I assume that it’s just that we’re the 30th but I prefer to think the IOC thinks that the 2012 games will be EXTREME.

IOC page on the XXX Olympiad

That’ll be the Queen then, $deity bless her:

The Queen visited the site of the 500-acre Olympic Park, the centrepiece of London’s 2012 Games, saying it was “exciting” and “fascinating”.

A variety of sporting facilities, including an 80,000-seat stadium, will be built in Stratford, east London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4333378.stm

I really must get around to doing a write up of my journey with a map overlay. I’m sure I go slap bang through the middle of it all. I’ve just emailed off for one of these ‘walk the bid‘ guides, so that should be a good place to start.

Realted:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4333378.stm
http://www.london2012.org/en/

Dear Friend

Street Survey- Clarendon and Bulwer Roads

Sunday 9th October saw your ward councillors out and about in Clarendon and Bulwer Roads, knocking on resident’s doors and asking them if they had any concerns, problems or issues, which they wanted to raise.

We had a very good response and have picked up a number of issues from fly- tipping, noisy and disruptive HMO’s, through to individuals problems with landlords. We also got some really good and positive feedback on the weekly recycling initiative, the programme of pavement refurbishment and the steady improvements in general street cleaning.

We try and get round and knock on as many residents doors as possible in between all the elections that go on, although it does take time to get round to every door! And if your not in we can’t guarantee we’ll knock again, so we leave a calling card, for you to contact us to arrange a visit. We aim to do this on Friday afternoons and late Sunday mornings, to try and ensure we get a good mixture of residents at home.

Hopefully we will see you soon!

Cavendish Drive Area Local Safety Scheme

Your ward councillors are pleased that this scheme has again been submitted for funding from Transport for London. Your local Ward Councillors first asked for this scheme after resident representations some years ago. Hopefully once funding has been secured consultation will take place with residents as to what kind of developments they want to make their streets safer. Measures might include for example speed cushions and speed tables, mini roundabouts, chicaning and build outs.

Roads that might be included in the scheme include Cavendish Drive, Scarborough, Southwest, Drayton, Bulwer, Clarendon, Wallwood and Fairlop Roads.

Contact is hopeful that this year we will be successful, but in the meantime we have secured some funding to install mini roundabouts at the Bulwer Road and Wallwood Road junctions with Fairlop Road, which will shortly be consulted on.

Church Lane Footbridge

Your ward councillors have approached and are currently lobbying to secure cameras for this much used but much-feared footbridge. The initial indications are that Transport for London may well fund cctv cameras for this bridge, as well as for Dyers Hall and Langthorne Road pedestrian bridges.

Dog-Waste Bins

After a meeting brokered and arranged by your ward councillors, between LBWF and the Corporation of London we have secured 6 new dog waste bins for key entrance and exit points to Epping Forest around the Hollow Ponds, Whipps Cross Road and Green Man Roundabout areas.

Snooker Hall

The Planning Committee agreed an application for a Snooker Hall on the High Road in the summer. Following suggestions from your local councillors they imposed a planning condition that the Snooker Hall (which is on the first-floor) should have full disabled access. The Snooker Hall is now almost ready to open and has also applied for an alcohol license, under the old licensing laws, which would only last until the 23rd November, as it is being applied for to the Magistrates Court. However, we are concerned that there is no sign of the access for disabled people. Furthermore local residents have not been consulted by the Magistrates Court about the alcohol license. We are looking into this and will keep you informed.

Mornington Road Traffic Gate

Unfortunately someone in the Bushwood area seems to be opposed to this gate, as they keep cutting the chain which keeps the gate closed. A number of residents have brought this to our attention and we have arranged for an internal lock to be fitted, as soon as possible.

Lamppost Fly Posting

Your ward councillors have had enough of all forms of fly posting in Leytonstone. However there is an increasing number of people and organisations who are advertising by attaching their posters and adverts to lamppost’s. This weekend we went out to record and document the organisations and take them down ourselves.

We removed a significant number of commercial adverts which were attached to Leytonstone lampposts. These adverts covered a range of issues including bedsit’s to rent, barbecue parties, moneymaking schemes and even psychic healing! The information will be passed onto council officers to consider taking appropriate action, against the offending organisations.

We have also ensured that our street sweepers are equipped with the tools to do this job as well.

