LABOUR IS running Redbridge Council. They have an overall majority on the Council – 43 out of 73 councillors. The opposition is led by the Redbridge Independents (nine seats), the Green Party and the Conservative Party (five seats each) and one lonely member of Reform.

As well as the usual press releases on what school pupils are doing and what happens to people caught flytipping, the news section of the Council website includes a weekly piece from the Council Leader, outlining the exciting events that are due to happen in the following week. This would never be allowed in Tower Hamlets: if Mayor Lutfur Rahman was to use Council resources to post a weekly news preview, someone would have kittens in the corridors of Whitehall and invent an anti-Megalomania Tsar. Redbridge: you have been warned.

The Leader’s update issued on Friday, 12th June manages to give the news preview without actually mentioning the Leader’s name, which is quite an innovation and makes The Leader sound ever so slightly North Korean. The list of councillors suggest the Leader is Cllr Kam Rai, who represents Aldborough ward. As well as being listed as the Leader of the Council and the Labour Group, he is also Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Growth and Prosperity. Now we know who he is, what does Cllr Rai have to say?

First he mentions the World Cup, acknowledging that Redbridge’s diversity will mean that support for several teams will be on show in the borough. The highlight of last weekend was the filming of the Antiques Roadshow in Valentines Park – very Redbridge.

The highlight of Cllr Rai’s week was a trip to Parliament to meet the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local government, Steve Reed MP. Leader Rai reports that they discussed fair funding and how Redbridge’s case for getting funds to meet residents’ needs will be resourced. Lucky Redbridge: in at least two of East London’s boroughs, all the Secretary of State does is send letters to the Mayor.

Cllr Rai ended his week by enjoying a Conference on “Better Life Chances” held at Seven Kings school. This brought people from several sectors together to talk about how children in Redbridge can reach their full potential. They had no problem agreeing that many factors influence what a child gets out of school. It’s now just what the lessons are: it’s also the context of health and housing and “family circumstances”. The Council is already addressing those issues, says Cllr Rai. They are building homes, helping residents with the cost of living and more general support.

The Weekly Address is a new way for a Council to put its achievements across and keep the public informed. It feels fresher and more informative than the usual highfalutin press releases that other Councils put out – written in Officer Speke and packed with quotes that all sound the same, no matter which councillor they are attributed to. We’re looking forward to next week already.

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