Newham is ‘filthy’ - claim by Cllr Jeffrey Tucker during Havering Council cabinet meeting

Newham has “filthy” streets and unwashed windowpanes, a councillor said during this week’s cabinet meeting.

Cllr Jeffrey Tucker expressed concern about the merger of Newham and Havering Council’s back office services, saying: “You walk round the streets of Havering and we have clean streets, good shops, good housing stock and a well run council.

“But Newham’s streets aren’t clean like our streets. Their shops are open all hours [with] no control.

“Our residents understand we have to take our curtains down and wash our windows, but go around Newham and look at some of their curtains and they’re stuck to the windows. You look at the streets and they are filthy. You look at the shops and they aren’t clean like our shops.”

Leader Cllr Michael White said the cuts would not affect front-line services, but Cllr Tucker insisted back-office staff were the “backbone” of council functions like street cleaning, education and social services.

“We are putting our well run council at risk,” he concluded.

Cllr White said there were “real issues around deprivation” in parts of Newham but did not pass comment on the cleanliness of the borough’s windows.