Lincolns

As you may have already heard Lincolns have managed to hold onto their license under the new rules due to come into affect from November. Your ward councillors have worked continuously with local residents to build the case against the managers of this establishment and with the police also recommending we reject the application for a license we were convinced we would win. However the controversial local Lib Dem Chair of the Licensing Committee (the same one who chose to ignore residents and councillors concerns over Zulus and represents the ward that includes Cotton Close and Ferndale Road) and the Conservative member decided to ignore the crucial police advice and voted to allow the pub to stay open.

This was after the police had suggested that serious and dangerous events would continue to occur at this establishment which too date have included a serious knifing incident and a number of people being bottled, this is on top of the vast array and constant stream of anti- social behaviour emanating from the premises. The police stated that the only way to end the problems was to close the pub down. They said that the proposals coming forward from the management of the pub to deal with the problems were clearly too little too late.

Your ward councillors will continue to work with local residents and the police to maintain our community inspired partnership in the face of the continued criminal and anti social behaviour resulting from this pub.

The one glimmer of hope is that the Queens Counsel representing Lincolns on seeing the strength of feeling stacked up against the pub panicked and decided at the 11th hour to withdrew the late license request, as a concession and that from late November at least the pub will close at 11pm Mon- Sat and 10.30pm on a Sunday.

We say why not start closing at 11pm now?

Can we once again also pay tribute to the dedication and resilience of residents who have put so much time and effort into this campaign.

We will continue to keep you posted on all developments and at the time of writing we are still waiting to hear as to whether they still intend to go through with the original and outstanding appeal to the Crown Court, the decision of which would only stand until the 23rd November.

Trees

As reported in RR 13 we have secured some extra funding to replace missing and damaged street trees in Leytonstone. We are also hoping that we can plant a significant number of trees on the grass verges along Gainsborough Road and in the shrub beds along Grove Green and Kingswood Roads. We are just awaiting these sites to be given the all clear.

Wanstead Flats Consultation

Thank you to those residents who submitted ideas and suggestion for inclusion in our response to the consultation. Amongst the suggestions we put forward on your behalf were-

• More litter and dog waste bins;
• More sport facilities;
• A well lit walking/ jogging route around the Flats;
• A children’s playground;
• A proper mountain bike course/ route;
• More events rather than just fairs and the circus eg specialist markets;
• Better maintenance of existing footpaths, including cutting back bushes to provide decent sight lines etc;
• Better habitat conservation;
• And a name change- Wanstead Heath, seemed to have been the preferred option!
• Get the cattle back on the Flats asap!

Community Councils

Waltham Forest Community Councils have been given a ‘Best Practise’ stamp of approval by the local government organisation the Improvement and Development Agency. In their latest publication they include a significant and very positive article on Waltham Forest’s approach to Community Councils.

Zulus

A well-attended Saturday morning meeting saw residents and your ward councillors discuss how they would continue to take the campaign forward. A diary sheet has been designed and has been sent out to residents in Harvey and Burghley Roads. The sheet can also be sent electronically. The sheets need to be returned to Clyde’s office so that we can collate information about the numerous and various incidents, which are blighting resident’s lives.

The sheet also contains the keys numbers for the key organisations which residents must also log their complaints with.

Please let us know whether you would like a sheet to log complaints emanating from Zulus or whether we need to include other roads and streets.

Pavement Works

Good to see Leytonstone pavements benefiting from the £2m programme of pavement refurbishment across the Borough.

Fairlop and Lister Roads are the latest to benefit. Your ward councillors lead the lobby to secure this significant and much needed investment in our local pavements, to make them safer for residents of all ages.

491 Gallery

Your ward councillors have been in contact with the organisers of this venue recently, after a number of complaints about late night noise, from parties held at the Gallery.

The organisers have come back to us to say that they plan to change the activities being held at this venue. They plan to stop the late night parties and club events and instead plan to create a number of workshop and incubator room facilities for local artists, in order to give them an affordable base, in which to practise and launch their artistic careers. They also plan to display more art, in a more formal gallery setting.

This is great news, as this will be a great contribution to the local community. The Gallery also tell us that they are about to sign a formal leasing agreement with Transport for London, who owns the site.

