Councillor/landlord interests in Forest Gate

Great detective work by the local Green Party has thrown up an interesting story about the property interests of some of our local councillors, which we examine, below.

This blog also provides a timely update on  matters relating to our previous article on overseas companies' interests in Forest Gate properties - following comments from a couple of our followers/readers.

After an examination of the Greens' work, you might conclude that as far as some local representatives are concerned, they could as well be described as representing the local Landlord Party, as the local Labour Party.

The Green Party has established that - between them - 46 Newham councillors own or control nearly 100 properties in Newham. A charitable observer may conclude that 43 of those properties are effectively owner occupied by councillors.

Which leaves the interesting story of the remaining 56 (that we know of).

Nine Newham councillors (about one in 7 of the total) are, by any standards, significant local landlords - and all elected as Labour members.

Beckton councillor, Ayesha Chowdhury is queen of the group, with 19 properties in the borough, which have a combined estimated value of in excess of £4.5 million, and a collective monthly rent of over £20,000. 

The capitals gains on these properties since their original purchase (using Land Registry and Zoopla figures) exceeds £1.5million. She built up her property empire from her home - a Newham council flat (!) - until exposed by the national press four years ago.

Cllr Ayesha Chowdhury - property queen, who built her empire while living in a Newham council house and her Forest Gate interest - 21 Eric Close

Second in the local landlord/councillor stakes is Royal Docks member Antony McAlmont, whose registered properties (mostly controlled by limited companies, including Ashbel UK) total seven, with a value of almost £3.5 million.

Cllr Antony McAlmont, whose local
 property interest is wrapped up
 in limited companies

Third placed is Ahmed Noor (Plaistow South), with at least five properties in Newham, conservatively valued at £3million. He has provoked considerable controversy because of his property dealings in Forest Gate (see below).

Next on the local landlord/councillor list is Unmesh Desai (East Ham, Central), who has recently been selected as Labour candidate for the Greater London Assembly seat of City and East London, in next May's election.

The Greens have tracked down five properties in his ownership, with a combined Zoopla estimated value in excess of £2million, and a hypothetical capital gain of almost £1million, since their original acquisition.

Step forward Green Street East Councillor Mukesh Patel, as next in line. There have been five Newham properties registered to his name, two of which have subsequently been transferred to Piyush Patel (his wife?).

Green St East's Mukesh Patel,
 with five Newham properties

Next our very own, former absentee Mayoral adviser on Forest Gate, Rohima Rahman (Green Street East). She is registered as the beneficial owner of three Newham properties, with a combined value of £1.25 million. One of these properties is a leasehold one, with Newham Council owning the freehold.

Forest Gate South member, Mas Patel, owns two properties in Newham and at least one other in Ilford, while neighbouring, Green Street West councillor Idris Ibrahim is the registered owner of two Newham properties.

Green St West's Idris Ibrahim
 - just the two local properties

2 and 21 Westbury Road, in Forest Gate, for local councillor, Idris Ibrahim

Manor Park councillor Salim Patel rounds up this part of this survey - he, also, directly owns two Newham properties. He is, however, involved with a complex web of property companies, which between them own a further 10 properties in the borough.

The Forest Gate interest

32 councillor-owned properties are located in Forest Gate and at least four councillors with a direct interest in the area feature in the lists, above.

Property queen Ayesha Chowdhury (see above) has an interest in the E7 postcode, with the ownership of 18 Eric Close, from which she receives £1,000 rent per month. She has overseen a capital gain of £75,000 on this property, since she took ownership of it, which is now valued by Zoopla with a value of £264,000.

Four of Ahmed Noor's five properties lie within the E7 postcode; and the fifth is in East Ham. Two of the Forest Gate properties (218 and 230 Green Street) are shops. A third is 46 Windsor Road, from which he collects a monthly rent of £3,500.

