Arcade site a disgrace says new Labour Leader
New council leader, Chris Robbins, has described the empty Arcade site as “a disgrace”
and said “It has been unacceptable that for the past number of years the site has been empty.” in a Guardian article. Click here for full article.
For the last eight years Cllr Robbins has obediently voted in Cabinet for Labour’s controversial proposals for the site, ignoring the Lib Dems calls for the site to be given temporary usage. Cllr Robbins’ comments are a huge slap in the face to all Labour councillors who have been involved in this site including the former council leader, Clyde Loakes, and the current Portfolio holder for Enterprise and Investment, Cllr Terry Wheeler - who criticised the Lib Dems suggestions for the site just before his colleague Cllr Robbins agreed to follow our lead!
Liberal Democrat Parlimentary Candidate for Walthamstow, Farid Ahmed, said: “If Cllr Robbins thinks the Arcade site being empty for the last eight years is such a disgrace, why has he kept the man responsible for this shambles - Cllr Wheeler - in his cabinet?”
“Liberal Democrats - including party leader Nick Clegg - have long said that this site should be given temporary use whilst residents continue to wait for Cllr Wheeler to clear up this mess. My two High Street colleagues, Cllrs James O’Rourke and Johar Khan, just recently amended a council motion to try and get the portfolio holder to let the site be temporarily used” he added.
***UPDATE***
The Waltham Forest Guardian has had its say on Labour’s handling of the Arcade fiasco claiming in their editorial that “…the unforgivable indecisiveness of his (Cllr Robbins’) Labour colleagues (has) let the Arcade embarassment develop into something approaching humiliation…”.
See this weeks Waltham Forest Guardian for more comment on the Arcade debacle.
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