a larger number of journals they should do so for future jobs and the education committee will have to allocate money to pay the extra costs."

Mr Lewis alleged that in making the decision the Labour councillors had brought Waltham Forest "into the same arena of public disrepute as Brent, Hackney and Haringey."

And they had demonstrated that the continuity of students' education and the improvement of staff morale had a low priority in their minds.

THE row over the failure to appoint head teachers to two schools in Waltham Forest because no black candidates had applied raises many important issues.

It must first be said, though, that the two councillors at the centre of the controversy were wrong to take their stance at such a late stage-in one case so late that the shortlisted candidates were present to be interviewed.

It is not acceptable to say that no reply to questions asked had been received for some five weeks. If they felt so strongly on the issue and knew when the interview dates had been set they should have been pressing officers for answers. They do in many other instances.

But at the root of the argument is whether the ethnic teaching population have had a fair chance of applying for the Jobs, since none was represented among those who applied.

The solution, say the two councillors, is for the jobs to be advertised in the ethnic press.

It could be there are some ethnic people in the teaching profession who feel they would stand no chance of being appointed because of their colour* If so, they would be wrong* Waltham Forest already has a black head teacher and makes, no bones about its equal opportunities policy.

But at the end of the day, we would be very concerned about the appointment of a head teacher who is not sufficiently interested in education issues and initiatives to read the Times Education Supplement, where the jobs were advertised.

That in itself would get the thumbs down from us. Reading the ethnic press is not going to help him or her-or their school.

Above all, it doesn't matter about the colour of someone. What parents, teachers and the community want is the best available, not discrimination to the point where someone-is appointed purely because of their ethnic origin. That is racist.

And in the case of the two schools concerned, there were plenty of applicants, but no black person wanted the job. Could it be they knew they didn't have the necessary talents?

COUNCIL equal opportunity policies were not carried out properly when the Job descriptions were issued, claims Councillor Amarjit Devgun.

That is the reason he and another Labour councillor, Narinder Matharoo, pulled out of the appointment committees at the last moment, he says.

His one regret is that their objections came so late in the day.

"That is the unfortunate part. Councillor Matharoo and I asked for information to be sent to us in the first week of August

"We did not receive it until last Monday evening at 7.30. This could have been done some time ago. It was a mistake on the officers' part."

Mr Devgun was emphatic that "this is not about ensuring a black candidate gets the job.

"At the end of the day, if we have observed all the council's normal practical procedures and still no black candidates apply, I will be perfectly happy."

He outlined the points on which he believed normal procedures and the policy of aiming for equal opportunity targets had not been adhered to:

* The job advertisements were phrased in such a way that only existing head teachers and deputy heads could realistically apply.

"We know that recruitment and promotional chances for black teachers are not only poor, they are extremely discriminatory," he said. "People are often held back though they are perfectly capable of doing the jobs.

"Often they have moved on and are now working within, say, further education and universities, managing departments as big as schools.

"What we need are men and women who have worked in schools and can manage money and people. By rewording the advert we could attract them-and this applies to both black and white candidates."

* The head teacher posts were advertised only in the Times Educational Supplement. Mr Devgun said that black people are aware that local authorities who claim to be "equal opportunity employers" often don't stand up to close examination, and they don't apply for jobs appearing in the TES.

"As with other departments of the council, the advert should have been placed in some of the black press. That would break the credibility gap and encourage people to apply for the job."

* Finally, Mr Devgun says the normal equal opportunities monitoring procedures were not carried out.

On the back of all job application forms is an EO section which has to be subjected to analysis, the ultimate object being to ensure recruitment to local authority jobs is roughly in proportion to the ethnic make-up of the borough.

This is not the first time that Mr Devgun has successfully had a council job readvertised.

"The last time was when the job of the co-ordinator for TVEI (Technical and Vocational Educational Initiative) was advertised. The first time, we got 10 or 12 applicants, all white men.

"We re-analysed the qualifications and I was involved in rewording the advert. The second time we got quite a good response from black candidates and women. Equal opportunities were made to work."

Dr Mumtaz Zafir was the appointee to the one-year post.

