My patch - Lea Bridge
C'llr – July 2009

Mark Smulian meets Waltham Forest councillor Elisabeth Davies

She travels the world on behalf of councils, visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, Malaysia, America, the Philippines and many parts of Europe to see if children in care could be reunited with extended families overseas.

Back home though her patch is Lea Bridge, in Waltham Forest, which she has represented for three years.

Like many wards, its boundaries are lines on a map rather than an obvious social or geographical entity. It ends abruptly in the middle of suburban streets, and straddles the Lea Bridge Road, one of the main routes out of London to its north-east.

Elisabeth has lived in or near this diverse area for 35 years since she arrived in Waltham Forest as a young child from Nigeria, and it was among this mix of small social housing estates, terraced turn-of-the-previous-century houses, light industry and small shops that she felt "a call to serve the people".

Locally educated, she became a social worker after studying at both the London School of Economics and Royal Holloway College. While this led her to a successful career with several local authorities, the political restrictions that accompanied her jobs meant she had never stood for office before winning her seat in 2006, even though she had been a Labour activist for almost 20 years.

A career change to being a self-employed children's social worker also left her more in control of her own time and so able become a councillor.

"I'm a community councillor, not a 'town hall' councillor," Elisabeth says. "I stood because Lea Bridge is my patch and I thought I could make a difference.

She lives in the ward and carries out formal 'walk-in surgeries' but says local people know her and will stop her in the streets to discuss issues.

Her surgeries take place in an imposing Edwardian public library and housing and immigration top the list of residents' concerns.

Social housing accounts for some 22 per cent of homes in the borough, which like many councils has lost homes through right-to-buy faster than it has been able to replace them through housing associations or its arm's-length management organisation Ascham Homes.

"There are a lot of people in temporary accommodation or homeless, or living in overcrowded conditions, and people want council property," she says. "But because of right-to-buy we have lost homes and we work with housing associations to build but not as many as we would like."

On immigration there is, Elisabeth admits, not a great deal she can directly do beyond referring people to the local MP or some other source of help. "But I'm their first port of call because they know me", she says.

One of Elisabeth's particular interests is working with faith groups, both through formal meetings and the 'Breakfast with Cllr Davies' initiative, which she launched and holds at churches on alternate Sundays so that congregants can meet her easily.

"One thing I have taken up is working with religious communities developing links with churches, engaging with white and black communities and with what in social work we used to call the 'invisible' community, the Chinese," she says.

"There are good community relations here, but we have to work at it, though I came here from Africa, and now I'm a councillor, which shows how far we have come."

Walking round the ward, she points to Marconi Road estate, where she lives, which suffered antisocial behaviour problems and a stream of complaints to councillors until landlord East Thames Housing responded by moving many of the perpetrators.

Along the busy Lea Bridge Road a pile discarded food sparks her suspicion that a nearby take-away might be to blame. "I can phone the council to get it removed, and it will be," she says.

Many of the issues brought to her are small but important to residents, for example she is particularly proud of having got a street that was used as rat run closed to lorries.

Her background as a social worker equipped Elisabeth to become, until recently, vice-chair of the council's children and young people overview and scrutiny committee.

She admits that some councillors preferred the old committee system, feeling that it gave them more power and a degree of specialisation, but she never knew that way of working and says "I think scrutiny does work because we can hold officers and the cabinet to account and get things changed, its not just asking questions."

One example of scrutiny making a difference by developing policy, Elisabeth says, came in the aftermath of the Baby P affair in next-door Haringey, when the council reviewed its social work practice.

"It came up in that hearing that there was a great shortage of social workers," she says. "So we thought, in addition to training for our own staff, why not try to grow our own? It takes three-to-four years' to train in social work, which puts people off because of the cost, but if they are already working for the council we could support them through the training, after which they give us at least three-to-four years of service, so that takes the cost out for them, and saves us from having to recruit abroad." While vice-chair of scrutiny she shared responsibilities with its Liberal Democrat chair James O'Rourke under a power-sharing deal between the two parties, which has seen the cabinet and other posts divided between them. Waltham Forest has had several long spells in no overall control and at present has 25 Labour councillors, 20 Liberal Democrats and 15 Conservatives.

"The council works well, its like we and the Lib Dems are married, though I hope we can get a Labour majority next year," she says.

One place where Labour does enjoy a majority is the west area community committee, which covers Lea Bridge and three adjacent wards. This comprises 12 councillors, who vote on formal business, and is chaired jointly by Elisabeth and the non-councillor chair of the community forum.

"We get £10,000 for the community council to spend and a lot of local people take an interest and come along to discuss what needs to be done in the area," she explains. "Perhaps it would be better to have funds distributed by wards so we would know money could be sent in our own patches".

One recent request was for funds for a local charity that runs a soup kitchen; while unemployment in the area has been relatively low, Elisabeth's surgery has seen the human cost of the recession increase steadily in recent months.

Help may be at hand from the London 2012 Olympic Games, which will take place just outside the ward. Unlike some sceptics, Elisabeth is convinced that the games will bring the area lasting economic benefits as the facilities are used long after 2012.

"Obviously everyone here is very excited by it being so nearby because it will bring jobs, and not just in construction or connected with the games, but, I'm convinced, for the longer term in retail, restaurants and sports which will help to regenerate the area."

The games might also give impetus to a council campaign to reopen the long-defunct Lea Bridge station, on a branch line that links Hertfordshire to Stratford. "Getting that open would really help the area because it is a long way from the tube," she says.

Next year will see elections in the London boroughs, in which Elisabeth hopes to stand again. She has been picking up a few campaigning tips. She spent two weeks in February 2008 in New York campaigning for Barack Obama in the Harlem area.

"It was an amazing experience, they learnt mass canvassing door-to-door from us and we learnt how to use information technology to reach people from them," Elisabeth says. "I was there two weeks and went back as a tourist for his inauguration. That was electrifying, magical, such a wonderful moment. I was really inspired."