Newham Council unveils £1m wood and tin “shack” funded by your taxes

Ta-da! Just when you thought Newham Council could not get any worse at squandering public finances and taxes during a time of hardship for many local families, the Council have unveiled their latest offer – drum roll – a glorified wood and tin “shack”, that cost tax papers a whopping £1million. Yes, you heard it here, £1million pounds for replacing two functional canopies, that did not need replacing.

Friends of Queen’s Market ask, “what kind of value is the Council providing to the citizens of Newham?“

_{PHOTO (above): after months of delays, no accountability from officers, and non-stop excuses, the much anticipated new timber canopies have been revealed… resembling, a wood and tin “shack”.}

All decoration and no substance

Tonnes of public money had gone to private consultants who have delivered nothing that local shoppers and traders have asked for. Traders, shoppers, shopkeepers and local people put their trust in the Council and its elected representatives when they say they were cajoled into participating in the co-create process. Where locals asked for a refurbished market roof and flooring, officers reassured them, but now years later they are lumbered with pigeon-netting that pigeons can still get into, credit card toilets, and now this wood and tin monstrosity. The Council’s consultants then hurried this through a planning application. Locals were not told nor signposted to it, and now we are in many ways in a worse position than before, and £1million down. The Council’s co-creation process has been extremely demoralising for those who took part in it, and it has broken trust with citizens whose collective taxes pay for the wages of the decision makers, making a mockery of our public finances.

Read article: “New data has revealed Newham has among the highest number of council bosses paid more than £100,000 in the country” (Newham Recorder, 11th April 2025): https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/25063744.newham-council-sits-near-top-town-hall-rich-list/

“With 46 people, Newham was the borough with the seventh most council staff earning more than £100,000, an increase of six staff from the previous year.”

Read Tax Payers Alliance findings article here (1st April 2025):

https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/town_hall_rich_list_2025

_{ABOVE (extract form the Town Hall Rich List): Newham Council, one of London’s poorest boroughs pays it’s Executives huge salaries, and nobody really knows what they do. Meanwhile, rents for small traders have increased inside of Queen’s Market.}

Friends of Queen’s Market ask: “who chooses these private consultants for Queen’s Market, and are there links to the present cohort of Council’s officers?”

No natural lighting in the new tin and wood “shack”

A long time trader at Queen’s Market said: “Natural light use to come in through the front two canopies of the market, and now there’s no natural lighting coming in. We are at a net loss. Now you have to switch on bright lights, wasting more electricity. This is contrary to what we were promised through the Council’s co-create process. The entire lighting in the market has been a disaster. We have become a laughing stock. This whole public consultation and fake co-create process has been a farce!”

“I am livid. We participated in a process that was prejudicial to begin with (by excluded many local voices), and now we’re stuck with something that didn’t need replacing. This new wooden thing looks clunky, over structured, and pigeons can easily perch underneath it – this will cause further issues. The council could have easily just renovated the old canopies, kept the structure, updated the wood panels, replaced the lighting wells, painted it properly and saved money. Instead they spent months disrupting market trade, blew £1million – and now this? We’ve been kicked in the teeth”, says local shopper of 30 years. “It’s a disgrace on all fronts.”

_{PHOTO (above): Previous canopies allowed natural lighting to enter under the canopies.}

_{PHOTO above: “All that glitters is not gold”. The new wood and tin “shack” does not allow natural light to penetrate underneath.}

Private contractors go bust

In amongst all of the delays, we were told that the private consultants William Floyd Maclean (appointed by Conway) who built the timber “shack” have gone bust. They left the job early, and this caused further delays for the traders and disrupted our local shopping patterns. In every other professional sector we have due diligence – where is it inside of Newham Council and Queen’s Market?

_{IMAGE (above): Development timeline from Newham Council made promises that did not deliver. The full works appear to have taken over 2 years longer. Normally, this level of delay for such a scale of project would be considered unacceptable. We did not see any of Executives on high wages fired, did you? [Source: Queens Market Overview Briefing Paper, page 7]}

If the Council’s co-creation website is anything to go by, delays appear to be throughout. The co-creation process cost Newham £3.1million of public funds, with the total of £7.3million coming through the Mayor of London and Greater London Assembly’s office via a “Good Growth” fund topped up by Newham Council, but there’s nothing “good” about it! “The information on the co-create website does not look up to date, so it is false information and should be taken down”, says one local trying to navigate the website.