Cllr Ahmed Noor (left) - suspended  from the Labour Party nationally  and locally after breaching planning  permission. 238 Romford Road, the controversial  building in question, whose flats, additionally  provided "poor quality accommodation" (see below for details)

Noor's two Green Street Shops - 218 and 230

46 Windsor, another of Noor's Forest Gate
 portfolio, delivering a monthly rental of £3,500

Most controversially Cllr Noor also owns 238 Romford Road. Forest Gate resident, Martin Warne, in his excellent blog: Forestgate.net has tracked his relationship with this premises. The building (see photo, above) has planning permission for commercial, not residential use. It was, however, sometime recently converted into a rooming house, or more officially a "house in multiple occupation", without appropriate approval.


Cllr Noor was issued with an enforcement notice this Spring, following its unauthorised conversion, which not only highlighted the unlawful refurbishment, but drew attention to its shoddy state. The notice said:

The conversion of the property to a house in multiple occupation provides a poor quality of accommodation, which is to the detriment of the persons who live there, and at a neighbourhood level, harms the objective of creating healthier neighbourhoods. It is therefore contrary to the policy ... and requirements of the Lifetime Homes Standards. (our emphasis).

Cllr Noor quickly said that he complied with the notice and returned it to commercial usage (see photograph suggesting that it is the headquarters of a plumbing company). He was, however, suspended from the Labour Party, locally and nationally, pending an investigation into his actions surrounding it.

Cllr Noor's excuse was that it was rented out to a third party which was responsible for the conversion, without his knowledge. It is not clear whether Newham Council has conducted a subsequent inspection to determine that the premises are actually commercial now, or that the unsightly advertising is simply a smoke screen for continued unauthorised domestic occupancy.

Would-be Greater London Authority member and Newham Councillor, Unmesh Desai's local property portfolio includes 115 Tower Hamlets Road, in Forest Gate. He receives a monthly rent of £1,300 for this and has benefitted from a capital gain from it of in excess of £200,000, since he first purchased the house. His other E7 acquisition is 34 Rothsay Road.

Would be Greater London
 Authority councillor, and
 close associate of Mayor
 Robin Wales, Unmesh
 Desai with two Forest
 Gate and five
Newham-wide properties

34 Rothsay and 115 Tower Hamlets Road - part of local the Desai property collection

Rohima Rahman, Forest Gate's now deposed former mayoral Advisor on Forest Gate owns 21 Dorset Road, as one of her three Newham properties. She has seen a capital gain on it of almost £200,000, since her original purchase of it.

Familiar face? The former absentee "mayoral advisor" on Forest Gate. Too busy looking after her property interests (one of which, 21 Dorset Road, shown right) to be an active Forest Gate advisor?

Being a Councillor for Green Street West is handy for Idris Ibhrahim. It means he can keep an eye on the interest of the two properties he owns on Westbury Road (2 and 21) - see above for photos.

Forest Gate South councillor, Mas Patel is similarly well-placed to look out for developments regarding to his properties at 23 Vale Road and 74 A - C Upton Lane.

Forest Gate South's Mas
 Patel 

Mas of property in Forest Gate: 74 a-c Upton Lane and 23 Vale Roads

Manor Park's Salim Patel's local property empire is difficult to fully establish, given the complex property-owning structure of companies he benefits from.

But he certainly has an interest - possibly controlling - of five Forest Gate properties, through these arrangements, being those at 278 Shrewsbury and 6 Lincoln Roads, together with 113a and 115 Godwin and 12 Stafford Roads.

Manor Park's Salim Patel,
with five Forest Gate properties

Salim Patel's five Forest Gate properties: top: 6 Lincoln, 113b - 115 Godwin, second row: 278 Shrewsbury, 12 Stafford Roads

Many would argue that there is nothing intrinsically wrong about landlordism, or being a "buy-to-let" landlord in the complex property jungle that is London. Nor should it simplistically be assumed that "all landlords are Tories".

However, in the one-party state that is Newham, pretty much the only way to guarantee election to the Council - and to keep a watching eye over the fate of your property portfolio - is to stand as a Labour candidate.

How many of these landlords would be Tories, if Newham were less loyal to Labour? How many of them use and stand for Labour as a "flag of convenience", while having no regard to the party's policies about providing decent, reasonably-priced, homes for people?

