Andrew Rosindell’s Political Journey, 1980-2026

Timeline

Andrew was a councillor between 1990 and 2002. He spent 12 years getting control of Romford Conservatives and has been a backbench MP since 2001. Andrew panicked when his majority collapsed by 82% in 2024.¹

Political Calculations

The Reform party is the first viable third party since the 1920s. Unlike Farage’s UKIP and Brexit, Reform is the real thing. In 2024, Reform’s unknown candidate got 9,624 votes in Romford. Romford is now a marginal seat, and Andrew doesn’t have a ‘job for life’.

But what is Andrew joining?

Nigel Farage owned the Reform Party until recently,

“….[it] was founded in 2018 as a private limited company, with Farage holding the majority of shares.²

Reform doesn’t have policies. Farage’s previous efforts were pressure groups in drag. Reform’s current policies mimic Trump and Musk. Musk’s DOGE policy³ was endorsed in their 2025 local election campaign. Successful Reform groups tried, and failed, to implement DOGE.⁴

Reform voters were seduced by a slick PR campaign. The reality is more-of-the-same with ex-Conservative councillors in control. This is disappointing for voters hoping for a novelty.

Andrew knows this.

So, what happened in January 2026 to get Andrew to risk everything? Perhaps Suella Braverman offers a hint. She

“…..referred to homelessness as a “lifestyle choice”, who called pro-Palestinian marches “hate marches”…..who suggested asylum seekers were “pretending to be gay” to claim protection, a hard-right Conservative has joined Farage’s ‘people’s party’.⁵

She’s joined Reform. Reform don’t have policies but do have a direction of travel and Andrew wants to go there. He approves of Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick.⁶ Andrew wants red-meat right-wing policies, which persecute people he doesn’t like.

And that’s a lot of people.

The Downside

Andrew believes Romford’s voters voted for him. He’s oblivious to the implications of the 2024 result. Andrew ‘lost’ 9,624 votes to a complete unknown and 13,876 to Labour. 2029 will be a three-way election. Andrew is an ex-Conservative who won’t have the support he’s used to after 36 years of belonging to the Romford party and electioneering is his comfort zone. Campaigning in 2029 as a Reform candidate will be a challenge for him. And it isn’t difficult to imagine the leaflets by ex-colleagues who think he is treacherous.

Farage relies on charisma, which has a shelf-life. His money-grubbing tactics repel many voters. Voters resent politicians who line their own pockets. Andrew works hard and has a great reputation, but he’ll be tarred with the Farage brush. Reform is an abnormal political party. It’s a fiefdom. If Reform get critical mass, Farage will have severe problems because he isn’t a team player.

Conclusion

Andrew’s political journey matches that of Britain. The 1980s saw Margaret Thatcher’s policy driven Conservatism, which has shaped Britain ever since. Her Conservatism has been replaced by shameless ‘Get-rich-quick’ opportunists. Andrew is a hard-working MP. Farage rarely goes to his constituency and is wedded to Donald Trump’s utter disdain for morality.

Notes

1 General Election 2024: Results | London Borough of Havering

2 Nigel Farage gives up ownership of Reform UK – BBC News

3 Elon Musk’s cost-cutting at DOGE has been a colossal failure. But he has achieved something more dangerous | The Independent

4 Reform’s “DOGE” is a superficial response to deep problems in local government | Institute for Government

5 Former home secretary Suella Braverman defects to Reform UK | Suella Braverman | The Guardian

6 Robert Jenrick claims cartoons mural removed from asylum centre were ‘not age-appropriate’ | The Independent He wanted to make an asylum centre for children more threatening and less welcoming.

Havering Council Meeting, 21st January 2026 (part two)

After the break, opposition councillors came into the chamber like lions. They were transformed from being supine and acquiescent into decision-makers. It was all rather wonderful. It’s taken four years for them to fulfil their principal role of critically scrutinising the Administration. Better late than never.

What happened? HRA put an emergency motion on the Order Paper on the morning of the meeting,

This Council recommends a revision of the Mercury Land Holding business plan, to focus the company on delivering much needed affordable housing and driving down temporary accommodation costs, once it has reached its breakeven number of properties.¹(my emphasis)

Mercury Land Holdings is a multi-million pound company owned and controlled by Havering council. The motion calls for ‘revision’ of the business plan. There were no papers and councillors were asked to blindly trust the Administration.

But was it an emergency?