Key Worker Housing

It’s good to see that current housing developments in Leytonstone including the Matalan Car Park site, the former Esso garage site and the old Alcan site are all including key worker and shared ownership housing opportunities within their developments.

…and over to you …any problems? Any issues?
Don’t forget to forward Leytonstone neighbours, friends and families e-mail address’s to us so that they can be copied into this report.

Cheers

Cllr Clyde Loakes, Cllr Marie Pye, Cllr Jenny Gray

http://www.leytonstonelabour.org.uk/

The next meeting is at the Epicentre on the 21st Nov, see you there.

*well, the web actually

Related:
Leytonstone Community Council
Earle Martin’s Leytonstone Blog

It was hosted by O’s fan Bob Mills and was a really good laugh. We had to wait ages to get a beer and so were trying to get to our seats when Bob came on to start the show. I manged to narowly avoid being ridiculed for my tight(ish) white T-Shirt thanks to Karl going first and Bob picking up on his “Squirrel on your head” hair (Karl has a bushy pony tail).

There were two acts who both did about 1/2 hr each. I went to the Bow Jongleurs recently and the acts were nowhere near as good as the two we saw last night. I forget their names but the second was local to the area and you could see that he really enjoyed angling his gig towards taking the piss out of local things, e.g. pound shops and the Channel tunnel rail link ending at Stratford.

I downed a bottle of Leyton Orient branded red wine and was obviously slightly pished as I bought the empty bottle home.

If they do another one then we’ll definitely be going.

http://www.jongleurs.com/
http://www.leytonorient.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Advertising/0,,10439~701383,00.html

Lincolns

The Crown Court Appeal hearing by Lincolns will be heard on 27th and 28th October at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

We are arranging for a briefing session to be held at a venue in Leytonstone. If you were planning to come to the Court it would be useful if you could attend this briefing session. We will send out details shortly.

Lincolns have also put in for a further extension of their hours. We are of course opposed to these and have objected on behalf of residents, as have the police. We are still waiting a date for the License Committee to meet to hear this application, but it could be very shortly. Again we will let you know.

With the very real knifing incident at the pub still in our minds let us hope that this establishments late license is thrown out once and for all.

Leytonstone Library

At Leytonstone Community Council on Monday plans for the £2m refurbishment were unveiled to the public, as well as the previously reported plans for the new Waltham Forest Direct (WFD) Shop to replace the First Stop Shop.

This investment in a key and fundamental public service will be the largest investment to Leytonstone Library for a generation. It will ensure that we retain the aesthetics of the architecture (even the shelves are Grade II listed!), as well as creating a larger area for books, a large and new computer suite and a much-improved children’s area and homework facility. The Theatre Hall will also receive a good spring clean and lick of paint.

As well as this refurbishment your ward councillors will be lobbying for even later evening opening and Sunday opening. This will compliment the recent initiative of opening on Wednesday afternoons and staying open during weekday lunch times, which has contributed to a significant increase in library usage.

A number of meeting rooms will also be provided in both the library and the WFD facility for community groups and individuals to hire.

Discussions were held with Starbucks, to see whether there was an opportunity for them to move into the building, to see if they could replicate in a library surrounding what so many coffee franchises have done with bookshops. However the idea didn’t get any further than initial expression of interest.

Instead the Council is keen to develop a small Gallery within the area of WFD, which could display exhibitions by local artists, schools and even take pieces from the William Morris Gallery.

The WFD facility is due to be open by March 2006 and it is hoped the library works will begin next summer.

Attached are the final Library floor plans [514KB], along with the final 2 options being considered for the WFD facility on the ground floor [408KB] (this incorporates the former pound shop in Church Lane into the floor plans).

Weekly Recycling

The weekly average collection weights on the Get Sorted kerbside collection are up 50% for the first two weeks of the new weekly collection initiative. This reflects a combination of the hard work put in by our door knocking/ participation team and the switch to weekly collections and the addition of cardboard, but it is a very promising start. To put it into perspective, our
weekly average prior to the change was 114.23 tons; our average after the change is 171.26 tonnes, an increase of 57 tonnes per week. It is only the start and we expect the weights to settle back a bit as it beds in and then to provide a more stable base from which to build on. But all the same this is a significant improvement and will contribute to Waltham Forest being at
the forefront of recycling in London.