_{PHOTO (above): What’s the point of spending £millions when in practice it’s not worked well? Pigeon feathers litter the new netting, so no different from before. Traders and shoppers ask, has general maintenance improved? We don’t think so.}

Many locals see nothing good about paying private consultants from outside of the borough, while local food rates are hiked through increase in market rates to pay the likes of One Source, a corporate wing of Newham Council.

Newham is claiming it’s on the brink of bankruptcy after finding a £157million deficit in its accounts

Well, we can see that it’s been going to these overpaid officers, and these fancy projects that promises mountains and delivers molehills, whilst lining the pockets of consultants from outside of the borough.

“Significant value for money weaknesses” at Newham Council

After all of this, the UK Government has stepped in and is now monitoring Newham Council over concerns at how ‘broke’ town hall is run – read article below (9 May 2025, Evening Standard article):

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/government-intervenes-newham-council-concerns-tax-finances-b1226621.html

So, Newham Council has also fallen short of its Best Value Duty. That’s the duty to the People of Newham – that means they are failing you and me!

Statement from the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

“…significant issues need addressing at pace [by Newham Council] to avoid future failure… The councils are expected to continue driving their own recovery and are requested to engage with the department for assurance of improvement. The notices will be in place for 12 months, after which progress will be reviewed.”

You get best value at Queen’s Market

_{PHOTO (above): fresh produce at Queen’s Market. The Council’s corporate wing called One Source have put market rent prices up, with the cost falling on hard-working local families during a cost-of-living crisis.}

Sadly, Newham Council is scheming behind the scenes to demolish Queen’s Market, that’s still under threat from privatisation and luxury flats that locals cannot afford.

_{PHOTO (above): At the end of April, FoQM members met with a Newham Council Senior Development Manager from “Regeneration and Housing Delivery” and another development manager. We had to remind them that it’s the markets that’s the priority here, not luxury flats. When asked if they knew about the well overdue Newham Markets Strategy, they looked none the wiser.}

The evidence of the last few years shows that Newham Council has many other plans to take the market from under us, and was holding many consultations that did not included local people. The UK planning system continues to prioritise the needs of private developers, holding meeting and lobbying behind closed doors, while using tax payers funds.

Friends of Queen’s Market and others have recently piled on the pressure to safeguard the market and signed a letter to the directly-elected Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz – read extracts below:

“… We ask you to drop the ‘two options’ for Queens Market (currently under assessment) Both envisage provision of luxury housing on the site which will inevitably entail demolition of existing market structures like the shops round the market, the kiosks in the market, and /or the ‘compound’ (that’s the structure in Rochester Avenue where traders park store their vital bulk purchases)

We believe that the market does not need redevelopment: Any shortcomings can be addressed by proper maintenance, an improved management regime and the democratic delivery of the improved flooring and lighting for which the Council has already received the money.”

_{IMAGE (above): The devil in in the detail. The two options remain on the cards for Newham Council, the Mayor and public officers. Under the word “modernise” what they really mean is to demolish and destroy the current historic Queen’s Market, making £millions for wealthy others outside of the borough, while destroying the food source and community space for thousands of local families.}

_{IMAGE (above): “All that glitters is not gold”: a well-known proverb that means not everything that looks attractive or valuable is actually so. It warns against being fooled by appearances and suggests that true worth should be evaluated beyond superficial qualities, so any hollow promises made by the likes of Newham Council’s private consultants must be scrutinised at all levels.}

_{PHOTO (above): no amount of multi-colour paint is going to cover up the broken windows. Don’t be fooled by Newham Council’s cheap decorations. Friends of Queen’s Market are here to ensure the market stays in the community’s hands.}

Incase you missed it, Newham’s directly-elected Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz recently took her own Council to court and got a payout on grounds of “race and sex discrimination”. Read more here: https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/employment/395-employment-news/59525-london-borough-and-elected-mayor-agree-settlement-of-discrimination-claim

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/democracy/government/local-government/69712/ndas-newham-council-rokhsana-fiaz

Something is increasingly awry at Newham Council… have you got the bottom of it?