On the 3^rdSeptember, 2025 this Conservative motion was passed,

This Council recommends a revision of the Mercury Land Holdings business plan, to focus the company on delivering much needed social homes and driving down temporary accommodation costs. (my emphasis).²

HRA’s emergency motion was nonsense. They’ve had five months to create a new business plan for Mercury Land Holdings which pivots towards social housing.

The charge was led by Keith Prince (59 minutes)³ who described the emergency motion as an ‘abuse of Council’. I thought that was restrained. Ray Morgon said that social housing wasn’t viable. He’s very trusting. That is the patter used by building companies to avoid social housing.

The legal officer dived in and firmly said the motion was an emergency because a budget has to be written shortly. He didn’t remark it was a self-inflicted wound.

This so-called emergency motion was a disgrace. Ray Morgon has been badly let down by Graham Williamson who should have had urgent meetings during September 2025 to discuss the consequences of the motion.⁴ He always seems flaky and now this is proof that he is disengaged from his responsibilities.

The meeting ended at 11:15 with a shambolic ‘singing’ of the National Anthem.

Notes

1 (Public Pack)SUPPLEMENTARY AGENDA Agenda Supplement for Council, 21/01/2026 19:30

2 “….the motion by the Conservative Group was AGREED as the substantive motion by 25 votes to 22 (see division 4)”. (Public Pack)Minutes Document for Council, 03/09/2025 19:30

3 Annotator Player times relate to this webcast. Keith had support from Michael White, John Tyler, Martin Goode, and David Taylor. David made the initial passionate speech, in September 2025, which triggered the overwhelming Opposition vote. Interestingly the only councillor lawyer, Keith Darvill, was silent. Why?

4 The meeting ended in stalemate with the motion being progressed to the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee where there will be papers available. This by-passes the desire that the motion be passed on ‘trust’. There maybe an emergency Council meeting to make a substantive decision.

Havering’s Council Meeting, 21st January 2026 (part one)

Question Time (QT)

Councillors instructed ChatGPT to ask Family Friendly questions.

Sounds Familiar?

Q2 Jane Keane¹ asked about CCTV. Barry Mugglestone said it defeated crime.

Q3 Darren Wise asked about parking tickets. Barry said they were wonderful.

Q5 Judith Holt asked about parking fees in Hornchurch. Barry is working hard to please everyone.

Q6 Trevor McKeever asked about speeding. Barry said enforcement is for the police.

Q7 Martin Goode asked about potholes. They are being repaired quickly and effectively Barry said, without a blush.

Q8 Judith Holt asked about Visitor Parking Permits. Barry said the system worked beautifully.

Q10 Christine Vickery asked about Gallows Corner. Barry said he’d do whatever she wanted but she might regret what she wished for.

Q14 Viddy Persaud asked about traffic monitoring. Barry said she could have whatever she wanted. But she’d forgotten what she’d asked for.

Q15 Nisha Patel asked about parking enforcement. Barry worried about elderly people putting a ‘O’ in the machine instead of a Zero. But cheerfully said he couldn’t do anything about it.

Barry sat down for the 20^th time looking tired and happy.

Killer Questions

A killer question is one where every answer is wrong. These are perfect for pre-election QTs because answers can be publicised.

Q1 Dilip Patel asked about asylum seeker accommodation. This is a toxic question. Natasha Summers said she’d rejected the government’s request for accommodation. Dilip looked disappointed.

Q4 Keith Prince asked about unauthorised gypsy/traveller sites. Ray Morgon said officers were like bloodhounds seeking them out and were closing them with alacrity. Keith mocked this. He quoted the Daily Mail as evidence that Havering is overwhelmed with unauthorised sites. Ray said he didn’t read the Daily Mail.

Q11 Keith Darvill asked about housing allocations. Natasha Summers said they were on track. Keith said two years delay was unacceptable. Natasha said it was a software problem, and everyone was convinced.

Q13 David Taylor asked about temporary housing on the Waterloo Estate. Graham Williamson waffled. And that’s a multi-million pound scandal buried. A housing estate has been demolished and replaced by 18 temporary homes for the foreseeable future. Foreseeable means years, by the way.

Conclusion

The administration is lucky no-one knows how to use a killer question.