In a one-party-state, with an autocratic mayor, it is particularly important to s/elect strong candidates, who will stand up for local people, rather than simply party hacks, or those flying under flags of convenience.

It is difficult to conclude that all of Labour's councillors fall into the category of candidates who will always stand for the interests of local people.

N.B. If any of the councillors above feel we have misrepresented, or indeed under-estimated, their property interests in this article, we will be happy to correct the detail, all of which has come from publicly available sources.

Overseas ownership update

There is progress to report on the building that we described as "prestigious" and "iconic" in the 'Offshore Forest Gate' post, last month (see here): BCP City Gate, on Romford Road.

We recorded this property, you may recall, as being registered in the Isle of Man in July 2005 to  BCP City Gate Ltd, with a recorded value - then - of £3,658,840.

The Isle of Man company which
 owned this local landmark -
 City Gate House - went into
liquidation in the Spring of this year

We have subsequently learned that the company was put in the hands of liquidators on 10 April this year. Quite how a company with that level of assets could sink into insolvency is unclear, unless the property concerned has been moved on to the ownership of yet another company.

We do not know why this should have happened, but will not be shedding any tears of sorrow for the fate of the liquidated company. It is difficult to believe that there are not ulterior motives at play, which will further enhance the position of the beneficial owners of the building - all firmly out of the sight of the British tax collector - of course!

Meanwhile, one more significant local building can be added to the list of the foreign owned, and largely exempt from British tax liability.

When it became clear that Forest Gate was to become a beneficiary of the opening of Crossrail, Woodgrange Road's Telephone House was snapped by a Saudi company, sensing a good return on the investment would be pretty much guaranteed.  

Although Saudi Arabia is not a tax haven, in the way that some of the countries mentioned in the original article are, there is no doubt that the British exchequer will not gain the same benefit from increased rents or values that it would have experienced had the building remained in UK ownership.

We also mentioned the cluster of properties around 50 Avenue Road, in our post, as being beneficially owned by Isle of Man based Dominion Ltd.

The property was formerly a hostel owned by the London and Quadrant Housing Association.  We understand from someone who knew the project well that the building was home to many of Forest Gate's "characters".

50 Avenue Road, forming housing
 association hostel, sold to Isle
 of Man based landlords, following
 unresolved dampness problems

Persistent, unresolved,  dampness problems with the premises, however, lead the housing association to sell the premises and move the residents on elsewhere. Thus explaining the sale of the property - but not providing an explanation for it coming under tax haven Isle of Man ownership.

Footnote. If you are interested to know more about our local Green Party, to whom we are greatly indebted for the bulk of the information in this blog, please follow @rachel_shares (chair of Newham Green Party, @newhamgreens on Twitter, or Like them on Facebook: http//www.facebook.com/newhamgreenparty.

Thanks, for the memory (2)

This is the second of two postings, summarising comments on some of the articles that have appeared on this blog, since its inception.

Please see the opening paragraphs of last week's blog - immediately under this - for the rationale for running these pieces.

And - if you have memories relating to any of the articles that have appeared on this website, we'd be delighted to hear from you (by name, or anonymously). Simply type away in the 'Comments' section at the end of each article.

The rise and decline of Forest Gate's Jewish community

Original article link: here, date:20 November 2013

This is one of the site's most visited posts and has certainly provoked the largest number or recollections from visitors. Below are edited highlights of a number of them. A visit to the original posting on : xxxx is highly recommended for more detailed memories.

1. Anonymous

My grandparents, aunts, my mother, a cousin, my father all lived in Forest Gate. Three or more marriages at Earlham Grove shul 1933 - 1961. There were many that had moved from Whitechapel. Granddad worked as a presser and in the evenings finished suits that were sold in a shop in Green Street... It was all tough work. My mother told me she remembered in the late 1930's coming across graffiti: "All Jews are rich". This was far from the truth.