Delays in the Good Growth delivery beckons Mayor of London’s office

This week, an area manager from the Mayor of London’s office and the Greater London Authority (GLA) visited Queen’s Market (21/01/2025) with a community-led envoy of shoppers, traders and shopkeepers at hand to tell the truth about their experiences regarding the fast disappearing Good Growth funds, that promised so much, but simply delivered cheap decorations!

The envoy including Friends of Queen’s Market, representatives from the traders association and independent shoppers who walked around the market with the GLA area manager and a Newham Council manager for an hour. Local people were visibly frustrated with the terribly slow progress with the Good Growth fund amounting to £7.3million, saying that that they have been ‘kept in the dark’ by public officers, and to add salt to injury, Newham’s “digital divide” a.k.a. Co-create website wasted another £3.1million. When asked about the money re-directed from Queen’s Market to suddenly “save” Stratford’s Market Village (formally Inshops), the manager from Newham Council described the re-directed £700,000 as a “small amount” – seems like a big number to us, seeing as the Council have recently announced near bankruptcy, and wanting to increase Council Tax by a whopping 10% – WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS ABOUT THE PUBLIC FINANCES, WE ASK ?

Friends of Queen’s Market meet with the GLA and Council for a ‘reccy’ of the works to date

The fact that there is no new roofing nor improved flooring to date, despite the early promises is an absolute travesty.

The terribly ineffective Con-sultation process and money allocated to deliver the outcomes was raised with the GLA manager, as was the 11 consultations that took place at one time for Queen’s Market – local people were left confused throughout the entire process. Behind the fake consultation façade, the Council was scheming to demolish our historic market, and to pile on luxury flats that locals cannot afford in a lifetime. “The Council have their own contractors, so there’s no way in. It’s like a closed shop, it’s their way or the highway”, said Jamshed, a local trades person.

The lighting that fails to light anything effectively was described as “substandard” and of “poor quality” by the traders association representative. “Millions were spent without asking anybody”, said one shopper visiting from North East London. It transpires now that further lighting will be added by the Council – what about reimbursing the lighting bills for the traders?

The pigeon-netting still allows pigeons in, and structural fabric of the market building has not been improved – see photographs below:

Cheap lick of paint cannot **cover up** the state of the shop windows – is this really what was “co-created” ?

The Market Manager who was also present during the walk around appeared to shrug off genuine concerns, and gave ‘off-the-peg’ answers to what were basic maintenance issues. “It’s so frustrating to communicate with management, who are always first to cover their backs and play the Blame Game, but never do the right thing. We’re not asking for much”, said a shopper.

A hole in the ground that visitors almost tripped into

The community-led envoy told the listening GLA area manager that procurement took an extraordinary long time, and that works were due to be completed in May 2023. We’re almost 2 years over schedule. There’s the markets department, asset management, highways, planning department, property service (One Source) and carpark departments to get through, so decision-making takes too long, and to the detriment of the community and the market traders.

“It’s like a game of Russian dolls inside the Council. We’re told to speak with this department, this head, that officer, that new department – where is the accountability?”

_{Image (above): Dealing with Newham Council is like a “game of Russian Dolls” say locals [Image source: goldencockerel.com]}

The aggressive and annoying loud tannoy that blares out warnings to shoppers about pickpockets fails to welcome visitors to the market. Instead it puts people off from visiting. This is counter to any marketing strategy in the United Kingdom – “We’ve never seen anything like it. [Market] Management appear clueless”, said another local shopper. (The tannoy announcement appeared to have been switched off during the hour-long GLA visit, and then switched back on afterwards).

^{Photograph (above): Eagle-eyed volunteers at Friends of Queen’s Market showed the GLA and Newham Council managers what local people were presented with at stage 1 of the Co-create process, and what they are now being lumbered with.}

“We’ve never seen business this bad. Trade is down. The Council just don’t care, and cannot see how months of disruption affects us. We want to be respected by the Council. Right now, we’re being treated sub-human”, said one longtime trader.