Note

1 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 21/01/2026 19:30 QT times relate to this webcast

Greater London Assembly Question Time, 18th December 2025

John Stuart Mill, the 19^th century philosopher and MP, said “….the Conservatives are the stupidest party….”¹ Obviously a cheap abusive quip doesn’t have resonance 159 years later. Or does it? Romford’s MP thinks Havering should leave London and join Essex. Havering existed before he was born. He’s suffering from pre-natal nostalgia – a new disease – for which there is no cure

Question Time in Havering can be dire, focused on the ultra-parochial. Barry Mugglestone leaps up and down brushing off question after question but still they keep coming. Expectations are higher for the GLA’s elite politicians. Expectations which turn to dust as their questions are read.²

The GLA Question Time is a major monthly event, “….as part of their role to hold the Mayor and other bodies to account.³ All 25 councillors ask the Mayor a question and he is the sole responder. It should be intimidating as he sits alone inside an arc of 25 councillors.

Luckily the Conservatives put him at his ease. This humdinger came from Bromley’s finest councillor, Thomas Turrell: Is the Mayor on the side of Londoners? Turrell was hoping Sadiq Khan would collapse. Maybe he’d say, “No – as a matter of fact I can’t stand Londoners”. Perhaps he’d add, he liked getting on telly and picking up a big salary. John Stuart Mill – Triumphant!

Alessandro Georgiou, another Conservative, piled in with, Are you a good negotiator on behalf of Londoners?⁵What answer was he expecting? This is the sort of probing forensic question a Year 3 Primary School child might ask a Prime Minister who was looking for a caring photo to help his image.

Keith Prince (Reform) asked a question which drew a lengthy answer from the Mayor. Keith asked, What are you doing to improve safety across the TfL network?⁶It turned out, to everyone’s amazement, that the Mayor is dynamic in this respect.

Notes

1 JOHN STUART MILL AND THE CONSERVATIVES.. [To ms EDITOR OF » 28 Oct 1882 » The Spectator Archive

2 (Public Pack)Agenda Item 5 – Questions to the Mayor Agenda Supplement for London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time), 18/12/2025 10:00

3 Questions to the Mayor | London City Hall

4 Question No: 2025/4535

5 Question No: 2025/4326

6 TfL Safety Question No: 2025/4300 You can view the answer and subsequent question here London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) from 18/12/2025 It’s about 3 minutes long

Havering’s GLA Member: Keith Prince (Reform)

Havering has two important regional issues. The first is the nine-month closure of the Gallows Corner flyover. This is causing local and east London disruption. The second is significant damage to London’s housing strategy. This is the result of the non-funding of Beam Park station by the Treasury.

Keith isn’t interested in Beam Park but is fascinated by Gallows Corner. He has asked Mayor Khan two questions in three months about Gallows Corner (see A & C in the Addendum). Why is this Keith’s priority?

The Gallows Corner fiasco¹ will finish despite repairs making glacial progress. Then the chaos will stop. Keith focuses on Gallows Corner because it’s obvious.

Beam Park is a more challenging. There aren’t easy answers and it’s of critical regional importance. Beam Park’s housing development must have a station built. This looks easy because it doesn’t need new track or a realignment of the east London network. Unfortunately, governments are hypnotised by Treasury orthodoxy. Their grim reductionist thinking means they won’t fund the station. And that means thousands of houses won’t be built. The government’s housing policy is collateral damage to a wrong-headed economic analysis.

Housing is a government priority and Beam Park station will unleash a bonanza.

“….there’s been a mix of recriminations and negotiations about how and why the station, which could serve as many as 20,000 homes, wasn’t authorised to be built.”²

Mayor Khan has approved £32.747m to make Beam Park happen.³ And the Treasury is stalling. Mayor Khan is fighting hard for Beam Park but what is Keith doing?⁴ He asked a question about bus drivers getting hot in their cabins. (see Addendum B).

Question C at the November meeting (see Addendum at 3 hours 20) was developed by Keith who asked for a period of temporary reopening for Christmas. This positive proposal will help traders if implemented. Unfortunately, the principal barrier is Essex and Suffolk Water, which is out of the Mayor’s control.

Keith was directly elected and should be laser focused on critical local issues.

