Ahsan, Saima and Mark with Ken Livingstone

Cllr Saima Mahmud was born in Waltham Forest and has lived in the Hoe Street ward for 31 years. She attended the local Walthamstow School for Girls at the time that it was celebrating its centenary and has many fond memories of growing up in the local area. She is now a Governor of her old school.

She is a dedicated full-time local councillor who cares a great deal about her local community. Since becoming a ward councillor in 2006, Saima has been keeping herself busy trying to ensure that the Council is continually improving the services it provides to local people. As vice-chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (2008-2009) she tried to ensure that scrutiny committees played a more effective and principal role in scrutinising Cabinet decisions before they were actually made in order to bring more transparency to the decision-making process.

Saima was re-elected in May 2010 and served as the Cabinet Member for Housing and Development and for Children and Young People’s Services. She is now the Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Committee.

Cllr Mark Rusling is a local campaigner who stands up for the people of Hoe Street ward. He is a Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor. He works as a political adviser to David Lammy MP and is a member of the Unite trade union. Living locally, he understands the problems that affect people in the ward and sees crime and the environment as his two priorities.

He said: “Waltham Forest is already one of the greenest boroughs in London, but we’ve got to make sure that the council provides public recycling bins and better facilities for local businesses to recycle. I get annoyed when our streets aren’t properly cleaned – we need to make sure that every street is cleaned at least once a week.”

Mark attends the Hoe Street Police Safer Neighbourhood Panel, Asian Centre Management Committee and is a Governor of St Mary’s Church of England Primary School on The Drive. He is concerned about crime in the ward – particularly burglaries, car crime and problems with dangerous dogs.

Mark was elected as a Labour and Co-operative councillor for Hoe Street ward in May 2010 and served as the Junior Cabinet Member for Employment between 2010 and 2012. He is now the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Corporate Resources.

Cllr Ahsan Khan was born and raised in Waltham Forest. He studied at Warwick Boys School and Sir George Monoux College. He is married with a daughter. He is active in the local community and has worked with several charitable organisations. These experiences have given him an insight into how to get the best out of central government, and how government can work effectively with charities to improve our community.

He has also worked alongside Fast Forward Grants and Sports England, encouraging young people within Waltham Forest to participate in CV workshops and interview techniques. Currently he is head of youth training at Anglo Asian Sports and holds a fitness class aimed at young people on Thursdays at the Asian Centre on Orford Road.

Ahsan was elected as a councillor for Hoe Street ward in May 2010 and served as the Junior Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change, as well as sitting on the Board of Ascham Homes and serving as a Governor of Church Hill Nursery School. He contributed to the council’s anti-gang strategy and is now the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.