As we reflect on 2023, Waltham Forest Labour see it as a year of achievements despite challenges. Thankfully we have only had one Prime Minister, but we’ve seen countless changes, scandals and dramas around Westminster to deal with. Meanwhile, your Cabinet team here in Waltham Forest has been focused on delivering for residents in every month and every portfolio. Whilst we want to share some of our achievements, we cannot emphasise enough the difficulties that we now find ourselves in. We received the local government financial settlement this week and yet again it was not enough. The Conservatives have overseen the intentional decline of local government finances over the past thirteen years, and we will ensure voters in Waltham Forest don’t forget that at the ballot box in the various elections in 2024.

But putting that aside, here are some of our biggest achievements of 2023:

In 2023 we:

• Installed 140 Electric vehicle charging point sockets.
• Installed 122 cycle hangars and 4 cycle hubs opened – making it 763 hangars with over 4,500 spaces.
• Collected 4,2 tonnes of coffee pods for recycling – the weight of an adult male hippo! We also recycled over 50,000 mattresses and 18 tonnes of hard plastic.
• Opened Lea Bridge Library extension which has since won multiple awards for its design.
• Supported 1786 people to return home after a stay in hospital.
• Provided 2500 hours of home visits by our Dementia team.
• Have already had 100 visits to the Welcome Hub Migrant Community Drop In since it opened in October.
• Welcomed 1,047 visits to the Early Help Community Drop Ins based in the Family Hubs.
• Had 1400 young people taking part in summer holidays sports programme.
• Supported delivery of around 23,000 seasonal COVID-19 booster doses and around 48,000 seasonal flu vaccinations so far.
• Completed 10,553 Health Checks for residents between 40 and 75.
• Welcomed the Mayor of London for the launch of his primary school free school meals programme.
• Launched 4 family hubs.
• Became a Borough of Sanctuary.
• Opened the new University of Portsmouth in Walthamstow.
• Opened the new Arts Hub at Chingford Station and celebrated Windrush 75 in fantastic style at Fellowship Square.
• Welcomed over 3,000 fans to watch the Lionesses in the World Cup final at Fellowship Square.

We are extremely proud of these achievements, with many more not on this list. We look forward to sharing everything we get up to in 2024.