Waltham Forest (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Hundreds urge Waltham Forest Council to strengthen its stance on ethical investment and accelerate efforts to develop more social housing in the borough.
Before a full council meeting last week, a variety of campaign organizations, including the London Renters Union, Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine (WF4FP), and Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), assembled outside the town hall.
The elected pension committee claims it is actively working to have the council remove its pension funds from businesses associated with Israel’s conflict in Gaza and the armaments trade.
In addition to “taking every action [it] can” to address the housing shortage, the council claims to be “pioneering efforts” to divest from arms companies.
Since the beginning of last year, local campaign groups have been persistently pressuring the council to divest.
Investments are not managed directly by Waltham Forest. The London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV), which is in charge of all 32 borough councils in the city, is in charge of its pension fund.
Speaking after the protest, an organiser from WF4FP said:
“We are calling on the council to divest from genocide and end all contracts with complicit companies including Barclays, who they currently bank with; to provide more social housing; to enact a right to grow food on public land; to end complicity in immigration raids; to ensure no one who is homeless is forced out of the borough; and to actively fight for community spaces being evicted by rogue landlords.”
She continued:
“Our movement of groups and residents knows that a fairer Waltham Forest is possible. We have people power and a clear-eyed focus on justice and liberation.
We won’t be ignored by politicians who barely scrape 2,000 votes in local elections and refuse to speak to their own residents.”
Economist Faiza Shaheen, who ran against Conservative MP Ian Duncan-Smith as an independent last year after Labour deselected her, and Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski were also there.
Protesters held signs stating that Waltham Forest “deserves better” and that “no vote” would result from “no divestment.”
The council was also criticized by the protesters for its recent service changes, which included reducing council tax support and removing additional assistance for future home care recipients.
A spokesperson from DPAC said:
“If you say you are going to ethically divest, then divest. If you say you are going to ethically invest, then invest. I need you to put your money where your mouth is.
You must keep your promise to divest in tools and contributors to disablement. You must meet our demands to protect our spaces, ensure we have accessible social housing and not force us out of the borough because you made it unlivable.”
Waltham Forest Council leader Grace Williams defended the town hall’s record to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), saying:
“This Labour council has delivered on the priorities of our local community and is fighting to secure the fairer funding our borough needs.”
Cllr Williams, who also serves as London Councils’ executive member for housing, said:
“Our pensions committee is pioneering efforts to divest from arms companies and proactively raising human rights abuses with the London Collective Investment Fund.
There is a housing emergency in London. There are over 10,000 people on our council housing list and more than 1,500 in temporary accommodation. Our costs for placing people in hotels and B&Bs have risen from £35,000 to £3.9 million in two years.
We are taking every action we can – building new homes and funding better temporary accommodation with wraparound support for families. We do everything we can to avoid offering people housing out of London, but sometimes we have no other way of meeting our statutory housing duties.”
Over the past 10 years, the council has constructed the most affordable houses of any borough in London, she claimed, and new government funding will enable the council to construct thousands more, something the Conservatives and Greens have “opposed consistently.”
“One of the highest rates” of community food growing in London is also found in Waltham Forest, she added, and the council hopes to increase these opportunities through the Nature Recovery Plan.
According to her, the Labour government, which has held office since 2010, also “works closely” with volunteers to provide protection to refugees and migrants and shield locals from unscrupulous landlords.
How many new social housing units is the Waltham Forest council currently planning or building?
Waltham Forest Council is currently committed to building more than 500 new council homes for rent over the next few years, as part of its council home building programme. In addition, the council plans to deliver 2,000 new council homes over the next five years by redeveloping council-owned sites.
Beyond council homes, the broader housing development pipeline within the borough includes 9,321 new homes planned or under construction as of December 2024, with approximately 31% (2,892 homes) designated as affordable housing, which includes social housing options.
Therefore, the council’s specific commitment focuses on delivering at least 2,000 new council homes within five years, contributing significantly to meeting local demand for social housing.