The GLA area manager and Council manager admitted that certain promises from the Good Growth fund have not been delivered adequately and that decisions had changed from the first instance. They said that they will encourage better communication on Queen’s Market with the community and traders, and chase up the current status of the Good Growth expenditure to hasten its delivery. Well, we’ve waited long enough!

^{Photograph (above): the community-led envoy at Hamara Ghar Square, located next to Queen’s Market. Traders say that their ideas were not integrated into the final renovation of the square, and that maintenance is woefully negligent.}

^{CLICK TO VIEW the video (above): In September 2024, FoQM made a request to the Mayor of London’s office through Zoë Garbett, Green Party assembly member. The current Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said that he would visit the market to see how the Good Growth funds have been used – or squandered, as we’ve seen so far.}

And to top it off, the lighting in the carpark is practically none existent. It’s so dark after 4pm that it’s scaring shoppers away…

Photo (above): The Queen’s Market carpark where a trader recently counted only “1 light of 36 working” [Source: QM trader]

NEWSFLASH (21/02/2025): We never give up! at last, two sort-of wins In the fight to save and improve the market….

The tannoy now welcomes people to the market as well as going on about pickpockets and thieves (the welcome is only in English: wot no inclusivity?)
Newham’s “digital divide” Co-create website has been updated for the first time in months. It says that there is an ‘internal review’ of the two ‘demolish and develop ‘ options for the market’s future. And they actually invite ‘residents with immediate concerns’ to email them on HFGfuturestrategy@newham.gov.uk

So if you are a resident, trader or market shopper and if you are concerned by the threat of luxury flats on the market site: if you have questions about the Council’s less-than-transparent dealings with our market, why not email in and ask. If you like you could copy in friendsofqueensmarket@yahoo.co.uk so we can monitor public concerns. The council even promises to put ‘relevant’ responses on the website. FoQM says don’t hold your breath!

Online Legal Workshop for independent traders

Are unfair tactics and hidden clauses in your lease threatening your small business?

Friends of Queen’s Market (Newham) have partnered with leading campaigns from across London to present a LEGAL WORKSHOP for Traders, Shop Keepers, and Independent Small Business Owners.

Date: Monday, 3rd June 2024
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Online via Zoom

This workshop is a chance to ask questions, connect, and to learn from experts at Landmark Chambers about your commercial leases.

There will be time for general questions, but to ensure yours is addressed, please email them in advance to sarah@latinelephant.org

LONDON’S INDEPENDENT TRADERS: STRONGER TOGETHER.

Mayday, Mayday, Council trying to pull a fast one

Questionable data used by Council tries to justify demolition of Queen’s Market

Despite the 6,000+ signatures from our public petition and £millions spent from the Good Growth Fund to refurbish aspects of the market, Newham Council’s planning department have decided to continue with their plans to pile on other uses onto the historic 125 year old Queen’s Market.

The two new options under the title ‘Queen’s Market & Hamara Ghar Investment Strategy Study’ shows new plans for the historic market and for the older people’s homes (Hamara Ghar) located next door to the market. Hamara Ghar includes longtime residents who rely on the market for fresh affordable culturally appropriate food, cloth, clothes and home stuff, not forgetting it being an important social space for them also.

Image above: latest plans earmark Queen’s Market for other uses with the market not being a central priority in the “future vision” that’s being decided behind closed doors.

Council trying to pull the wool over our eyes

The Council’s “dodgy” consultations data and ‘bullheaded’ approach means they have ignored local needs despite spending £3million+ for a Co-create website that local people find difficult to access. This is our collective public money being wasted for their ‘experiments’ during a time of hardship for local families. Inside the Cabinet Report, it states: “The Council will enable every resident to live in an accessible and inclusive neighbourhood which will provide all their social, civic and economic essentials” – well, Queen’s Market already provides this, so why is the Council wasting time and public officer efforts to demolish Queen’s Market? Have the publicly-paid officers got nothing better to do with their time?

FoQM have carefully scoured the plans on the table and see many contradictions in the Councils plans that will decimate the vibrancy of the current historic market and the important social space for many. The Council regeneration department have proved time and time again that THEY CANNOT GIVE ANY REASSURANCES THAT THE MARKET WILL SURVIVE ANY REGENERATION PLANS – see poor old Rathbone Market in Canning Town that has sadly been turned into a lifeless car park.

