The council has maintained that the report used to justify the closure of the disabled adults centre was ‘independent’ but Conservatives have pointed to Waltham Forest’s 20% stake in the company behind it, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Council cabinet members discuss the closure last Tuesday (3rd) December, Credit: LDRS

Waltham Forest Council’s “difficult” decision to close a centre for disabled adults in Walthamstow has been formally challenged over claims the process lacked integrity.

Last Tuesday (3rd December), council cabinet members unanimously voted to shut the Markhouse Centre, which is used by more than 50 special needs adults.

The leadership, citing an ‘independent’ building survey, said the council could not afford “£1.2million” worth of repairs.

The survey, which was used as a foundation for the council’s decision, was conducted by Evolve Norse, a property management company part-owned by Waltham Forest.

Two senior Waltham Forest officials – deputy leader Ahsan Khan and director of place Joe Garrod – are both directors of the company.

Though the Labour-run council owns a 20% stake in Evolve Norse, a Waltham Forest spokesperson said the pair were not involved in “operational decision making, but rather provide strategic oversight for the company’s work”.

Councillors had been told the survey was carried out by an independent company, which Conservative members called “misleading at best”.

Councillor Afzal Akram, the group’s deputy leader, said: “We cannot have essential services like this shut down when councillors have not been provided with the full facts or information.

“The council must commission a new, properly independent, building survey and we hope that the cabinet will then do the right thing and reconsider their decision to close the centre.”

The Conservative group has called the decision in and it will be scrutinised at tonight’s adult social care committee meeting (10th December).

In a report due to go before the committee, the council said the “officers’ intention was to indicate that the council is not involved in any of Evolve Norse’s operational activities”.

The monitoring officer, who oversees the council’s conduct and administration, has also “confirmed the building survey was objective and professional”.

Evolve Norse is a building design and management company, and was previously known as NPS London Ltd when it was set up in 2007 by Waltham Forest Council and Norfolk County Council’s company Norse Group.

The venture’s purpose is to save the council money through “access to outsourced construction services such as design, surveying, and property management”.

The company rebranded as Evolve Norse in 2022 after being offered a five-year arrangement with the council.

Campaigners outside the town hall last week shortly before the decision to shut Markhouse, Credit: LDRS

A council spokesperson added: “Evolve Norse Limited undertook the condition survey of the Markhouse Centre in August and September 2023. The company was incorporated in 2007 and the council has a 20% share ownership.

“Further details about the company, including the details of the directors, are publicly available at Companies House.

“There is a well-established governance structure in place as part of the management arrangements between the council and the company, and reports are taken to the council’s shareholders committee as and when required.

“Directors appointed from the council are not in operational decision making, but rather provide strategic oversight for the company’s work.”

The centre is now set to be closed by June 2025. The town hall has no formal plans for the site, but had indicated in June the land would be sold if it became vacant.

When proposals to close the centre were first put forward, Cllr Williams said the authority wanted to move away from a “building-based approach” to a “people-based approach”.

She said last Tuesday it was not the type of decision local politicians wanted to make, but “we do it because we know the alternatives are worse”.

The council faces a “high prospect” of effective bankruptcy if it does not address its overspends, which are projected to be as high as £24m over the next three years, she added.

One of the most prohibitive costs, the council said, was to repair the ageing boilers in the building.

In the 168-page report, Evolve concluded it would cost £100,000 to replace three gas-fired boilers.

However, local campaigners produced an invoice from Hamworthy, the manufacturer that had supplied the boilers, that said the cost of purchasing and fitting two new boilers would come to a total of £14,992.

The council spokesperson added: “Evolve Norse is suitably qualified to undertake building condition surveys and is used by the council for non-housing stock surveys.

“All cost estimates – including those for the boilers – are based on an in-person professional assessment of the building and its unique characteristics.”

Over the coming months, the needs of the 53 adults who attend the Markhouse will be assessed and the council will look to relocate them to other services across the borough.

But relatives of the people who rely on the service previously said the decision could upend their lives.

Waqas Jamal, whose 45-year-old sister has been going since she was 23, said in August the “carpet was being pulled out from underneath us”.

After the decision was made to close the Markhouse, James O’Rourke – whose brother Tony attends the centre – said he was “extremely angry” but not surprised.

He said his brother had been “synthesised down to pounds and pence,” and had warned councillors he would seek a judicial review.

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