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Barking and Dagenham councillors paid moving tributes during last week’s full council meeting to serving councillor Lee Waker, who died in July aged 65 after a long battle with cancer. Lee had been a Village ward councillor for over 22 years, having first been elected in May 2002 and was successfully re-elected five more times.
He served on a number of council committees including the Living and Working Select Committee and the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, on which he served as Chair between 2005 and 2014. According to a council statement, Lee enjoyed a lengthy career with the Royal Mail and was a member of the Communications Workers’ Union and had asked for his funeral to be held on a Saturday (September 7) so his Royal Mail colleagues could come and attend without worrying about work the next day.
Councillors paid tribute to Lee during a full council meeting last week (September 18), which was the first full council meeting since Lee had died. Cllr Phil Waker, brother to Lee and also a Village ward councillor, thanked councillors and officers for their support. “Losing a brother is one thing but losing a ward councillor does make that gap that much greater,” he told the council chamber.
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Cllr Waker said: “Many of you will know that his role in building the Dagenham Village Partnership long before he was a councillor was important for the area, fewer will know about his role in pushing forward Beam Country Park.” He went on to say his brother was a driving force behind the Village Ward Labour Party and worked with the Royal British Legion to ensure remembrance activities took place in the borough every year.
Cllr Maureen Worby, cabinet member for adult social care and health integration, said Cllr Waker and his brother Lee were ‘a double act’. She said: “He will be greatly missed, he did keep us all on our toes and I feel for Phil, that double act will stay in my memory for a long time.”
Cllr Andrew Achilleos said: “Lee wasn’t just a councillor, a colleague or even just a comrade, he was our friend. He had an excellent sense of humour and he never failed to have me in hysterics and he lit up a room whenever he was in it. He was very astute and a witty bloke and I’m certainly going to miss him sitting next to me wittering away in meetings like this with his remarks and comments.”
Cllr Achilleos said Lee was ‘Dagenham through and through’ and ‘always fought tooth and nail’ for his community, the Village ward, and for working class people. Cllr Harriet Spoor of Heath ward said Lee had an unwavering commitment to justice and equality.
She said: “Lee was always funny and his humour and compassion touched all that knew him. I think we find ourselves now not only mourning the loss of a colleague, councillor and comrade but also a true friend. To me, Lee will always be the epitome of public service even at a time when he needed to put himself first and I hope that as a chamber we can reflect on Lee’s legacy and continue the values that he cherished and so passionately pursued.”
Lee’s former seat in Village ward is vacant along with that occupied by Margaret Mullane, also formerly of Village ward who resigned from her seat after she became the MP for Dagenham and Rainham in July. A seat in Nortbury ward has also become vacant after Darren Rodwell stepped down from his role as leader of Barking and Dagenham Council and councillor last week.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands the council is still waiting for all three by-elections to be called, so no date has currently been set for them.
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