Notes

1 Andrew Rosindell, Boris Johnson and Gallows Corner, 2014-20 – Politics in Havering

2 Delayed Beam Park railway station moves forward with new planning application

3 DD2452 Beam Park Station | London City Hall

4 Margaret Mullane MP for Dagenham and Rainham has been more proactive Beam Park station update – Margaret Mullane

Addendum: Keith Princes questions to the Mayor: Sept-Nov 2025

Gallow’s Corner Question No: 2025/3095 Keith Prince Can you provide an update on TfL’s current timeline for the development project at Gallow’s Corner?¹
Freedom of Speech Question No: 2025/3385 Keith Prince What steps are you taking to ensure Londoners have the right to freedom of speech?²
Gallows Corner (2) Question No: 2025/3693 Keith Prince What consideration have you given to a compensation scheme for businesses at Gallows Corner who have been disrupted by the closure of the flyover and roundabout?³

A (Public Pack)Agenda Item 5 – Questions to the Mayor Agenda Supplement for London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time), 11/09/2025 10:00

B London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) | London City Hall

C Keith’s question was given a full reply by the Mayor London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time) | London City Hall

Havering Council Meeting, 19th November 2025 (part two)

Motions¹probe the Administration. Labour and the Conservatives failed to prove that they are a better alternative.

Labour’s motion was on tree management and falling trees. The Conservatives considered the reduction of hours at Romford Police Station, which Havering isn’t responsible for.

Ray Morgon is lucky having a weak disorganised opposition.

Tree management

Labour: Keith Darvill (1 hour 12)² blamed ‘climate change’ for falling trees. Jane Keane (1:37) promoted volunteer tree wardens

HRA: Barry Mugglestone (1:17) was thin skinned. Gerry O’Sullivan (1:33) defended him. Reg Whitney (1:37) said falling trees was a national problem.

Conservatives: David Taylor (1:20) was worried about trees, Judith Holt (1:28) and Tim Ryan (1:35) wallowed in local knowledge.

East Havering RAs: Brian Eagling (1:21) and Martin Goode (1:25) talked about themselves.

Reform: Keith Prince (1:31) nit-picked. He enjoys this even when no-one else does.

Everyone agreed that randomly falling trees are a ‘Bad Thing’.

Romford Police Station

Conservatives: David (1:49) said a 24 hour front desk was vital to public safety. Dilip Patel (2:10) and Judith (2:11) saw a Labour plot in the reduction.

Labour: Keith D. (1:54) thought a review was a good idea. Jane (2:09) said it wasn’t.

Residents’ Association IG: John Tyler’s (1:57) ‘Good Old Days’ thoughts were from his days as a police officer.

Reform: Keith P. (2:00) dislikes Mayor Khan. He’s vitriolic. Keith is petulant and it spoils the flow – such as it is.

HRA: Stephanie Nunn (2:07) felt lied to about the reduction. Barry (2:08) said voting Labour worked and cited Margaret Mullane’s lobbying successes in Dagenham. Reg (2:09) said Havering was lucky to have a police station at all.

Hostility to Mayor Khan ignores a changing world and budget deficits.

Perhaps better motions would encourage councillors³ who were absent to come next time?

Notes

1 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 19/11/2025 19:30 These are the emotions for debate

2 Annotator Player Times relate to this site

3 Councillors Anderson, Benham, Best, Chapman, Glass, McArdle, McKeever, Ruck, Tumilty, Vickery, Williams, White D, and White M. Councillors Anderson and Tumilty have long-term illnesses No explanations are needed otherwise. This is a quarter of all councillors. For attendance over the last six months see Councillors attendance summary, 29 May 2025 – 21 November 2025 | London Borough of Havering

Havering’s Politics and Political Leaders

Havering’s 55 councillors are divided into six groups. Their leaders are white, elderly men,¹ socially conservative and apolitical. Local politicians aren’t politicians, they are managers. George Osborne killed Local Government. This makes it difficult to know who to vote for or, even whether to vote at all. All that politicians can say is that they are, ‘On your side’, whatever that means.

So, what do voters do?

Vote as you’ve always voted;
Vote for someone who looks well meaning;
Vote for a novelty;
Vote against the government or;
Don’t vote.

Ageing politicians, and their cliques, are the inevitable result of anti-politics.

Political Leaders

Ray Morgon (25 councillors) Ray is leader of HRA and the council. He’s been a councillor for 23 years. He leads a minority administration. HRA isn’t a political party. It is an umbrella organisation. Its signature policy is 30 minutes of free parking time in Hornchurch and Upminster, which costs about £1m pa.

Michael White (16) Michael is leader of the Conservatives. He’s been a councillor for 30+ years. The Conservatives have diminished after numerous defections. If they are unlucky they could suffer a 2014 event and get wiped out.² Their signature policy is being ‘good managers’.

Keith Darvill (8) Keith is leader of the Labour party. He’s been a councillor for 23 years. They were part of the HRA coalition until Ray went solo. They rely on option one with people voting traditionally. Surprisingly they don’t have a signature policy.

