Green council faces increasing costs to maintain cultural spaces, libraries, and parks

A new report lays bare the challenges facing the new administration’s bid to keep the borough’s cultural services and libraries up to standard, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Maintaining cultural services, libraries and parks are among the main challenges facing the Greens in Waltham Forest, a new council scrutiny report says.

The neighbourhoods and environment directorate has prepared an outline for the new climate scrutiny committee – made up now of Green Party councillors – after Labour lost control of the council in last month’s elections.

Published last week, it revealed that cultural venues in the borough are threatened by an “increasing reliance on external funding in a highly competitive landscape,” alongside the increasing costs of upkeeping listed heritage sites.

Meanwhile libraries are struggling with “rising demand alongside sustained high footfall and increasingly complex resident needs,” which is further exacerbated by growing demands for one-to-one digital services.

According to the report, improving biodiversity – the variety of wildlife and plants – is proving a challenge due to the relatively small size of Waltham Forest’s green spaces. Increasing habitat areas will have a knock-on effect of reducing space for playgrounds and sports, the report adds.

There is also a lack of suitable planting spaces for trees to live full lives, while the waiting list for an allotment space is currently more than 1,500.

At the same time, the new Green administration will also need to make sure it secures funding to refurbish sports buildings and pitches before they reach the end of their lives.

Working to improve the environment in Waltham Forest will likely continue as a priority for the Greens, who promised in their manifesto to “tackle pollution and protect local green spaces”.

The recycling department will also have their work cut out for them: the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has instructed councils that all recycling collections should include plastic film by March next year.

However, Waltham Forest says flexible plastics are “difficult to process” and a key risk is the “availability of an end market for recycling collected flexible plastics”.

A separate report, also published last week, revealed that one of the biggest risks facing Waltham Forest Council is the declining number of pupils in local schools.

In one instance, the Henry Maynard Primary School in Walthamstow was operating with a shortfall of around 137 students, the Waltham Forest Echo reported in May.

“This creates a budget deficit of around £500,000 from government grants,” a spokesperson for the town hall told the paper.

In the climate committee report, council officers added that declining pupil numbers was also negatively impacting environmental education, such as trips to the education centre the Hive.

This “particularly affects families on lower incomes and some school groups,” the report added.

It will be the scrutiny committee’s job for the next four years to interrogate council policy and make suggestions before the reports go before the cabinet, made up of top councillors.

They will consider the recommendations of both elected committee members and council staff before either approving or rejecting new policies. In practice, very few policies are turned down by the cabinet.

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