The newly formed Reform administration in Havering will be quizzed on a string of contentious local issues at its first cabinet meeting later this month, after councillors published a set of 15 formal questions aimed at specific members of the new ruling team.
Key topics to be raised
Questions come from a cross-section of the council: Havering Residents Association councillors, independent groups and Labour representatives. Many focus on long-running local concerns that affect daily life across the borough.
- Council finances and rising debt levels;
- Progress on major local schemes, notably delays at Gallows Corner;
- Clearance of the persistent, polluted former dump at Launders Lane in Rainham;
- Housing policy, including the purchase of homes by other boroughs to house people in Havering;
- Public safety issues such as parcel thefts and violence against women.
Leading the scrutiny, Councillor Keith Prince, the new council leader, and Councillor Terry Brown, cabinet member for planning and public protection, are the primary focus: each is the subject of four questions. Cllr Prince, for example, will be asked how the council intends to ensure the former dump at Launders Lane is cleared following a recent pledge to tackle the site.
Debt and financial oversight
Finance will be under the spotlight. Councillor Martin Goode of the independent East Havering Residents’ Group will press the new finance cabinet member, Sue Benjamins, on what steps she will take to manage and bring under control the council’s escalating borrowing and overspend. In February the council’s total borrowing stood at just under £250 million, following a third intervention by government earlier this year.
| Issue | Who will be asked |
|---|---|
| Launders Lane clearance | Cllr Keith Prince |
| Gallows Corner delays | Cllr Keith Prince |
| Debt and overspend | Cllr Sue Benjamins |
| Parcel thefts and violence against women | Cllr Terry Brown |
Councillors will hear the cabinet members’ prepared responses in the chamber, and each questioner will be permitted a relevant follow-up in person. That format means the meeting is likely to test how quickly the new administration can convert pledges into measurable action.
Local projects and enforcement powers
Residents will also be watching for answers about delayed infrastructure work: the Gallows Corner scheme remains behind schedule, with the council attributing extended closures to late deliveries and interruptions linked to third-party work by Essex & Suffolk Water.
On housing enforcement, councillors intend to seek clarity on whether the town hall will use new powers to sanction irresponsible landlords with fines as high as £27,000, and how the council plans to prevent other boroughs from buying properties in Havering to place people in temporary accommodation.
The meeting is important both for tone and detail: it will be the first opportunity for the Reform cabinet to publicly set out priorities and timelines on issues that have been prominent in residents’ concerns. Responses read into the record will offer a measure of how the administration intends to tackle long-standing problems of pollution, roadworks delays and financial pressures facing the borough.
Residents wanting to raise questions themselves are invited to follow the council’s published agenda and the details on how to observe or participate in public meetings on the Havering council website.