A Waltham Forest education personnel officer said this week that if the head teacher posts were re-advertised, the process would have to be reviewed along with the financial implications.

Traditionally, teaching jobs have been promoted only through the TES but consideration would now be given to widening the field.

The officer thought the wording of the advert did not preclude people other than head teachers and deputy heads applying.

Candidates were told they would have to be qualified teachers with "substantial experience at a senior level of managing resources in a school environment" and experience in the secondary education sector.

The advert included the usual indication that Waltham Forest is an equal opportunities employer and (hat applications from black and ethnic minority people, women and disabled people would be welcome.

The officer said the normal monitoring processes were carried out And he was unable to confirm or deny that Councillors Devgun and Matharoo had asked for monitoring information in August nor that they had received the replies as late as last Monday.

AT the last count, nine per cent of teachers in Waltham Forest schools were from black and other minority ethnic groups.

That contrasts with a population estimate of 25 per cent.

Whether or not the number is rising will be confirmed by a survey currently being carried out by the education department,

A black teachers' and workers' group has been formed but is still in the early stages of its development

COUNCILLOR Amarjit Devgun is considering taking The Sun newspaper to the Press Council. He alleges that comments were attributed to him when, at that stage, he had spoken to no members of the press.

He said that since his consultants sent out the leaflets, they had received 150 replies, only 20 of which supported the retention of industry.

"That shows that the people agree with us."

Mr Reynolds added that he received a letter a few days ago from Waltham Forest planning department, criticising the use of an artist's impression as unrepresentative of plans so far sent to the council.

"We thought people would get a better idea of what we have in mind if (t)he(y) saw the drawing," he said.

"But we are quite happy to send out a copy of the council's letter to all the residents."

As far as Manifold is concerned, it was no great problem if the company wanted to stay in Seymour Road, he said.

"We will just build on the other factory sites," said Mr Reynolds.

The outline and undetailed planning application is due to go before the council in the early autumn.

PROTESTORS have swamped planning chiefs with objections to a proposed new Big Mac restaurant in Chingford.

Over 600 people made sure it was known that the idea of a McDonalds:

restaurant in Old Church Road definitely left a bad taste in their mouths.

Planning permission for the £1 million fast food outlet was rejected by councillors at Waltham Forest's last planning implementation committee meeting, but McDonalds could appeal.

"I would like to thank everyone who made their views known," said committee chairman Councillor Jo Brind.

"The committee was absolutely united in opposition to this daft scheme, which would have had a severe impact on parking and traffic, and would have degraded the environment of the area generally."

APPEAL

However, he warned, McDonalds often appeal to the Department of the Environment against council decisions and have the expertise to.win them.

He urged all protestors to write to Chingford MP Norman Tebbit and . ask for his help in defeating any appeal.

Burger bar is refused

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Chingford, opposed by hundreds of residents, have been rejected by council planners.

And although councillors feel the hamburger giant will appeal against the decision, they are confident their decision will be upheld.

The resolution to proposals the thumi was taken at this week's meeting of Waltham Forest Planning Implementation Committee.

Councillors were adamant the proposed site for the development, at 30-32 Old Church Road, currently Cooper's furniture store, was unsuitable.

The rejection is the second time McDonald's has been prevented from building in the Chingford Mount area*

DDD

In October 1986 it was refused permission to open at 1A Old Church Road because of fears it would cause severe traffic problems. This was one of the main reasons the present proposal was turned down.

VICTORY FOR RESIDENTS

Councillor Derek Arnold said: "To have a McDonald's there is utterly ridiculous. Old Church Road is at saturation point."

Council officers received almost 800 complaints about the proposal. Objectors included Chingford Chamber of Commerce and London Regional Transport

Their objections included:

* Car parking problems;

* Over-provision of fast-food premises in the area (there is already a Wimpy, a Kentucky Fried Chicken bar, and a Redwood's take-away bar);

*Litter;

* Noise and disturbance.

BIG MAC PLAN SPARKS STORM

WALTHAM Forest Council have given a swift order to Hamburger giants McDonalds-take away your plans for a fast food joint in Chingford!