Earlham Grove synagogue

2. Anonymous

I grew up in Forest Gate and remember my childhood with fondness. When we moved to Forest Gate from Clapton the Earlham Grove Synagogue was full to capacity over the Jewish New Year and we had to use the Youth Services building. The Simchat torah party was very lively. My mother was on the ladies guild and I used to go with her to prepare for the party. I remember buttering so many bridge rolls. Laying the tables for 200 and a lady called Big Bloomah scared the life out of me. The parents association always took the kids from the Hebrew classes out every summer, usually to Westgate, and we went to the Norfolk Hotel for lunch. They were good times, never to be repeated.

3. Anonymous

My father was caretaker at this Synagogue from 1961 - 1963. I was only a five month old baby when my mum and dad moved here. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. Rabbi Shnider was so lovely, but Cantor Blackman wasn't very nice. There were 2 Irish sisters who helped my dad with the upkeep of the 2 shuls, 1 hall and the grounds. I remember the children coming into the Hall for lunch. There was a school over the road from the Synagogue, and a men's gym in the basement of one of the buildings.

4. Anonymous

I grew up in Forest Gate my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins were all members. I remember some very happy times going to the synagogue for the Sabbath, High Holidays and Hebrew classes... I of course remember Rabbi Waller, who was a wonderful teacher, Rev Schneider, Mr Woolf, Mr Weinburg, Mr Barnett all the committee and Ladies Guild. The most upsetting thing was when the fire burned it down.

5. P Shapiro

I grew up in Green Street, but my best friend lived in Earlham Grove and my sister married a man from Earlham Grove and got married in that shul. Back in the 50's and 60's it was a very close community. There were several kosher shops and a large Jewish population who had moved from the East End. I used to attend the Youth Club, which was held in the shul hall. A reunion a few years ago brought back many memories. From Stratford Grammar School in Upton Lane, my friends and I went to Kosher dinners at the shul too. They were not very good, but oh! that jam and coconut tart!  My mother had a stall in Queen's Road Market, down Green Street. Recently that was saved from redevelopment. It is now called "Queen's Market" and there is a support group. Nobody had a car in my family and I remember very clearly the long hikes between Oakdale Road and Earlham Grove, which seemed a never ending length! Happy days.

Fascists in 1930's Forest Gate

Original article link: here, date:16 April 2014

A number of posts on this site have provoked family recollections or stirred an interest in delving into family history. This one provoked one of the most painful stirrings (see second comment below).

1. Birdman

I remember Higgs the furriers extremely well and used to go past it on my way to school in the 1960's. I had no idea of its links to British Fascism. I know the wife of the Jewish landlord we had kept her furs there, so perhaps she didn't know of the link either.

471 Romford Road - from fascist furrier's
 to Islamic charity shop, in one generation!

2. Kate Higgs

James William Higgs was my great grandfather and although I know he was a racist and an eccentric, I had no idea about his fascist history!!  I'm completely shocked and unsettled by what I have just learnt. Especially as I was brought up by his grandson in the complete opposite way - to stand up for human rights, equality and to respect others religious beliefs - which I am so incredibly grateful for. This has inspired me to learn more about my family history and to write it down for the future generations. If anyone out there has information on (or photos) of my great grandfather (nicknamed Jimmy) and the shop Higgs Furriers please contact me at kateyhiggs@gmail.com I'd be so grateful! Thank you for putting the information up.

Kenny Johnson and the Lotus Club

Original article link: here, date:17 September 2014

1. Eddie Johnson (Kenny's brother)

It might interest people to know that Norman Arsonsohn, the owner of the former skating rink that found renewed fame as the 'Upper Cut' first approached me about what to do with the premises. I passed him to my brother, Kenny, who was enthusiastic about opening a rock venue, he produced detailed plans for Aronsohn and it was a cause of much angst when a deal with the Walker brothers was signed and they seemed to follow Kenny's plan, probably given to them by Norman Aronsohn. Aronsohn was a shadowy figure in the world of high finance and it was often said that he was the 'Mr X' behind many of George Walker's schemes.