Martin Goode (3) Martin is leader of the East Havering RAs. He’s been a councillor for seven years. His party is a pressure group in the traditional RA way. Utterly negative, nit-picking and without any policies apart from at-the-margins critiques.

John Tyler (2) John is leader of the Residents’ Association Independent Group. He’s been a councillor for seven years. He’s a ‘True Believer’ in the RA message. ‘No Politics, Focus on the Ward’ and leads a pressure group. He’s less effective than Martin.

Keith Prince (1) Keith is leader of Reform. He’s been a councillor for 35 years.³ Reform is the ‘novelty’ party for 2026. Using 2014 as a guide, and Farage’s charisma, he should do better than UKIP. His signature policy is a secret.

The 2026 Election: Politicians like winning but they might prefer to lose in 2026. Why? Havering is in a bad place and the winner will have to make very tough decisions, which they will probably hate.⁴

Notes

1 ‘Elderly’ = 65+

2 Havering Local Election Results 22 May 2014

3 Unusually he’s a GLA member and has been a councillor in Redbridge. He’s the most experienced councillor in the chamber alongside Michael White.

4 Winner’s curse – Wikipedia This is when a person convinces themselves of the value of something and win BUT they have mistaken the true value and end up worse than they were before.

Havering Council Meeting, 19th November 2025 (part one)

Havering is bankrupt and thirteen¹ councillors were absent from this council meeting. Collectively they ‘earn’ £140,000 pa. Perhaps ‘No show, no pay’ would improve attendance?

Eulogy for former Councillor Mike Davis

Mike was a councillor for 12 years and a champion of the underdog. Pat Brown did the honours with a brilliant six-minute speech. Mike was a multi-talented working-class intellectual. His crowning glory was as an inspiring leader in the Tenants’ Management Organisation. He was a national figure with close connexions to LSE and the national TMO organisation. Pat was deeply emotional but sufficiently composed to read one of Mike’s poems. Jane Keane saw Mike’s work at first hand as a tenant in his TMO and fully endorsed Pat’s heartfelt eulogy.

He was my friend for 40 years and I mourn him.

Question Time²

Q5) Keith Prince Following media reports of large-scale housing fraud in Barking and Dagenham Council,³ how many Council officers do we have checking for housing fraud in Havering?

Natasha Summers has three officers working for her combating fraud. They are so successful, there isn’t any fraud.

I tried to imagine Mike answering this question.

Three officers check 400 tenancies monthly. But three is nebulous. Each have between 31 to 46 days annual and public holiday leave.⁴ Then sick leave days⁵ must be added. Statistics suggest an annual 30 days of absence. So, 15% of the working year evaporates for the three anti-fraud officers.

Investigations are slow. ‘Seven’ as a daily target is an aspiration. Numerous call-backs must be included for chasing up people unavailable during the day. This adds to the workload.

Mike would have given a full answer so councillors could understand the magnitude of the task. He would then have asked for additional staff to save money. He would also have been a great deal less trusting then Natasha appears to be.

Notes

1 Councillors Anderson, Benham, Best, Chapman, Glass, McArdle, McKeever, Ruck, Tumilty, Vickery, Williams, White D, and White M: Councillors Anderson and Tumilty have long-term illnesses No explanations are needed otherwise. This is a quarter of all councillors. For attendance over the last six months see Councillors attendance summary, 29 May 2025 – 21 November 2025 | London Borough of Havering

2 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 19/11/2025 19:30

3 ‘Corrupt’ housing officers suspected of fraudulently allocating hundreds of east London council homes for cash | The Standard

4 how many working days in a year uk – Search

5 Sickness absence in the UK labour market – Office for National Statistics See especially fig.7 Local government employees have the highest amount of sick leave

Havering’s Silent Political Revolution, 2022-25

The Havering Residents’ Association (HRA) umbrella group was formed for the 2022 election. They had dramatic success and the Conservatives were ousted. An HRA-Labour coalition took their place.¹

The dodging and diving began immediately.

Within weeks, Rainham’s three Conservative councillors joined HRA. This set the scene for three years of shameless anti-democratic opportunism. Seven more councillors have ratted on the electorate, without troubling the electorate. Amazingly, an especially flaky councillor has done it twice.

Sarah Edwards, Jacqueline McArdle and Susan Ospreay

Rainham ward: From Conservative to HRA. And Jacqueline McArdle: From HRA to Conservative when she changed her mind again.

