Naz Sarkar is new Hoe Street Councillor

The result of the Hoe Street by election held on 18 November is:
Dawes (Green) 199
Diwan (Lib Dem) 561
Sarkar (Lab) 774
Sinclair (Cons) 299
Thompson (Soc Alt) 85
Labour majority213
Labour percentage of vote 40.35per cent
seven spoilt papers
total vote 1925 percentage turn out 23per cent.
Weather conditions awful.


Naz Sarkar the new labour councillor in Hoe Street
would like to thank the residents of Hoe Street
for picking him as their next councillor follwing the
untimely passing away of Councillor Nasim.
Naz Sarkar said "Councillor Nasim worked hard in Hoe
Street. I want to carry on his work and have been
given a strong democratic mandate to fulfill the
plegdes in my manifesto. I look forward to delivering
and working for the people of Hoe Street"


Surgeries for residents are held each Saturday 10am -12noon at then local Labour Party offices - 23 Orford Road London E17.

Candidate promises to work for re-opening of EMD cinema

Naz Sarkar, Labour's candidate in the Hoe Street by-election, has promised that, if elected, he will work to get the EMD cinema back into use as a centrepiece of the regeneration of Walthamstow town centre. Naz said: "Walthamstow needs its cinema. Since the cinema was closed, there has been a lack of evening activities and entertainment suitable for all age groups, all communities and families. I believe this is the highest priority for our town centre. If I am elected on Thursday, I will work hard to get a cinema back in Walthamstow. Everyone knows that I am a dedicated campaigner who does what he says he will do - I am not one of those politicians who says anything to get elected and then does not put in the work. I will make sure that the cinema is the focal point of the Council's regeneration plans."

Naz meets Ken Livingstone and Neil Gerrard to discuss transport

PRESS RELEASE: Labour's candidate for Hoe Street meets Ken Livingstone and Neil Gerrard to discuss transport investment in Walthamstow

On Friday, Naz Sarkar, Labour's candidate for the Hoe Street by-election had a private meeting with Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Neil Gerrard MP to discuss transport investment in Walthamstow. The Mayor has announced a 5 year transport investment programme of £10 billion and Naz and Neil Gerrard were invited to discuss how it would improve transport in Walthamstow. Whilst significant investment in buses has had visible impact in Walthamstow, not least the new bus station, the programme will also deliver improvements to tube and rail services in Walthamstow.

Naz Sarkar said: "I had the chance to tell Ken that we welcome the investment as improvements to our transport systems are badly needed. I told him we needed to get the safety and security of Central Station sorted out as well so that local people are more willing to use the station.
The Victoria Line is not as reliable as it should be and and other stations need to be improved. Ken agreed to work with Neil and I to make sure that these improvements are delivered."
Naz has previously campaigned for Walthamstow Central to remain staffed after 9pm and will be handing in a petition to ONE train operator in the next few weeks.

Ken Livingtone said: ""Hoe Street needs someone like Naz. I know that he is a dedicated campaigner for his area and especially for better transport provision and road safety. I hope he is elected so that I can work with him to maximise our investment in Walthamstow's transport and policing."

Residents select local campaigner

PRESS RELEASE: Residents select local campaigner for Hoe Street Ward

Residents of Hoe Street Ward have selected local campaigner Naz Sarkar as the Labour candidate for the Hoe Street by-election, following the death of Cllr Mohammed Nasim last month. A packed meeting in Orford Road heard about Naz's ambitions for this area before choosing him to be the candidate.

Naz, who is 28 years old, is a well-known local campaigner who has worked to improve transport safety at Walthamstow Central Station and for the EMD Cinema. He is a maths teacher at an inner-city comprehensive and passionate about improving education.

Naz Sarkar said: "Cllr Nasim contributed so much to this area and I am honoured to have been selected to follow in his footsteps. Our ward needs an energetic campaigner to make some real improvements for all the communities who live here."

Ends.