Images above (3): Locals have said time and time again that they want Queen’s Market to be retained and protected, but Newham Council doesn’t appear to know what meaningful dialogue is.

A “future vision” that ignores the wishes of local people

Some of these consultation plans say “Refurbish and modernise” which when we last checked means to spruce a place up and give it a lick of paint, not to DEMOLISH THE MARKET COMPLETELY AND SMOTHER IT with a health/community centres, reduced storage for stall holders, tall towers, workspace etc. with the market taking less priority.

If the nearby Boleyn Grounds is anything to go by, we reckon the flats, health centre and host of other uses being plonked onto Queen’s Market will include LUXURY UNAFFORDABLE FLATS FOR THE ALREADY WEALTHY and even a PRIVATISED MARKET that will ‘zap up’ money that should otherwise go to local people, to local shop owners, local jobs to local families. Queen’s Market is Newham’s most successful public-owned market that subsidises the borough’s other markets, so we know it makes revenue for the Council.

A long-time shopper Nehar said: “Why can’t they [the Council] just leave Queen’s Market be? It’s a proper market that provides for me and my family. The Council seem to want to destroy anything that’s good for us.”

Another local person who has shopped at Queen’s Market for over 35 years says: “During the last consultation [in 2022] I witnessed a Council person (describing themselves as a Translator) say to a family who came along to the consultation: “You want the market to stay, don’t you?”, and then hurriedly tick Option 2 on behalf of the family. It didn’t look like the Translator even knew the difference between both the options. People were given a Hobson’s Choice”.

Image above : British film ‘Hobson’s Choice, 1954. A Hobson’s choice is when you’re given the impression of choosing from multiple options, but in reality, there’s only one available. A well-known example is “Take it or leave it,” where leaving isn’t really a favourable choice.

There is mounting evidence that Newham Council’s data is dangerously wrong and misleading in order to push through demolition/regeneration, and we reckon a privatisation agenda.

Image above : Friends of Queen’s Market critique on the Council’s data presentation (in bright yellow colour). Local reports say that the Council and private consultants boards mentioned ““Refurbish and modernise” but it actually meant demolition.

The dates for the upcoming in-person consultations in May 2024 are as follows:

12-3pm on Thursday 16th, Friday 17th, Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th May 2024. Outside unit 12 & 13 at Queen’s Market.

5pm-8pm on Wednesday 21st May 2024 at Green Street Library.

12-3pm on Wednesday 28th May 2024 at Katherine Road Community Centre.

5pm-8pm on Thursday 30 May 2024 at Plaistow Library.

Be sure to pop by, take detailed notes and drop FoQM an email about your experience.

Hold the public officers accountable: our collective taxes pay for their jobs! We do not want to see our main food source and social space, the historic Queen’s Market demolished.

Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveals underspend

The Good Growth fund appears to have been allocated to someplace else without consultation

Newham Council’s failure with the “co-create” process saw £3million+ of public funds (wasted on a website that nobody can navigate properly) resulted in hefty payments to private consultants, and a failure to consult traders and shoppers at Queen’s Market properly. It appears that traders and well-meaning citizens who have had to endure the arduous co-create process, struggling through endless (boring) online meetings have been further ignored – SORRY PEOPLE, LOOKS LIKE THERE’S NO NEW FLOORING FOR QUEEN’S MARKET – so much for a new kind of citizenship.

After months and years of what was to be meaningful dialogue, it appears Newham Council has simply co-created the pigeon netting.

_{Photo above: the “co create” process has resulted in new pigeon netting, designed to keep pigeons out – hang on, is that a family of pigeons we see inside the netting?}

The lack of thoughtful understanding, imagination, willpower or care for the borough’s assets by the Council has meant an underspend of over £1million that was secured to improve Queen’s Market, a grant given by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Mayor of London’s office under the Good Growth fund.

