Two Hours of Effective Scrutiny Overcomes Two Years of Council Vacillation

For several years, a large building in Stratford has been the subject of considerable attention.

Residents, first in the form of the “Focus E15 Mums” and now simply the Focus E15 Campaign have petitioned the council about the state of the buildings. Rokhsana Fiaz who initially supported the residents, (when Wales was in power) has since become somewhat less enthusiastic about them and they about her.

Called variously The Foyer, Focus E15, Brimstone House and latterly referred to simply as Victoria St, the building, intended as a hub to support young adults and encourage them into independent life has become a placement for families on the housing waiting list.

Readers will recall that the mayor’s former supporters staged a protest at the council’s AGM several years ago. As a result, the mayor met with them, (leaving officers, councillors and members of the public twiddling their thumbs). She came back to the meeting and somewhat to the surprise of her Housing Director and her Cabinet Member for Housing she promised that every family would be moved out of Victoria St into permanent council housing.

It didn’t take long for the reality of the mayor’s rash promise to hit home. It seems, that there is “more to the doing, than merely wishing it be done”.

Having reneged on her promise to rehouse every family within a year, Fiaz then decided to knock the building down and start again. This was her personal plan to fix the problem. Newham spent £19m purchasing the property. She would knock it down.

£1.2m was set aside to cover the feasibility costs. For two years, nothing much appears to have happened, but some of this money will have been spent.

We see in January’s Cabinet papers that the whole matter came up for consideration again. We have to congratulate scrutiny; they are at last coming into their own and genuinely holding the executive to account.

At the urging of the scrutiny commission, cabinet have agreed to “pause” the plans for Victoria St, pending a re-evaluation of the options. Scrutiny was clear, they preferred spending £7m to refurbish the block rather than £50m to demolish and rebuild. But that is a discussion for another day.

This is a significant and sensible outcome.

However, before throwing any more, good-money after bad, the mayor and the council need to decide what the purpose of the refurbishment/redevelopment will be.

At the heart of the recent problems was that the Foyer system, which worked well in France, didn’t work in Britain. Families were moved into accommodation designed for single people.

Let’s hope that this is not another occasion when a council repeats the mistakes of the past.