Kenny Johnson, in the cloakroom
 of the Lotus club, 1960's

Forest Gate's proud suffragette legacy

Original article link: here, date:6 March 2015

1. Jean Bodie

I am trying to research old 'Granny Baldock' for whom my mother worked as a young girl when she lived in Hamworthy. Minnie Baldock lived across the street from us when she was old and we were afraid of her because she wore long black dresses and we thought she was a witch. It was my mother who told us that she had been a suffragette when she was a younger woman. Now that I am older too, I am pleased that I knew her, despite the fact that as a kid I went scrumping on her property.

Minnie Baldock, c 1908

I'm wondering if she sold the land (in Poole) to the Labour Club, or they were sponsoring her to live at 73 Rockley Road, where the Labour Club was built. I just cannot remember when it was built; do you know?

Forest Gate short-changed

Original article link: here, date:20 May 2015

Cllr Rohima Rahman - still missing,
 but not collecting £6,000 for it.

1. John Walker (posted two months after a critical article attacking the inaction of Cllr Rohima Rahman as the Mayor's "Advisor" on Forest Gate, at £6,679 per year).

We are delight to report that Cllr Rahman has now been replaced, without public comment, by Robin Wales as his Forest Gate Advisor. The new post-holder is Forest Gate North councillor, Rachel Tripp.

Turning the Pages of history

Original article link: here, date:27 May 2015

1. (Cllr) John Gray

I have lived around the corner from the rocket impact for 26 years and never knew about it.

A V1 rocket, of the kind that hit Dames Road

2. Richard40

I lived in Bective Road through the war, Page was our local shoe mender. I also remember the V1 incident vividly. It was a sunny day, we children were all playing in the gardens, our mothers all chatting over the fences, when suddenly someone shouted. There above us was the V1, it passed us as we scrambled into the Anderson shelters. It hit the top of a large Sycamore tree in Gobbells Bakery, breaking the top off, carrying on to Dames Road, where the damage was caused. Although we had little damage in our road, we had plenty of real scares, with a prisoner of war camp a few yards away, our mothers were always on edge.

3. Brian Arthur

I was born in Pevensey Road in 1948 and my mother spoke about the doodlebug hit on the trolleybus. They eye-witness account really conveys the full horror of the event, which would have been hushed up at the time. Before the new houses were built, opposite the Holly Tree pub, an infants schools occupied the site, which I attended.  Half of the playground was still a bomb site when I was there and I remember playing on it - great fun for a little boy!

Forest Gate's role in WW1, the Hammers battalion (1)

Original article link: here, date:5 June 2015

Evonne

William Busby was my great-grand-uncle.... Thank you for posting such interesting pictures and stories about the men. It was wonderful to see the homes of the Page and Holthusen families as they are now.  We live in the United States and I've been researching Forest Gate/William's life, your blog has been wonderful to learn about Forest Gate, then and now.

William Busby - hero then,
 cherished now

Forest Gate - short-changed

Newham is, of course, a one party state, at local council level. There is no formal opposition on the 60-0 body; and the elected mayor, Sir Robin Wales, is able to treat the borough as his personal fiefdom.

Council meetings are over in minutes, public scrutiny is thin on the ground and decisions are taken behind closed doors, in party caucuses, or in pubs by the cronies.

We, the citizens, are administered to and treated with contempt by the power elite.

Robin Wales, like political leaders world-wide (as Cameron will soon be showing us, by the bucket load), has a juggling act to perform, to retain power and keep the comrades happy. And he does so at our expense - quite literally.

Mates are given top, and lucrative jobs in "the cabinet", complete with meaningless sounding "portfolios". Others, whose support, or that of their communities, he needs to retain power are paid off - by our taxes - with sinecures. All but one of the nine mayoral advisors for areas of the borough are, for example, of Asian heritage. Each of the nine of them receive £6,679 p.a. for undefined purposes (i.e. in excess of £60k in total)

Step forward Cllr Rohina Rahman.

Who, you may ask? She has been a councillor for Green Street East (roughly the area south of Romford Road, between Green St and Katherine Rd.), since 2006.

She has hardly made a mark in her 9 years on the council - though has picked up £100,000 for the privilege. Google searches, a trawl through Newham Recorder back editions and the Newham Council website struggle to throw up her name once a year, on average (apart from at election times, when she is looking for votes, of course).

