Five solar-powered “smart benches” installed throughout Jez’s constituency will be ripped up after the Corbynista politician in charge failed to seek planning permission from her own council. Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington’s Executive Member for Transport and Environment – and pro-Corbyn NEC member – oversaw a project to erect the elaborate high-tech benches in North London. The seats contain phone charging sockets and offer free wi-fi, but also feature a slew of environmental probes which monitor temperature, CO2, humidity and even ambient noise levels. At the time of their installation, Webbe told the Islington Gazette:

“These pioneering Smart Benches offer the best advances in smart technology and we are very pleased Islington is one of the first places in London to trial them. We look forward to seeing how they benefit residents, workers and visitors alike.”

Strawberry Energy, the firm which designed the benches, said their environmental credentials were:

“Especially relevant in support of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s aim to improve the capital’s air quality.”

But Webbe and her colleagues failed to obtain the necessary approvals before works went ahead. Retrospective applications for five out of six benches were rejected last month by Webbe’s own planning department. The taxpayer will meet the cost of ripping them from the ground…

Planning documents reveal the project would probably never gone ahead had permission been sought prior to construction. The Metropolitan Police warned users would be at risk of having their phones stolen and that the benches could be subject to criminal damage. Transport for London objected outright to several of the benches, saying they “add to street clutter in a designated conservation area.” Residents group the Islington Society said they were “a blight on the borough landscape”. Guido has asked the Labour-run council to put a figure on the total cost of the project, including of ripping up the smart benches. Corbynistas lose seats…

Webbe was an early supporter of Corbyn’s leadership bid and worked on Ken Livingstone’s London mayoral campaign. Just this week she gave an interview where she condemned moderate Labour MPs, saying:

“Parliament is so all consuming MPs almost forgot what the real world is about and they had become so believing of their own hype. What was sustaining them was their interaction with the mainstream media and their interactions with big businesses. There is a real world out there. It’s not that they didn’t know austerity was biting and hurting.”

Yet you found the cash to waste on this…