A sitting Councillor recently stated the following: “Following weeks of research and negotiation a solution was found. Newham Council was able to obtain £700,000 from the GLA’s Good Growth Fund which was to be returned as it wasn’t required by the Council’s Queen’s Market scheme for which it was previously destined.” (Source: Newham 65 blog. 8 April 2024)

SO it appears that Newham Council, Newham’s Mayor, GLA member and certain opportunistic Councillors have reallocated Queen’s Market’s budget to another recent embarrassment for the Council – to Stratford Market Village, a semi-privatised entity. For those who don’t know, Stratford Market Village (formally Inshops located inside Stratford Centre) was closed on January 10th where traders were forced to vacate with just 1 hour’s notice: traders say fresh goods and meat were left rotting inside of storage. This follows on from historic handovers of public property to private companies from Stratford Centre, Groupe Geraud UK, Stratford Market Properties Limited and Unex Group: the process of rampant privatisation started by Newham Council has meant the traders were left with next to no safeguards in their trading contracts.

While Friends of Queen’s Market support the traders and plight of Stratford’s Market Village traders, we think the lack of transparency and DECISIONS BEING MADE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS has meant that Queen’s Market has been left short-changed: it’s believed that £700k from the Good Growth fund has been reallocated without consultation, and is a “kick in the teeth” of those residents and traders who took part in the co create process that was to deliver better quality flooring and other improvements at Queen’s Market.

FoQM know that Queen’s Market makes profits that pay for local jobs eg. look at the huge number of market inspectors, and Queen’s often subsidises other street markets in the borough, but here is a classic example of Newham Council repackaging its failures as a success.

_{Images above (2): Flyers from the Stratford Market Village campaign go to explain a non-existent Olympics Legacy in Stratford and a land grab ie. privatisation of public land for private developers who are “making a killing” as locals live in adverse poverty and neglect by their own public servants, paid for by their collective taxes.}

_{Photo above: QUICK TO TAKE THE CREDIT. Traders at Stratford’s Market Village were unsure of who to thank for the reopening of their businesses as not everyone was told that the money was coming from the Queen’s Market Good Growth budget.}

Through Citizens Assemblies local people were to co-create something, but the process was accused of being overly complicated and excluded local people. Recently this was repackaged under the new banner of “People Powered Places” – same charade, different guise.

_{Photo above: disempowered-looking Stratford Market Village traders who have experienced major disruptions to their family businesses during a cost-of-living crisis, while Newham Council continues to toy around with public finances – that’s our collective taxes they’re playing with!}

While Newham Council repackages its failures as a success, its Queen’s Market they have forgotten to thank.

Unfair rent rises + budget meeting shambles

On a wet Thursday 29 February Friends of Queen’s Market, their supporters including the Stratford Market Village traders held a demonstration at the Old Town Hall against rent rises that are due to increase at Queen’s Market by around 6.5%. “It’s well over inflation and we haven’t seen any improvements nor benefit to the market traders” said one longtime trader at Queen’s Market.

FoQM were there to also show solidarity with the Stratford Market Village traders who had spent months without a job as their family businesses was forcefully closed, where meat and fresh goods perished having not been allowed access.

The Mayor of Newham begun the budget meeting somewhat blaming the public gallery and their political oppositions for all sorts including for sending Tweets (!). Like most Council meetings these days they are full of endless platforming of the Councillors, and it was very boring for most people who attended. The public were only able to speak for a few minutes each, and the frustration overspilled. Newham is one of the poorest boroughs in UK with families experiencing adverse poverty, so naturally the expenditure and public budget affects these communities acutely. There were to be cutbacks in spending and public services. Where local people were given hardly any chance to speak, the Council decided to eject the public gallery from the budget meeting. An FoQM member witnessed hard-handed aggression from the security guards against visitors, including one person who said that their wrist had been twisted by the security.

“We are not even allowed to witness democracy in Newham without being treated like criminals”, said a local resident whose first time it was to a budget meeting.

Following the meeting, we are told that a few local activists were arrested under what sounds very much like false allegations. FoQM saw no major disruption at all, nor targeting of any individuals, instead the public gallery witnessed a sitting Councillor riling up the audience each time they got up to speak.

_{Photo above: LIGHTS LEFT ON at Stratford’s Old Town Hall while local people have to suffer from cutbacks to public services and increase in energy bills.}

_{Photo above: Campaigns join forces to send a message of NO CUTBACKS. Any budget shortfalls will affect the Newham’s hard-working communities the most.}