THE Council's planning committee united to reject the "daft scheme", planned for Old Church Road, in a meeting last week.

But chairman of planning, Councillor Jo Brind, reckons McDonalds could steamroller plans though.

He said: "We threw out the plans for the Leytonstone drive-in McDonalds, but the plans were passed on appeal to Central Government."

"Over 600 people have written to me to protest about the litter and traffic problems that will result from a McDonalds in Chingford.

"But we know that they will be able to push the plans through if they want-it's intolerable. The whole area will become degraded if this scheme is given the go ahead."

A McDonald's spokesman rubbished Councillor Brinds litter worries. She said: "We take a very responsible attitude to litter outside our store. We clear it up.

"Traffic congestion is a serious problem in any high street but we feel we have good case in our favour."

Mr Brind also conceded that many much of the problem is that local people don't want the scheme on their own doorsteps, although many don't object to McDcDonalds itself.

McDonalds say they are still deciding whether to take their case to Appeal.

SO many people wrote to me to protest about the appalling scheme of Mcdonald's Hamburgers to site one of their shops in Old Church Road, Chingford, that it is impossible for me to reply to each one individually.

Can I therefore use the columns of this newspaper to thank the more than 600 people who took the trouble to make their views known?

The planning committee was absolutely united in opposition to this daft scheme, which would have had a severe impact on parking and traffic and would have degraded the environment of the area generally.

However, I am afraid this is unlikely to be an end to the matter. McDonalds has a record of appealing against planning committee decisions and because of its expertise in this process has managed to win several appeals.

To influence this process you could write to your MP, Norman Tebbit, at the House of Commons, Westminster SW1A OAA, and ask for his assistance and support in the appeal. I will also write to this newspaper giving details of the appeal as soon as they are known.

Jo BRIND (Cllr),
Chairman,
Waltham Forest Planning Implementation Committee.

Thousands of householders have received neither their 10 free plastic sacks nor the accompanying notices telling them about collection changes which came into effect last week.

The result is that binmen, obeying orders to bypass rubbish in anything other than tied sacks, have clashed with furious residents.

"We will have to suspend the new rules in part for a couple of weeks until this has been sorted out," acting chief engineer John Griggs told the Guardian this week.

"We will be telling the refuse collectors to empty bins and take boxes, though they will continue to leave red cards reminding people of the new rules."

But there was no guarantee, he added, that the binmen would do as they were told. "A lot depends on the attitude of individuals doing the work," he said.

He laid the blame for the mess squarely on contractors employed by the council to deliver the bags and notices.

Officers from his department had themselves seen distributors throwing bundles of sacks up garden paths.

And there is a suspicion, he said, that others have either dumped or sold the bags.

He laughingly welcomed the suggestion from a Guardian reader that contractors who had failed to do their work properly should be dragged over hot coals. But he added more soberly: "We shall be looking at their contracts to see what action we can take."

The row over delivery has taken precedence over last week's complaints about the new system in general.

Dozens of readers have asked: "Why can't the refuse collectors lift a tied sack out of a bin, where it would be protected from animals?"

Mr Griggs' answer is on time and motion study lines. "A man taking a bag from a bin has to use two hands-one to hold the bin and one to lift the bag. Having just sacks speeds up the operation."

Conservative councillors have called for a special meeting of the public services committee so that problems can be discussed before the council's summer recess.

In the road where I live, for example, there was no collection at all in the first week of the new system-even people who put out black sacks without bins had their refuse ignored.

This seems to have happened in a number of places. Large numbers of people are reporting that they still have not received the 10 free black sacks, while others received the sacks but no letter explaining what they were for. After two requests, I still haven't had my sacks, and I know this case is in no way untypical

While it is the contractors who have made a mess of the sack distribution, the council cannot escape blame; it chose the contractors and it failed to monitor them adequately.

The council should have foreseen the problems and not sent the refuse collectors out unprepared.

And for a senior council officer to say there is no guarantee that the refuse collectors will obey instructions, it is the attitude of management that needs shaking up, not the refuse collectors who have been incompetently directed into a disastrous policy.