Car Free Day

Was another huge success, thousands of people flocked to the event and a huge array of Council Services, community and voluntary sector and business stalls joined the hugely popular and successful French Market, to turn Leytonstone into a real hive of activity.

Music, bouncy castles and environmental activity helped keep people of all ages entertained and of course the rain held off!

We hoped you enjoyed it. But do you have any thoughts/ suggestions/ comments for next year to make it even bigger and better?????

Neighbourhood Watch

We are organising a meeting in the St Johns Ambulance building in Kings Road (date and times to be confirmed) to help residents set up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, to deal with particular anti social behaviour problems around the Kings Road, Kingswood Road, Wallwood Road and Kings Passage area.

Would like us to help you set up a Neighbourhood Watch in your area? If so please get in touch. We’ll arrange for the Council’s Neighbourhood Watch officer to attend, arrange the meeting venue, do the leafleting for you and help you get going.

New Lighting

Leytonstone Community Council agreed to fund and arrange new lighting columns and developments to improve the lighting levels in- Davies Lane, Kings Passage, Leytonstone Plaza and around the Church Lane/ Kirkdale Road area.

Traffic Contraventions

From the 1st April 2006, Waltham Forest Council will take over the responsibility for enforcing the rules around amongst other things ‘yellow box junctions’ for example at the High Road/ Church Lane junction and at the Bush Road/ High Road/ Green Man Roundabout junction.

Where local authorities have been allowed to enforce these rules it has lead to significant improvements in traffic flow.

Street Services Inspection

As mentioned in previous Residents Reports I can now bring you the details of the recent Street Services Inspection.

• Inspectors praised the Council for innovative initiatives, which have helped to keep the borough cleaner and greener.
• The inspection highlighted the Tango teams scheme, the Mobile Tip, the Beat Sweep programme and changes to street cleaning schedules for contributing to a “visible improvement to street cleanliness”.
• The report also praised high customer satisfaction with services such as recycling facilities, street cleansing and refuse collection which exceeded the London average, noting that Waltham Forest achieved the national recycling target for 2005/6 a year early.
• The Audit Commission’s report, published this week, assessed the Streetscene service as providing “a fair one-star service with excellent prospects for improvements.” Our previous inspection in this area just gave us one star.
• In the report, inspectors praised the Council’s performance on recycling which has increased from 11.71% in 2003/04 to more than 18% in 2004/5.
• Praise was given to the low number of missed refuse collections and that this “much improved performance” was achieved at a reduced cost to the tax payer.
• Also highlighted were quick repairs to dangerous defects on streets and pavements, reductions of fatal and serious injuries in road accidents as a result of the implementation of road safety schemes and other traffic calming measures, work with businesses on trade waste collection, and environmental improvements.
• Plans for future improvements, which impressed the inspectors, include:
  • the introduction of a new Customer Relations management system which will improve our ability to deal with queries and complaints
  • integrated plans to address “crime, grime and anti-social behaviour” through cross-council and inter-agency enforcement
  • the Council’s track record of delivering environmental priorities
  • detailed plans for graffiti reduction, planned highways maintenance, and improved general service planning
• Inspectors noted the high level of commitment of the Leader, other senior Councillors and senior officers to improving the Streetscene services.

The Audit Commission has made recommendations for improvements for certain areas that could affect future progress. For example-

• Improving the consistency of customer service, better communication of service standards, increasing the ways that people can pay for parking services, removal of chewing gum from pavements.
• The Council also needs to show greater community leadership in its approach to waste reduction and reuse, and needs to develop a detailed action plan to support its aspiration for a 50% recycling rate by 2012.

The Council will now develop an action plan to tackle issues raised in the report, and this will be taken forward as part of the ongoing improvements programme for the service.
If you want to view the full report use the link below.
http://tinyurl.com/8uv27

WFD Phone Line

Many of you may well have had problems contacting the Council through the 020 8496 3000 number lately. I have asked the Cabinet member with responsibility for this service, to resolve the problems and outstanding issues as a matter of priority.

If you are struggling to get through WFD then please contact your ward councillors, as we may be able to help you.

School Results

Initial feedback for Leytonstone schools GCSE results shows those receiving 5+ A- C results as follows-
Connaught- 59%- increase of 8% on the previous year
Leytonstone- 55%- increase of 3% on the previous year

As a whole the Borough achieved an average of 49.3% an increase of 2.2%. We still have a lot to do but we are making the right progress.