Philip Ruck and John Tyler

Cranham ward: From HRA to Cranham Independent ~ John was an associate HRA member but Philip definitely did defect.

Paul McGeary

Gooshays ward: From Labour to HRA. This was spectacular. 1) He smashed the coalition and 2) he, importantly for him, kept his £25,000 pa cabinet position. He’s unlikely to keep his seat in 2026.

John Crowder

Havering-Atte-Bower ward: From Conservative to HRA

Phillippa Crowder and Robby Misir

Marshalls and Rise Park ward: From Conservative to HRA

Keith Prince

Squirrels Heath ward: From Conservative to Reform. This is notable as Keith is one of the most senior politicians in Havering.

And a special mention for,

Damian White

Damian hasn’t defected. He’s sulked since losing the Conservative leadership toKeith Prince. Damian has had very poor attendance for three years.²

Conclusion

Eleven potential by-elections haven’t happened. By-elections are not obligatory. It is, however, undemocratic to change parties and deny voters the chance to approve or not. Most defections are ‘froth’ without political significance.

Keith’s defection matters because he believes HRA’s domination is ending. He also thinks the Conservatives will become a rump, like the Labour party. Keith’s defection is a significant ‘straw in the wind’.

Havering’s bizarre politics will continue in 2026.

Notes

1 5 May 2022 Local Election Results in Havering

2 Your Councillors | London Borough of Havering This is correct as of 9^th November 2025. For attendance for the last six months see Councillors attendance summary, 18 May 2025 – 10 November 2025 | London Borough of Havering

Havering’s Air Quality and the Launders Lane Scandal (part one)

This Scrutiny Committee did a very good job.¹ Stakeholders were present from the community, alongside senior officers of organisations involved in air quality and the Launders Lane scandal. All the participants made contributions, which were very interesting and informative.

The Fire Brigade

The Borough Commander said (57minutes) the Launders Lane scandal dominates his work. He’s spent a hundred hours strategising, creating a safe working environment and on-site direction. Launders Lane is unique. Fire-fighters can’t access the site because it’s unstable. The surface of the land conceals cavernous holes. The holes, and toxic air, are a dangerous working environment for fire fighters.

Public Health

The borough Director was chilling (11) about air pollution.²

‘The science is now overwhelming; air pollution is a major driver of disease across the life course – from low birth weight and childhood asthma to heart attacks and dementia. It must be recognised and treated as a public health issue.³

The Director said, 5.7% of deaths in Havering were air pollution related (1:24). It’s impossible to directly attribute deaths to the Launders Lane fires because of Havering’s poor air quality.⁴ Air pollution is invisible except when spewing out of land accompanied by fire. The Director was saying, in effect, Launders Lane draws attention to Havering’s permanent air pollution. Astonishingly, he said (1:46) the air pollution adjacent to Romford bus depot was worse than that of Launders Lane. As a consequence, he couldn’t recommend specific health warnings other than boroughwide.

Community Representatives

Rainham Against Pollution (45) Their representative felt the only way to deal with Launders Lane was to flatten the land. There were comments on the grim outcomes for residents of living with constant fires and being ‘prisoners’ in their homes during the summer months.

Friends of the Earth (51) Their representative pointed out that dumping toxic materials which led to fires wasn’t unique. Land had been successfully remediated and lessons were there to be learned.

Clear the Air in Havering (54) Their representative spoke evocatively about the health impacts of polluted air. The health crisis has been created by poor decision-making and a lack of urgency.

Conclusion

The ultra-late decision by HRA to declare Launders Lane ‘contaminated’ looked suspiciously timed to stifle debate. It failed. Part Two discusses the councillors’ debate, which was probing and forensic.

Notes

1 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for People Overview & Scrutiny Sub Committee, 21/10/2025 19:00 for the webcast see Annotator Player All times relate to this (57 minutes becomes 57)

2 Health matters: air pollution – GOV.UK This is a national study For Havering the government has produced a comprehensive study How health has changed in your area – Office for National Statistics Air pollution worsened between 2015 and 2021 and is about 10% above the national average

3 Air pollution linked to 30,000 UK deaths in 2025 and costs the economy and NHS billions, warns Royal College of Physicians | RCP

4 London’s ULEZ cut air pollution — high vehicle compliance left little room for post-expansion gains – University of Birmingham This paper is about London in general. However, see Havering’s ULEZ Data (davidtaylor.online) Here there is evidence that Havering’s air pollution has been reduced by ULEZ see also Havering, ULEZ and Public Health – Politics in Havering