And for what? The new policy introduced by our caring Labour council is supposed to increase efficiency-but there is severe doubt about whether it will actually enable the council to cut out a crew and vehicle. Loose sacks are vulnerable to cats and dogs and rats, and once torn open will add to the sea of litter already making part of Leyton look like an entry for the Worst Kept Village competition.

The council's misconceived policy was definitely a major doorstep issue in the recent Leyton by-election and Labour politicians who laugh at this are showing contempt for the people.

Bins can be used for years on end, but plastic sacks are thrown away-so the policy is bad conservation of resources.

For all this, the council will now charge people to give them sacks. At least, some other councils who brought in such systems have continued to give out free sacks.

A few years back, one could say with confidence that Waltham Forest had a bad inefficient street cleaning operation, but an efficient and professional refuse collection service. Now the whole lot is a mess,

SIMON BANKS (Liberal Democrat councillor)

In any new system of this kind, which has to serve a large number of households with a range of characteristics, there are bound to be some difficulties. The difficulties have emerged in four categories.

Delivery of black plastic sacks: For this task an agency was engaged to deliver 10 plastic sacks to each household collected by hand bin. The agency was not very conversant with the particular peculiarities of certain residences and some were missed.

The bundle of sacks was bulky and could not be pushed through letter boxes. They were generally left on doorsteps and it has become evident that some of these sacks were taken. However, when complaints have been received from householders having not received sacks, a special delivery of sacks to them has been arranged.

Collection difficulties: From July 4 refuse was collected only if it was in the plastic sacks and at the location identified in the notice distributed to householders, and subsequently householders who had not received the sacks or the notice because of delivery problems did not have their refuse collected.

This problem was soon discovered and a new instruction was given to operatives on July 6 to collect all refuse, but to leave a card with the householder indicating how they had not complied with the original request, and this arrangement continued throughout the following week.

Bags in bins: Many householders have asked why it is necessary to remove the sack from the bin for it to be collected. There are two reasons. First, the bag may be picked up by the collector in one hand without spillage and secondly there is a tendency for bags to stick in bins when filled with refuse and it is difficult to remove them without tearing, which would inevitably lead to loose refuse being dropped when collections are undertaken.

It takes the collector three or four times as long to remove a bag from a bin than to pick up a tied bag. When multiplied many times this adds considerably to the cost of the collection. I am sure householders could afford the one or two minutes it takes to remove their own bag from the bin.

Much has been made about the interference and tearing of sacks by animals and should this be prevalent in any particular area the operatives whose task will be increased by this would report the matter and consideration would have to be given to ways of overcoming the problem.

However, this problem may be more perceived than actual, bearing in mind 80 per cent of householders in this borough have been using black plastic sacks for some years in the way now proposed for the remaining 20 per cent, without this difficulty arising.

Persons who are unable to comply with the council's requests: A general notice asking householders to bring their refuse to the front of their premises was circulated to every household in the borough late in March and attached to that letter was a form to be filled in and returned if people could not comply because of some infirmity or disability.

Those who did make this request have been placed on a register and will have their refuse sack collected either from the disposal point or removed from the bin by the collector, if necessary. If anyone who has difficulties has not sent in a form and is not, therefore, on this register, they could telephone the services section at Low Hall Depot (520 6782), where arrangements will be made to forward a form to them. Once the incapacity has been verified special arrangements will be made to collect refuse.

Generally, the public have been' extremely co-operative in assisting the council with this new system. However, when the scheme was conceived it was anticipated that problems f would occur and that the system would be flexible enough to deal with individual difficulties.

These have now been identified and will be resolved in the not too distant future, and I would assure you that my staff will make every effort to deal with these issues as they arise.

In the meantime, may I, through your columns, express my regret at the inconvenience that may have been caused to a number of individuals and households over the past two or three weeks.

JOHN P GRIGGS,
Acting Chief Engineer,
Waltham Forest Council.

BELOW is a copy of a letter sent to Waltham Forest Council.

PLEASE help. We are in total panic and mayhem and over such a serious matter rubbish!

