The Greens won 31 seats in the Waltham Forest council election, leaving Labour on 15 and taking a clear lead in the borough’s 60-seat council. The count began at Waltham Forest Assembly Hall after voters chose between 291 candidates on 7th May.
The result gives the Greens 14 councillors and included their first ever council seat in Waltham Forest, won during the count in Cathall. Labour was seeking to hold its majority at the town hall, but the ward-by-ward results moved control toward the Greens.
Cathall and Upper Walthamstow
Cathall delivered one of the clearest changes. Aisha Abubakar held a seat for Labour, while Naheed Asghar was unseated. Rachel Susan Barrat won the most votes with 872, and Thomas-Hugh Macinnes came fourth with 728. Cathall is a two member ward, and turnout there was 31.63%.
In Upper Walthamstow, Yusuf Patel retained his seat for Labour with 1,162 votes and Caramel Quin also held on with 1,290. The Greens took the other two places there, with Lyssa Barber on 828 votes and Rbeeza Mobeen on 749.
Lea Bridge and Markhouse
The Greens also put up strong numbers in Lea Bridge, where Liz Biggs won 2,433 votes, Solene Fabios won 2,236 and Rosie Rowlands won 2,304. In Markhouse, Chanté Syreena Johnson won 1,170 votes and Johar Khan won 1,368, while Sharon Waldron came third with 1,159 and lost her seat.
Labour held Wood Street, where Stephanie Lynne Talbut won 1,270 votes, Richard Charles Sweden won 1,284 and Charlie Loveday came third with 1,248. The Conservatives held Endlebury, where Roy Berg won 1,709 votes and Emma Best, the Conservative leader, held her seat with 1,695.
Higham Hill and Endlebury
The Greens picked up a further two seats in Higham Hill, while Labour retained one seat there. Tony Bell held his seat in Hale End with 1,384 votes, and Rosalind Anne Doré held her seat in Highams Park South with 1,365. The borough’s final council balance now leaves the Greens ahead of Labour by 16 seats.
For residents, the result now sets the make-up of every council decision taken in Waltham Forest’s chamber. The names that survived the count, and the seats the Greens added in ward after ward, will shape who speaks for the borough when councillors next meet.