Naz Sarkar - An introduction

Hi- my name is Naz Sarkar and I am the Labour candidate in the forthcoming by-election in Hoe Street on the 18th November. I am a teacher working in an inner city comprehensive and I am passionate about education and good local services. I am also concerned about road safety around local schools and have been surveying residents about what they think should be done. I've got a track record of getting things done in this area so if you have a concern about Walthamstow please get in touch. You can call me on 020 8520 6586 or you can email me through this blog. I'll be updating this blog regularly with the details of what I think needs to happen in this area so keep an eye out if you want to know more about why I am standing in the by-election.

Traffic Around Local Schools - Are You Worried too?

We are increasingly concerned about the traffic around local schools, especially during the time parents come to drop off and pick up children. We're particularly worried where schools are on corners and so cars sometimes speed round without slowing down or stop in the street blocking the road. The schools we think are particularly a problem are St Mary's on Seaford Road and Church Hill Nursery on Woodbury Road. We are really concerned that unless someone does something soon there could be a serious accident involving young children. We've been talking to one of our local Labour councillors about this as we know its an issue in other parts of Walthamstow too - apparently Sybourn School in Lea Bridge has the same problem- and she has helped us get some extra enforcement to be done in the next couple of weeks. We want to hear from other concerned local residents about what they think about this - do they agree its a problem and if so what else could we lobby our council to do about it? We are planning to survey people around our area about this but let us know what you think by posting a comment here or emailing the Hoe Street team on hoestreet.labour@virgin.net and we will be asking the Council Leader to respond.

The EMD - The Next Steps?

Many of us were involved closely in the campaign to save the EMD cinema from being turned into a church and we were proud to see Labour councillors and MPs working with the local community to achieve this goal. We've been in contact with Cllr Simon Wright, who is the Labour councillor responsible for regeneration issues on the council, and he has been telling us about the work that he and the Leader of the Council Cllr Clyde Loakes have been doing to restore the EMD back to its former glories. The difficulty appears to be that whilst we won the planning appeal into the future of the building, the UCKG still own the property itself and are reluctant to give up on their ambition to build a church in our borough. Clyde and Simon are committed to using the compulsory purchase powers of local government if necessary to secure the property back for public entertainment use but this can be a long and drawn out as well as costly process. They are therefore in negotiations with the UCKG and hope to convince them that it is not just in their best interests but also the interests of the people of Walthamstow to resolve this issue quickly. As soon as we get any further information from them about how the talks are going we'll post it on this site - in the meantime you can either comment or email us on this issue and we'll make sure that Simon and Clyde respond to your views.

A CPZ for Bakers Arms?

We have been notified that the Bakers Arms area has been agreed as the next area for consideration for a controlled parking zone, with the centre of the zone focused on the Bakers Arms junction itself. We must stress at this point that no other decisions have been taken so far on this issue e.g. the area involved, the consultation process etc. Furthermore, as there are CPZ's either side of the area in Leyton and along Hoe Street it is more than likely that these will be re-visited in conjunction with whatever is proposed for the Bakers Arms area. At present we also have no timescale for the project although it is proposed that the issue will be discussed at a Community Council before the end of this year. The new CPZ consultation process (agreed by the Council last September) is in two stages - the first stage concentrates on the residential roads within a short walk of the centre of congestion. If a majority from this area are in favour a second-stage consultation is then carried out including roads up to half a mile from the centre - which may also be affected. We are sure a new CPZ will evoke strong feelings either way for residents and we will update the blog as we hear more details of the timescale for the consultation process. In the meantime if residents want to comment on these proposals they can email their views to us on hoestreet.labour@virgin.net or to this blog and we will make sure our Labour councillors respond to your concerns.

Welcome from Labour in Hoe Street

Welcome! We are the local Labour party in Hoe Street ! We've set up this blog as a way of sharing information about what's going on in Hoe Street as well as allowing local residents who want to comment on Labour's plans for Walthamstow to get in touch. You can either post your comments directly on to the site by clicking the button asking for comments or you can email us if you prefer at hoestreet.labour@virgin.net. We aim to update this site on a regular basis so its always worth checking back to see what else we are doing in your local area. We will also ensure that local Labour councillors are notified of your views and will respond to concerns raised here so please let us know if there is anything in particular you would like us to take up.