The volunteers who clean up the River Roding come what may got a moment in the sun with this C4 News report.
Getting checked
Someone’s got a new toy.
And yet… the more Wansteadium thinks about the new look for these Redbridge vehicles, the more it feels a bit unnecessary.
The blue and yellow checkerboard marking, known as the Battenburg livery, was developed in the 1990s to make police cars, ambulances and fire engines uniformly recognisable across the country. It’s already been somewhat co-opted by private ambulances, highway management and private security.
Redbridge Neighbourhood Enforcement is responsible for dealing with:
- fly-tipping
- graffiti
- littering
- overgrown front gardens
- illegal advertising
- drinking in places where it’s forbidden by a public spaces protection order
- unlicensed street trading
- some traffic violations including blocking the highway
- other offences – there’s a full list here
But does any of that require looking like an emergency vehicle?
Local election results for Wanstead and Redbridge 2026
Labour has held Redbridge with a reduced majority. The Conservatives remain with five seats, and the Greens also now have five seats for the first time.
Two of those five Greens were elected in Wanstead wards, where familiar Labour councillors Jo Blackman, Daniel Morgan-Thomas and Emma Sheppard-Mallinson will now be joined by Sue Whitehead and Milli Richard-Clack. Congratulations to all the winning candidates.
And a hat tip to another familiar Wanstead figure, Paul Canal, who for the first time in many years was not elected as a councillor – he was standing for a South Woodford seat.
One seat in Hainault was won by a Reform candidate. Full results for all of Redbridge are available here.
Wanstead Village
| BLACKMAN Joanna Clare | Labour Party | 1715 Elected |
| WHITEHEAD Susan Imelda | Green Party Candidate | 1478 Elected |
| MORGAN-THOMAS Daniel Huw | Labour Party | 1415 Elected |
| ALI Md Kabir | Green Party Candidate | 1306 |
| KRISHAN VITHLANI Neal | Labour Party | 1254 |
| TEHSEEN Rabiya | Green Party Candidate | 1230 |
| GITSHAM Mark | Liberal Democrats | 782 |
| SCANNELL Mark Evan | The Conservative Party Candidate | 726 |
| SMITH David | The Conservative Party Candidate | 716 |
| D`ALANNO Corbyn Leon | The Conservative Party Candidate | 683 |
| COLLINS William John | Reform UK | 649 |
| DAVIES David | Reform UK | 621 |
| LEWIS Sharmon | Reform UK | 577 |
| SAIR Humza | Liberal Democrats | 568 |
| UDDIN Mohammed Ohid | Liberal Democrats | 455 |
Wanstead Park
| SHEPHERD-MALLINSON Emma Selina | Labour Party | 1183 Elected |
| RICHARDS CLACK Milli | Green Party Candidate | 1156 Elected |
| GILANI Nadir Iqbal | Green Party Candidate | 1102 |
| MILLER Simon John | Labour Party | 1047 |
| JOYCE Andrew Malcolm | Reform UK | 384 |
| PHOENIX Yit Chan | Reform UK | 353 |
| SMITH Paul Anton | The Conservative Party Candidate | 349 |
| THOM David Alexander | The Conservative Party Candidate | 324 |
| THOMAS Alan Howard | Liberal Democrats | 175 |
| HEPWORTH Neil | Liberal Democrats | 161 |
Wansteadium’s vote goes to…
… a moratorium on bar charts claiming other parties cannot win here.
But seriously, voting is on Thursday. Details are below. Remember you now need to take ID to vote.
Where to vote
Who is standing
Wanstead local elections roundup
Voting for Redbridge Council takes place on Thursday 7 May from 7am to 10pm – in our new five party system it’s become a hotly contested battle. Canvassing and high street stalls have become the order of the day, as have the infamous bar charts which ‘prove’ that one or more parties ‘cannot win here’.
These are the candidates:
Wanstead Village Ward
| Md Kabir Ali | Green Party |
| Jo Blackman | Labour Party |
| William John Collins | Reform UK |
| Corbyn Leon D’Alanno | Conservative and Unionist Party |
| David Davies | Reform UK |
| Mark Gitsham | Liberal Democrats |
| Sharmon Lewis | Reform UK |
| Daniel Huw Morgan-Thomas | Labour Party |
| Humza Sair | Liberal Democrats |
| Mark Evan Scannell | Conservative and Unionist Party |
| David Smith | Conservative and Unionist Party |
| Rabiya Tehseen | Green Party |
| Mohammed Ohid Uddin | Liberal Democrats |
| Neal Krishan Vithlani | Labour Party |
| Sue Whitehead | Green Party |
Wanstead Park Ward
| Milli Richards Clack | Green Party |
| Nadir Iqbal Gilani | Green Party |
| Neil Hepworth | Liberal Democrats |
| Andrew Malcolm Joyce | Reform UK |
| Simon John Miller | Labour Party |
| Yit Chan Phoenix | Reform UK |
| Emma Selina Shepherd-Mallinson | Labour Party |
| Paul Anton Smith | Conservative and Unionist Party |
| David Alexander Thom | Conservative and Unionist Party |
| Alan Howard Thomas | Liberal Democrats |
Details of where you should vote are on your polling card (if you can’t find it but are on the electoral register, YOU CAN STILL VOTE). You can find out where you should vote based on your postcode at this excellent site, wheredoivote.co.uk. Redbridge has information here.
If you don’t know WHO to vote for, that sounds like a you problem. But you will be able to hear from the candidates at a hustings event on Tuesday evening at Wanstead Library.
Wansteadium returns
This website has been on a bit of a work-induced hiatus over the past few months. In that time lots of things have happened which would otherwise have been full-blown posts here… things like Must Wine becoming Can’t Wine. More Italy becoming Zafiro. Hermon Hill being closed for weeks and temporary traffic lights sprouting up everywhere. A TV advert apparently being filmed in someone’s front garden. Rumours that Idris Elba is moving to Wanstead. TV’s Andi Oliver saying in the Guardian that “she loves [Wanstead] so much” because it’s “almost like a little village”. The cafe formerly known as Caesar’s getting another rebranding (actually we might come back to that one). An election candidate for Wanstead Village – yes, Wanstead Village – being exposed in the Times for saying multiple racist things documented here by Hope Not Hate. The second anniversary of Snaresbrook car park standing empty. The Bull getting a serious bit of Ground Force on its front garden. A mysterious green railing being installed on top of Wanstead’s favourite factory. 100 other things besides.
But we’re back now, with a reminder that you can always tell us about things that are going on – just email us at info@wansteadium.com to let us know. You won’t find us on Facebook or Twitter because they are awful companies who do disastrous things to society. But we are on Bluesky, along with some other Wanstead folk. If you have an event you want listed, you can do so here. And if you just want to keep in touch, sign up for our newsletter here.