Phone Masts

Your ward councillors have met with 3G to discuss the issues surrounding the siteing of a mast in Fairlop Road. We are due to meet with them again, with residents, as we believe that they may have not considered fully a number of more neutral sites in other parts of the area.

The Borough shall also shortly be receiving the list of sites that all the phone companies have identified as possible sites for the forthcoming year. We shall be checking for the sites in Leytonstone.

Independent Clock

This relates to the clock that faces the Church Lane entrance to the tube. We have now secured the monies to bring this much talked about clock back into use. We are currently in discussions with the owners of the building about getting the right level of access to work on the clock and bring it back into use.

Tube Subway Smoking Ban

We mentioned in Residents Report 12 about meeting with management of Leytonstone Tube Station to discuss a smoking ban in the subway entrance to the station. They have agreed to put up notices to this affect and we are currently discussing how we can enforce the ban, although we do hope that the signage in itself may actually lead to a reduction in those hanging around just outside the ticket hall smoking and creating a ‘nicotine fog’.

Alley behind Burghley Road

We have again drawn council officers, the police and street warden’s attention to this alley, which currently the Council does not have responsibility for as it is privately owned.

The alley is repeatedly fly-tipped and seems to be an area where increasingly a large amount of anti social behaviour and street drinking is taking place.

We have asked Council officers to investigate our taking responsibility for the alley or at least come up with a solution to the continued problems, relating to this alley.

Street Trees

Due to pressure from your ward councillors the Council has identified some funding to replace a number of trees lost through disease or vandalism. These will be planted during the coming weeks.

Bulbs

Don’t forget to contact Terry Finney on 020 8496 2602 if you want some free bulbs for your community group to plant to liven up the Borough for next spring.

Free Swims

Some 40,000 free swims were taken up by our young people during the last 4 weeks of the school summer holiday. The funding was provided by the Council as a means of saying ‘Thank You’ to our young people for the support they showed the successful Olympic bid.

……and over to you………any problems? Any issues? Don’t forget to forward Leytonstone neighbours, friends and families e-mail address’s to us so that they can be copied into this report.

Cheers

Cllr Clyde Loakes Cllr Marie Pye Cllr Jenny Gray

http://www.leytonstonelabour.org.uk/

If you are interested in the future management of Wanstead Flats, the most southern area of the Forest, you may be interested in obtaining a copy of our current consultation document. We are producing an Integrated Site Plan for the area – a way of bringing together all the nature conservation, landscape, recreational and heritage management issues into a co-ordinated management plan that takes account of the views of local residents and visitors as well as those of statutory authorities.

I would urge anyone local to the area to make their views known by downloading the documents below and the sending them in to epping.forest@corpoflondon.gov.uk.
The closing date for public responses is 25 October.

Consultation documents:

Wanstead Flats Intergrated Site Management Plan (background info) (4mb)
Wanstead Flats consultation (the questionnaire) (100kb)

Related:

• Corporation of London Epping Forest page
• Corporation of London press release
• Jubilee Pond page

This page in particular made me chuckle:

Pretend you are about to alight
A few stations before your stop, look up and start putting things away swiftly - closing reading book, gathering up coat and bags etc.

You will see people begin to hover waiting for your seat. As you move off from the next station, grin at them and relax your grip on your coat etc.

If you are especially sadistic you might introduce a well timed “stand up briefly to stretch” element to the routine. See those longing faces!

http://www.gorge.org/misc/tube.shtml

Bottom right, you can see Morris’ red jumper, just. I think I wasn’t there due to me being knocked put by a kidney infection.

Well anyway I took the first set of pictures this morning and I really enjoyed doing it, though I wish I had a better camera and, more importantly, I knew how to take good pictures. For example: here’s me trying to be ‘arty’ and it not working.

The first set of pictures have just been uploaded, they are unedited and I really need to go back and take a few more before I write the first installment.

http://www.bealers.com/photos/v/misc/e11-to-e2/

[edit]
It seems as if my gallery software is b0rked in IE6 and as I only use Firefox I’ve never noticed it. I’ll get this fixed tonight.

[edit2]
Fixed now