Forest Gate resident, Martin Warne, who runs excellent blog www.forestgate.net, has tracked her contribution to the council and its democratic processes. He recently wrote:

According to council records, in the 2014/15 municipal year, she turned up to just three of eight meetings of the Health and Social Care scrutiny commission she sits on, and not a single cabinet meeting. She attended four full meetings of the council, although the minutes do not record her uttering a single word.

That works out at about £2,000 per hour on official duties - averaging out her £11,000 p.a. councillor remuneration between recorded attendance at recorded council meetings.

Her track record, to be frank, is probably little different from many of her 59 colleagues, on the council.

So, why single her out?

Because, exactly a year ago Robin Wales appointed her his "Mayoral Advisor" on Forest Gate and awarded her £6,679 a year for the post, allegedly for one day per week's work - in addition to her basic £11k per year councillor remuneration.

What does this onerous position involve? We wish we could tell you. There is no job description or list of duties and accountabilities attached to the function.

Freedom of Information requests to the council, over a year, seeking answers to the "what does the job involve?" question have been ignored/rebuffed/evaded/frustrated.

This website - interested in all matters Forest Gate - decided to try and find out.

Two months ago, we wrote polite letters to Cllr Rahman, Robin Wales, council chief excecutive, Kim Bromley-Derry, and the council's "Head of Complaints, Members Inquiries and Freedom of Information".

The letters asked for a job description, list of duties undertaken in exchange for the remuneration, and sight of any reports produced and recommendations made, affecting our area.

Below, we reproduced the sum total of the answers received, so we can show you, in completely unedited form, what we are getting for our money.

What 2 months time and over £400,000
 a year's salaries and expenses can
 tell us about what Cllr Rahman has done

Why does Robin Wales need a "Forest Gate Advisor"? He has spent most of the last 20 years living within a couple of hundred metres of the area, and is frequently seen in and around E7 - particularly coming in and out of the railway station.

Forest Gate is probably over-represented by Newham councillors who live within the area, and  four of the district's councillors (Ellie Robinson, Rebecca Tripp and Seyi Akiwowo, from Forest Gate North and Dianne Walls from Forest Gate South) are some of the most hard working and diligent members of Newham council, active and visible within the area.

What other advice does he need about the area - that justifies the expenditure of over £6,000 per year? We are still waiting to hear - and will share the answers with you, when we do.

Just a reminder. Robin Wales is paid over £80,000 as the council's mayor - over three times the average Newham wage. Kim Derry-Bromley, the council's chief executive is paid £195,000 a year - and will get a bonus this year for being the returning officer in the general election.

Kim Derry-Bromley - the
£195k p.a. sound of silence

Both of them have a legal responsibility for ensuring that public funds are used responsibly and appropriately. One year on, they cannot, between them, offer a single line of explanation for what Newham gets by way of advice on Forest Gate, for this £6,000+ expenditure.

Cllr Rahman's £6,679 payment isn't, apparently, enough to enable her to be able to account for her actions, either. And presumably the council's "Head of Complaints, Members Inquiries and Freedom of Information", on an estimated minimum of £40k p.a., is too busy applying for other similarly exotic sounding jobs in BBC's excellent W1A to have time to respond to our request.

Robin Wales, of course, has form when it comes to wasting money on vanity projects. Like the £40m he has given Tory peer Karren Brady and her pornography producer fellow directors of West Ham, to move to a ground that most fans don't want to go to. 

Then there is the, who knows what (£1m per year?) actual costs of producing the Wales fanzine - The Newham Mag.

Robin Wales: vanity, patronage
 and no accountability

As we face 5 years of Tory government, the £20bn of cuts they promised - but wouldn't spell out during the election - will begin to tumble out. Local government, we know, will take a big hit.

How will Robin Wales react to the central government imposed cuts, locally?

Protect the poor and sacrifice vanity, or continue to squander £6,679 a year on the silent Ms Rahnam and her ilk (£60k+, in total)? 

A not unreasonable litmus test of his priorities will soon be with us.