Congratularions on your new directives i.e. no more dustbins, just sacks. Sorry, not any old sacks Just black (got to be black) sacks. The reason for this, I can only presume, being the abolition of the old time and motion studies as now our dustman do not have to climb up and down several (at least five) steps or lift those heavy dustbins that elderly ladies can put out There won't be much of either time or motion in action.

Today, all six residents in our flats received nice little red (not black) leaflets stating that our rubbish had not been collected for several reasons and, just as a very delicate little hint, our I dustbins, were turned upside down. I don't think this is because any of our dustman are Australian.

Our leaflets state that reason two for non-collection could be that "refuse is incorrectly positioned" i.e. not adjacent to the public highway. It goes on to say that refuse must not be placed on the public highway, or carriageway, or footway or on any verges. We have come to the conclusion that the only place left is on the 1987s of parked cars, but this would involve the dustman getting them down, and vertigo could be an important side effect.

Another reason, number three (a) Could be the bags are too heavy. There are several elderly ladies in our flats and myself at five foot nothing and seven and a half stone would always help if the dustmen were having difficulties.

Reason number three (b) being sharp items. This I can understand.

After this leaflet, though, I should think reason three (b) would include sharp tongues! Or could it be reason three (c)-garden waste? I could understand an old garden shed being heavy, but grass cuttings. Oh,dear!

Last, but not least, it could have been my colour. Well, not my colour, but my bag's colour. Horror of horrors, it could have been yellow or even bright red. I do understand that in hospitals these bags are used to signify hospital waste. Or, could it be that yellow attracts flies or red gets bulls going. If so, please could you tell me what colour gets dustmen going (oh yes, black, just black).

I have heard, be it true or false, that we are limited to two black (just black) bags per week. Could we, then, apply for the Government's small business loan and keep any extra bags in our flats and start up our own maggot farms?

Oh! And as your act is called the Control of Pollution Act, does this indicate that we should keep our maggots on leads (black ,leads, of course).

On a serious note to end. Before this new idea-as a mum with two little girls, aged four and one-any bags were put down when I had a relative visiting to watch the children, while I ran downstairs, or, if friends or relatives were visiting, they usually took them down on their way out.

Now that they have to go in a particular position and be put out on the morning collection does this mean I have to break the law by leaving two children under the age of 12 alone in the flat while I take my bags (yes black) down several flights of stairs?

Your brief and frantic comments would be appreciated. What a day-yes, you've guessed it, black just black.

S.A.MILES (Miss),
Trinity House, The Drive,
Walthamstow.

David Worsfold, elected just a fortnight ago in Leyton Ward, is spearheading a campaign to collect as many signatures as possible before Wednesday.

That is when the issue will be aired at a special open meeting of the Public Services Committee at 7.30pm in Waltham Forest Town Hall.

"In some areas people are doing a door-to-door collection of signatures, some shops have the forms and we hope to be out in force in most shopping centres this Saturday," said Mr Worsfold.

He told the Guardian: "The ban on dustbins and the way it has been imposed have angered thousands of people of all political persuasions.

"We are asking for collection from dustbins to be re-instated or for the new arrangements to be substantially altered.

"I can understand that it is cleaner and more hygienic for rubbish to be put in bags but if the council wants to insist we do this then it should provide the bags free of charge.

"Also it should agree to collect the bags from inside dustbins. Bags left in the street are easily ripped open by cats and dogs looking for leftovers of food."

Anyone who wants to sign the petition or obtain a form should contact Mr Worsfold at 4 Terling Close, Leytonstone (536 0985).

Meanwhile, his colleagues in the Chingford Liberal Democrat branch have challenged the Conservatives to say where they stand on the issue, accusing them of being at "sixes and sevens" over the public protest.

Councillor Graham Woolnough commented: "Tory councillors up to now have made no attempt to s1987 the bin ban. But the public outcry has got some of them claiming they are against it. Are we to witness another Larkswood type turnabout?"

From the other end of the borough, Cann Hall Area Residents' Association in Leytonstone has attacked the "mandatory and arrogant tone of the leaflet giving housholders notice of the new arrangements.

In a letter to Chief Executive Leonard Knox CHARA says the council should supply residents with one free black sack each week as in other authorities, and allow people to leave tied sacks in their dustbins for collection.